Lumberby
ragamuffingirlComment by livitup: ::: Critique Club :::
Greetings from the Critique Club!
First Impression - the most important one:
There's a lot going on here, and the exposure and lighting just seem 'off.'
Composition:
This is a tough call. The picture lacks any distinct focal point and seems 'busy.' I don't know what you, the photographer, want me to look at in this picture. There's a stack of wood on the right, a big forklift, another stack of wood in front of me, and some interesting patterns in the background. This near-overload of objects all in clear focus makes my eyes dart about, trying to find something specific to settle on. When you're taking a picture with strong lines its best if the lines 'lead' the viewer's eye to a particular focal point. The lines in your photo don't do that and it causes the viewer to scan around the photo a lot.
There's also a distinct tilt, from the left to the right, in everything except the stack of wood in the extreme foreground. A tilt like that makes the viewer feel like they are on a listing boat. :) A simple rotational crop in Photoshop could have cleared that up.
Subject:
Marginally "Industrial," at least in my opinion. To most people the word "industrial" conjures up thoughts of steel and sparks, not wood. Wood is thought of as a 'living,' or 'earth' thing, which is in conflict with the emotional connotation of 'industrial.' The inclusion of the loaders helps some, but isn't enough. If you look at the top 20 in this challenge, they are all about metal, steam, manufacturing, etc.
Technical (Colour and light):
The yellow of the loader is a nice bold and strong color, but the rest of the photo looks very washed out. Raw lumber isn't a very colorful thing to begin with, I suppose, but the photo lacks overall visual intrest. There's also a significant problem with lighting in this shot. The stack of lumber at the right foreground is over-exposed, as is the sky, however the rest of the shot shows varying degrees of underexposure. I think if you had shot the scene at a diferent time, when the sun was behind you, it would have helped on several levels, reducing the light levels in the sky, adding some light to the stack of wood on the loader and the front of the loader itself. You also could have considered using a small amount of fill flash to try to brighten up some of those shadowy areas.
Also, as a general rule, it is to your advantage to use the whole 640 pixels that DPC allows in your picture. Make it as big as possible to avoid loosing detail.
Summary:
This is only your second challenge entry, so don't dispair. It takes a little while to figure out what appeals to the voters here. You've got a good eye for what scenes to photograph, now you just need to work on the technical aspects. Don't be afraid to use the forums here for tips on how to shoot a particular scene.
Finally, I'd like to ask you to consider "critiquing the critique." A lot of effort goes into these critiques, and I enjoy learning how I can do them better. Does what I said make sense? Is it way off base? Did I enlighten you? Offend you? Please let me know via a private message what you think of this critique, so I can give better ones in the future.
Thanks, and good luck at DPC!
---Andrew
Photographer found comment helpful.