single photos Seattle Evening

Please view this large. I took this image last week after dinner along the

water in Seattle. It is handheld (I did not have my tripod) and captured with

my Lumix point and shoot. You comments are appreciated. Would you

prefer the image cropped? I tried it both cropped and uncroped and chose

to show the road. Thanks for your input. Larry

Cool shot!  I think the interesting part of this image is on the left side, so what do you think of a square crop?  I had to try it myself to visualize it, but I kind of like it.

Larry, I haven't been to Seattle for a while, so I don't know if that's a ferris wheel or something else.

I think Christal is right about most of the interest being on the left side.  For me, the right edge might be just to the right of the distant cranes (if not the ferris wheel itself).  I don't know what you had in the background on the left, but I'm wishing the freeway had been shown complete.  I have a feeling that you cut it off where you did because of buildings in the downtown background, but I'm not sure.  The yellow roads and blue lights seem to have the most appeal, and I think a tighter focus on those elements (including a reduced sky) would have a lot of interest and be worth a try.

Christal and Stephen,

Thanks to you both for excellent suggestions.  The road is not a freeway, but the Seattle streets adjacent to the water.  One road may be Alaskan Way or Hwy 99. I am not sure.  I appreciate both of your input.   Larry

Larry-

I came across your photos through a critique of yours on someone else's image.  I really like your work.  As for this photo, I agree that a crop reducing the sky would be more effective.  I don't think the sky lends ay importance to the photo, if your intent was to emphasize the skyline.  I like the freeway.  It gives me some perspective to a city I have never seen at night except for 1 night at a B and B on the way back from Vancouver Island.

I would love to see what input you might have on some of my work.

-Lynne

Hi Lynne,

Thanks for visiting my images.  I agree that this image should be cropped.  The feedback from y'all has been most helpful.  I will revise the image.  Yes, I will be delighted to look at your portfolio and will be sending you some comments.  Thanks, Lynne.

Larry - I just stopped for a while and stared at the image, enjoying being transported to a city in which I have never entered and unlikely to enter any time soon. You have captured it very well. For a moment I was fighting with myself with a guideline that has served me well which is if it does not add value then you must subtract it. The bottom had lots of detail and `complexity`and for a while, that  plain dark sky was a sort of negative space which would balance and be a counterpoint to the wonderful details below.

In the end I decided that the sky had to be reduced as all three, Christal, Stephen and Lynne had mentioned. So do we go with a rectangle format with the rule of thirds: or go with that beautiful square format that Christal proposed (which I like). In summary I decided to show another possibility with an almost panorama format. I agree with Christal`s assessment that the left side had the most interest.  I downloaded the image and tried to lighten up the right side thus giving it a bit more interest.

After all of that verbiage, and liking all three versions for different reasons, if I were going to hang it on my wall, I would go with the version I am attaching.

You may not find my analysis useful but in the end it is what the customer likes: you the artist as customer or someone else.

PS - based on the street lamps being vertical and the dark building in the middle being level, then you might want to straighten the image just a tad.

Tony, I certainly found your analysis useful!  I like the end result of eliminating the sky and brightening the right side.  It has more 'sparkle', which is probably what attracted Larry to this scene in the first place. 

Thanks to you all for your suggestions.  I have posted a revised image, using a number of your suggestions.  It is titled Seattle Evening Revised.   Larry