DPChallenge: A Digital Photography Contest You are not logged in. (log in or register
 
Challenge Entries
Portfolio Images
abandoned
abandoned
vawendy


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Tunnels and Caves (Advanced Editing VII)
Collection: 2009 Challenges
Camera: Canon EOS-40D
Lens: Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
Location: hampton roads, VA
Date: Aug 9, 2009
Aperture: f5
ISO: 1600
Shutter: 1/250
Date Uploaded: Aug 9, 2009



[Aug. 11th, 2009 07:22:13 PM]

Had a wonderful day. Found this abandoned railroad tunnel, built in 1858. It was awesome! Went to the Luray Caverns--they were incredible! Got back too late to look at the photos and do a decent job of editing.

It's not doing too well right now (and there doesn't seem to be any upward trends happening...

Oh well, it was a great tunnel and a wonderful day!

[Aug. 13th, 2009 09:26:56 PM]

I liked the silhouetted feel to it--so I just brought out the smallest amount of detail to the inside of the tunnel. I like this quite a bit, but it's doing very poorly. How should this have been photographed/processed differently to make it have wider appeal?

Statistics
Place: 53 out of 93
Avg (all users): 5.4444
Avg (commenters): 5.5000
Avg (participants): 5.4444
Avg (non-participants): 5.4444
Views since voting: 903
Views during voting: 242
Votes: 135
Comments: 8
Favorites: 0


Please log in or register to add your comments!

AuthorThread
08/17/2009 04:48:32 PM
Greetings from the Critique Club!

First impression: I like the silhouettes, father and son "story line" is very cute. I think there was potential to make more out of the image but there seem to be very little processing done besides resizing.

Technicals and composition: I really like the framing and the angle that emphasized the height of the tunnel and really forces me to look at the silhouettes. The exposure seems to be off -- the highlights in the trees and rocks are blown out and the shadows are too dark to see all the intricate brick work. The out of focus top of the tunnel with a blue tint is a bit distracting, I cannot stop looking there and I wish I could focus more on either the father and the son or the brickwork. Lack of noise for ISO of 1600 is quite impressive.

Final thoughts: While I like a lot of the elements of the photo, I find the blown out rocks and trees very distracting. I agree that some dodging inside the tunnel and burning the trees and the rocks would have provided more details to admire. This looks like a perfect candidate for HDR, although you really have to plan for that kind of shot in advance. Some shadows/highlights adjustments might have helped as well.

Please feel free to PM me with any questions.

Cheers,

Anna
  Photographer found comment helpful.
08/17/2009 12:26:24 AM
A 5.4 is not a bad showing. It's just not a knock-em dead one either.

A little burning might have helped on the trees outside. I think there is enough detail in them that some careful editing could have pulled some of it in. Perhaps a little dogding inside the tunnel, in order to show off just a bit more of that nice brickwork. Not too bright, however, don't want to ruin the mood. As I said in my in-challenge comment, many of us had issues with overly bright highlights vs dark darks. If nothing else, it was a very educational challenge.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
08/15/2009 06:07:50 PM
good subject, angle is flat and does not really enhance the photo
  Photographer found comment helpful.
08/15/2009 03:47:59 PM
Looks like you had the same problem as I did. It's hard to capture such a wide dynamic range as the inside of a tunnel and the brightness outside. It's an interesting shot and I'm not holding the slightly blown highlights against it.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
08/13/2009 08:23:23 AM
Great mood. terrific exposure. I'm a bog fan of well executed silhouette shotys.....7
  Photographer found comment helpful.
08/12/2009 07:07:08 PM
Interesting looking tunnel and I like the old brick on the inside, somehow I wish the image had a story line implied to engage me
  Photographer found comment helpful.
08/11/2009 06:21:49 PM
Nice composition, but you lost the detail in the cave which would have made this better. IMHO.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
08/10/2009 05:01:55 PM
I think a different title would have worked better. Like maybe something father-son-ish about the big great outdoors. The brightness at the top of the tunnel is a bit distracting.
  Photographer found comment helpful.


Home - Challenges - Community - League - Photos - Cameras - Lenses - Learn - Prints! - Help - Terms of Use - Privacy - Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2024 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 04/24/2024 03:37:07 PM EDT.