Greetings from the Critique Club! :)
This is a scene that I see many times daily, as I work in the machine shop industry. I hope my insights are helpful.
Composition
Personally, I really like your composition here. I like the tight crop, and I like the fact that you've moved my eyes away from the nearest machinist by not showing me all of his head. It is a little bit "busy", simply due to all the knobs and handles on the mill, which makes it a little confusing. If there could be some way to simplify and not show quite so much, I think it would strengthen the image a good bit.
Background
I also like the way you've shown another "worker", slightly out of focus, but it's not out of focus quite as much as I think is necessary for the shot. I'm kind of surprised by this, at f/2.5, but I don't think you could ever get as much background blur with a G5 as an SLR would provide, just due to the sensor size limitations.
Camera Work
The shot is focused nicely, and the lighting is very even. I think a little foreground lighting to bring out the details of the digital readout on the mill and the dark area on the front of the mill would have been an improvement. Those are pretty well buried in the shadows.
Post Processing
I only have one minor complaint, and that is in reference to saturation. The reds seem really dominant, and I think that makes the shot a bit more "garish" than you intended. The machinist's face is a little red, and all the red lights,etc., are really emphasized by the color. My mention of foreground lighting, above, might have been wrong; you may have just gotten a little bit heavy with the contrast adjustment and pumped up the blacks too much.
My Opinions
In general, this image strikes a familiar chord with me, and I realize how difficult this was to pull off in a manufacturing environment. However, there is an element of "punch" or "wow" that is somehow missing from the shot. It feels a bit "two-dimensional", and normally that's a lighting thing combined with contrast adjustments. There are other "tricks" to induce a feeling of depth, but I'm not sure of how to advise you to "fix" it, I just see a bit of room for improvement.
I hope these thoughts are informative and helpful. Thanks for submitting! |
Add photograph to your favorites
Add photographer to your favorites
Photographer found comment helpful.
