building + sky

[greygoose]

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t264/gs_greygoose/july%202007/IMG_4238-E.jpg

location: tompkins square park, NY
dusk, about 7:30pm

exif:
1/500
f/ 5.6
iso 100

pp: fill light, exposure, saturation


all comments and critique are always welcome

[chris d]

A very interesting building. The colors are oversaturated and there is quite a bit of noise in the blue at the top of the building. I would crop out the birds as they pull my eyes away from the main area of interest for no good reason. The crop will also get rid of a large portion of the sky which seems unbalanced, with the clouds low and the plain sky higher up. Also, because the clouds are so low they too compete with the building.

[greygoose]

i have the same shot without the birds. i thought maybe the birds were good to leave in the shot so i shot them as they were flying past/above.

[chris d]

"Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell." From The Elements of Style, by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White.

Excellent advice for photographers too. The most important thing to do when taking a photo, and one that is rarely done, is to decide on what exactly is this going to be a picture of? You have a shot of a very interesting building, a tree, two birds flying and an uneven sky with great clouds. I'd bet you were moved to take the picture because of the building, so what do the other elements do to emphasize the building? Why were the birds good to leave in? Many artists have mentioned that they knew their work was complete when they could find nothing else to remove.

[howzitboy]

f5.6 1/500 at 7:30pm? must be great living where night dont come till late!

i dont know, for me the birds make the shot. i look at building, then at birds, then buildings again. its like typical city scene.

only negative i see is the blue parts of the building are grainy and funky looking.