Stacks
by jduffett

Comment:
Hmmm, I actually don't think this is a bad photo. it's a bit static in it's perpendicular composition. Perhaps more zoom out and a crop with some negative space. Or perhaps shooting from a different angle.

I think you could have made it stronger by shooting at a different time of day where there would be more definition between sky and steam. They get lost and it would have been great to be able to pull the billowing steam out more. Go back to the original and see if using the blue channel for B&W coversion helps. It all depends how white the sky was in reality.

The Hot Corner
by GeneralE

Comment:
First, the good. The rust contrasts very nicely with the blue sky. I like that a lot. The picture suffers from the corrugated steel building. Very much less interesting. Any possible composition or crop which could have minimized this would have been better. The black lower corner is similar, but actually not even as bad. It's just that the building is pretty ugly.

Your technicals are very good. No problems with contrast or saturation or focus.

I gave this a 5...

Iron & Steel
by Prof_Fate

Comment:
This is going to be a little shorter than some I've done since you scored fairly well. 5.5 is nothing to be ashamed of. I think the right side of the picture is excellent and visually dynamic. The left side (particularly the bottom) is a big more muddled and jumbled and is probably the weak section of the picture. Of course you may not have been able to shoot the girders without this section. I see there is a second vertical girder at the right edge, was there a diagonal which mirrored the one we see? That may have been interesting. The problem here is that your eye has no dominant line to follow. We try to follow the diagonal, but quickly get distracted by the weaker diagonal which competes. The texture and pattern is not as interesting on that beam as well. I like the bolt pattern, but the lower-left is basically drab gray.

Your B&W coversion, I think, is well done. The contrast is also nice. Focus is sharp. So overall the technicals are just fine. Again, I think this is why you scored fairly well.

EDIT: Ha, remember I don't read your other comments before I leave mine. Seems like we may be onto something...

Message edited by author 2005-12-08 16:39:35.

Nutrena Feeds
by Elaine

Comment:
This is a picture where the colors don't do much for us. They are fairly muted and somewhat drab. There is a hint of nice blue in the corner, but the sky is mostly white/gray as well. When I see this I automatically think B&W. Chuck the color. It isn't helping. Go into Photoshop and open your picture and hit ctrl-1 which should bring up the red channel in B&W. Immediate help. Now we are drawn to the geometric patterns and textures in the building.

I thought the contrast was flat, but I couldn't improve it much in PS, so you are probably fine there.

The composition is too centered. This leads to a static image with little dynamics.

The focus is good and exposure is nice too.

I think the big problem here is it was up against another 50 pictures of industrial buildings just like it. There was no additional dimension to this photograph. Others either had it at night (so we had the dimension of light or motion blur with smoke), or had billowing smoke (dimension of activity), or still others had more rundown buildings. This certainly fits the challenge, but doesn't do a whole lot on top. When you have to compete with lots of pics that are alike, you need that extra something to make your's stand out.

A 5.2 is actually not a bad score for this and I think it was people rewarding you for proper focus and exposure.

FRAGILE
by Rikki

Comment:
Yes, I'd like to see the real version too. This pic had so much potential.

Epilogue
by Zoomdak

Comment:
I wondered if this was you Zoomdak.

Delicate Sunrise
by jayrod

Comment:
In case you are curious about my comment, Brent_Ward has a shot in his portfolio of this arch and I was sure this was his picture... ;)

November Sunset
by Bear_Music

Comment:
Nailed it! :) Great pic bear. You still willing to send me a little christmas present?

Surface tension
by gaurawa

Comment:
Ho man, I love a shot that turns out so wonderful and only had 'round-the-house props. (runs off to try it himself) I had this higher, but still an excellent shot.

Horsepower
by lynnesite

Comment:
Congrats Lynne on top 25 in a very difficult challenge!