View from Below

I was at a public concert here in Savannah when I decided to look

around for something besides the concert to photograph. I took this

shot once to see how it would turn out. When I got my shots back

from developing I liked this one the best. This is a very abstract

photo and I am interested in opinions of concept and composition. I

don't do much abstract, I am a very analytical and I feel this shot

is not at all.

Thanks for taking the time

Jesse

Jesse,

 

I like the way the balloons are well exposed, yet the sky is not blown out. The colors are pleasing yet the blue of the sky looks a touch weird, which is a good thing.

 

Since the contrails take me from right to left, I would wish the balloons would take my eye the other way -- but they don't. Maybe the balloons would be better placed a bit to the left. I like that the left and the right edge of the contrails are not visible.

 

All in all, a nice shot, very minimalist.

I wouldn't say it was abstract (in the way that Niranjan's Titanic pic is), but just very simple, and from a good angle. The three elements (cloud, vapour trail, and balloons) combine to emphasise the angle of view. IMO this is what makes the picture work.

Jesse,

 

I want to say that the picture "doesn't work," but what I mean, of course, is that it doesn't hold my attention at all. There are three moderately interesting elements, but compositionally it is diffuse, with nothing to hold my attention or make it into a compelling photo.

 

I did a moderate rack of my brains on how to make it more interesting to me, and I came up with the following.

 

(1) There is too much sky and within the sky, not enough contrast.

 

(2) The interesting elements don't relate to each other, IMO.

 

I played with various treatments of the images, but what finally worked for me is to take a fragment of the image, and orient it vertically.

 

When I did that, and a few other minor PS alterations to increase depth, I "saw" what was interesting to me; that the balloon, clouds and vapor trails were all at different heights. Suddenly it came alive for me.

I like this. Simple, but effective. Keeping the balloons in the frame makes this work. Very 3D to me. Good job.

Works for me, I get however a little irritated by the bright streak, becasue I can't make out what it is.

Its from a jet stream. The plane is just buy the right edge but I don't think it can be seen due to the photo.net compression.