Critique Request 09 - DPChallenge Forums

Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0L USM

08/22/2002 10:43:37 PM · #1

Greetings...

Locomotive Power

Critiques?

karmat

Apple iPhone 7

08/22/2002 10:54:14 PM · #2

i like the strong angular lines and the contrast with the curves of the wheels. i am just not a big train fan (rather afraid of them, as a matter of fact), so it doesn't move me in that way. I guess if i were to look train pics regularly, i would like this one because it is from a rather different perspective, i think.

08/22/2002 11:15:58 PM · #3

As a sucker for shapes and lines I like this alot... But there's something bothering me... It's not composition or lighting (both of which are great) or anything else I can put my finger on... It seems too, umm, clean?

I'm not making sense... I'll keep looking and see if I can figure out what's bothering me...

Canon EF 28-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM

08/22/2002 11:18:02 PM · #4

Originally posted by myqyl:
As a sucker for shapes and lines I like this alot... But there's something bothering me... It's not composition or lighting (both of which are great) or anything else I can put my finger on... It seems too, umm, clean?

I'm not making sense... I'll keep looking and see if I can figure out what's bothering me...

I hope its the same thing that bothers me :)

aelith

Olympus C-3020Z

08/22/2002 11:23:20 PM · #5

It's not all equally weathered. Big bolt and middle rod look pristine. ??

ClubJuggle

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

08/22/2002 11:31:03 PM · #6

Originally posted by jmsetzler:
I hope its the same thing that bothers me :)

Hey John, great photo. Barbara and I were just talking about your excellent train photography today... we thought of you as we were driving past a railroad yard (more on that later).

The only thing that bothers me is that my attention keeps getting pulled back to the large bolt in the top right corner. The brightness of this object plus the fact that it is on an intersection of thirds means I keep getting pulled back to that point, even though that bolt is probably the least visually interesting part of the photo (at least to me).

That's probably just personal taste though, and outside of that I love the photo.

-Terry

* This message has been edited by the author on 8/22/2002 11:30:42 PM.

08/22/2002 11:33:01 PM · #7

I placed that large bolt there intentionally... it's a point of interest to me...

Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f2.8D

08/22/2002 11:33:19 PM · #8

Originally posted by aelith:
It's not all equally weathered. Big bolt and middle rod look pristine. ??

Actually, the whole thing is pristine.. lol

David Ey

Nikon D80

08/22/2002 11:33:20 PM · #9

I like this picture a lot but my eyes are drawn off the left side by the light. I tend to want to focus on the large wheelrake area. At least that is where my interest is but I have to force my eyes there.
What scale is this train? I looks small.
Ah--- I didn't notice the bolt. Maybe it's the angle that moves my eye.

* This message has been edited by the author on 8/22/2002 11:35:35 PM.

08/22/2002 11:34:11 PM · #10

Originally posted by David Ey:
I like this picture a lot but my eyes are drawn off the left side by the light. I tend to want to focus on the large wheelrake area. At least that is where my interest is but I have to force my eyes there.
What scale is this train? I looks small.

This thing is huge.. it's not a replica...

You are close to hitting on what bothers me about this photo :)

Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f2.8D

08/22/2002 11:35:23 PM · #11

THIS is the whole locomotive...

David Ey

Nikon D80

08/22/2002 11:38:33 PM · #12

Wow, NICE ! !

08/22/2002 11:46:46 PM · #13

With the help of my wife, I found what bothered me... Interestingly enough, it was her favorite aspect :)

The 3 main lines point to a place that is not on the image... (Wife keeps calling it the "focal point" but I don't know what that is :) )... She says that is a common technique in asian art, so she is use to it and enjoys it, while westerners are usually bothered by it...

08/22/2002 11:51:25 PM · #14

Originally posted by myqyl:
With the help of my wife, I found what bothered me... Interestingly enough, it was her favorite aspect :)

The 3 main lines point to a place that is not on the image... (Wife keeps calling it the "focal point" but I don't know what that is :) )... She says that is a common technique in asian art, so she is use to it and enjoys it, while westerners are usually bothered by it...

Bingo... these lines lead me out of the photo... I don't like to be led out of the photo on the left side and it does make me wonder if there is a point of interest beyond the edge of the image... (there's not, but it still makes me wonder) :)

08/23/2002 12:01:35 AM · #15

Originally posted by jmsetzler:
Bingo...

Cool! What do I win? :)

08/23/2002 12:03:36 AM · #16

Originally posted by myqyl:
Originally posted by jmsetzler:
[i]Bingo...

Cool! What do I win? :)
[/i]

You win an 'at cost' print from my prints portfolio on DAPrints :)

rdesai

Canon PowerShot SD630

08/23/2002 01:09:05 AM · #17

so if you had to take this photograph again and still keep the bolt as the point of interest, what would you do differently?

lisae

Olympus C-720UZ

08/23/2002 01:10:36 AM · #18

Originally posted by myqyl:
With the help of my wife, I found what bothered me... Interestingly enough, it was her favorite aspect :)

The 3 main lines point to a place that is not on the image... (Wife keeps calling it the "focal point" but I don't know what that is :) )... She says that is a common technique in asian art, so she is use to it and enjoys it, while westerners are usually bothered by it...

It's called the "vanishing point", not the focal point. It's a term to do with perspective. It exists in every image. If you draw the perspective lines in, there will always be a point at which they converge, sometimes in the image, sometimes outside it.

Sigma 18-125mm f/3.5-5.6 DC for Canon

08/23/2002 01:10:45 AM · #19

Originally posted by rdesai:
so if you had to take this photograph again and still keep the bolt as the point of interest, what would you do differently?

I would do nothing differently... I like the photograph just the way it is. I could not compose this photograph any differently either and keep that bolt positioned where it is.

The key to this photograph was keeping the foreground flooring to a minimum...

Jonniboy

Nikon D1

08/23/2002 07:01:02 AM · #20

The think the leapt out at me when I saw this (nice pic BTW) was the vanishing point on the left. You've got strong converging lines and the brightest part of the picture there on the left leading the eye out of the frame. I think this works well because it suggests there's more to see which keeps me interested in the picture. However, I think it works even better if you flip the picture left to right. Western viewers tend to "read" pictures left to right (people who read their language right to left unsurprisingly tend to read pictures right to left). It looks "odd" if an image doesn't fit with this style. Sometimes surprising the viewer can work really well but often it just kind of confuses them. This is why a lot of (western) landscapes have a stopper (like a tree) on the rhs.

courtenay27

Pentax *ist DS

Pentax A 50mm f/1.7 MF

08/23/2002 09:16:17 AM · #21

jmsetzler,
I really like this one, it is one of the prints I want to order from DAPrints. I just have a quick, slightly off-topic question if you don't mind: When you upload to DAPrints for like 1.5 ratio prints, what resolution do you use? The highest (for 30x20 prints) or smaller?Thanks,
Courtenay

Kavey

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

08/23/2002 09:36:17 AM · #22

Originally posted by Jonniboy:
However, I think it works even better if you flip the picture left to right. Western viewers tend to "read" pictures left to right (people who read their language right to left unsurprisingly tend to read pictures right to left). It looks "odd" if an image doesn't fit with this style. Sometimes surprising the viewer can work really well but often it just kind of confuses them. This is why a lot of (western) landscapes have a stopper (like a tree) on the rhs.

Blimey! You're absolutely right. I like this a whole lot better simply as a mirror image! Well spotted and very well explained. Thank you!

lecook

Sony Mavica CD1000

08/23/2002 09:59:02 AM · #23

i love the metal textures in this john...i kept wanting to look at the bolt but my eyes kept falling off on the left lolol, i like the idea of it being flipped tho...and now i understand why i like a tree or something on the rhs of my photos too...i've tried the flipping-thing with some of my shots but it doesn't always work which just means it's a completely bad shot and i need to start over

08/23/2002 10:16:37 AM · #24

Wow! Now that I know some new rules, I can go out and break them on purpose instead of just by ignorance :) I think I need to look back over my 10,000 shots before I found DPC and see how I've applied this without thinking...

DPC does more for my eye then all the books I've ever read combined!