Alma Street, Palo Alto CA

Hi all, first submission, as well as first B&W photo developed from

my trusty Yashica. Constructive criticism would be definitely

appreciated. Lots to learn.

-Bryan

I gave you a 5 for asthetics and 3 for originality. The 5 for aesthetics is because its not bad but not great either, its ok. For the originality, I think its got potential but the composition holds the picture back.

 

The first think I notice is the details of the trees meld together, You can't tell where the palm begins and that other tree ends. If you are doing your own printing, lighten up the trees and darken up the background.

 

I think also if you step off the sidewalk to either side and have the sidewalk at an angle, following the rule of thirds it will help lead the eye in (sorry I am sounding like a textbook but I think it really will help).

 

I would also also either move the camera angle down or crop the top bit of sky a bit to get the powerlines out of the picture. The lines that shoot up in the center of the picture are distracting.

 

-Cecelia

RULE: You cannot have telephone, electricity wires in a picture if it's not relevant to the central theme. I am not going to rate this pic.

good contrast

overly contrasty.

As an inexperienced photographer, I've been wondering to myself lately about how good photographs convey meaning or feelings, rather than simply being beautiful. I'm not qualified to comment technically (although some of the comments already here seem reasonable to me). But I do think this image is striking because the trees and the road seem to be sort of bending in around the sidewalk, giving it what I see as a kind of (almost) imploding effect. The starkness of the trees and the extremely fragmented effect on the sidewalk from the harsh shadows seem to accentuate the odd feeling of decay I get when I look at it. For this reason, I like this photo more than _many_ of the others I've seen featured on this site.

 

And, if I may, I think the power lines work, although they do pull the eye off the corner a little, which is not ideal.