Smithsonian - American Indian Museum 02

Although it probably sounds foolhardy to those of you who know what I've been up to lately, I got a new camera!! :-) (I can totally rationalize and justify the purchase, too!) Anyway - I took my new 40D and 28-135mm out for a walk about last week on the National Mall in DC. I wanted to explore some of the settings and performance.

 

At the same time I've been wanting to do a good series of somewhat abstract architecture shots of the new(ish) Museum of the American Indian. It's a gorgeous building, but difficult to shoot on a sunny day (which happens with great frequency in DC). But last week it was overcast, so I shot a LOT of images...

 

Of course I am always happy with critiques on individual images, but for this series, I will be uploading a whole bunch of shots and would love for some comparative critiques as well. Comments on color balance, color vs. black & white, composition, perspective, etc. comparing the images will be most valuable to me.

 

As always, I so appreciate you all ... your input and support is invaluable!

Any comments or ratings are appreciated! :-)

Your cropping and framing of the image is perfect and I doubt the new camera had anything to do with that. I'd like this better if there was more contract to the image. See below for my example.

 

I used PS to improve the highlights and to increase the contrast.

Thanks, Shawn! On future B&W versions, I'll work on more contrast. You're right ... it has better "kick" ....

I like Shawn's contrast, and I love the texture you captured. Beautiful.

The crop is great. I have never been able to crop this building. I am also getting used to my new 40D. My 20D is getting a well deserved rest.

Again, thanks to everyone for the input. :-)

 

Gordon - do you agree with my reasoning for shooting this building on an overcast day? I'll have to visit your portfolio to see if you have any shots of it posted...

 

Shawn - will you tell me (if you remember) what you did to improve the highlights and boost the contrast? I have been playing with a couple of other images that I took that day of the same subject ... and although I am happy with the results to some extent, they don't have the punch that your version does. Any suggestions would be appreciated!