Please critique these 4 shots (Warning 56k Total size=900kb)

[Flagpole]

G'day!

I went shooting today around my unit hopping to refresh some of the previous knowledge. I was trying to achieve something else but the weather did not obliged (strange how after almost a week of near 40C heat, I get an overcast on my day off :) ) I would like to hear any opinion on those 4 shots. They appealed to me but does anyone else find them pleasing. If you had a choice what would you do differently. I'll post the link to the rest of the gallery below. I would dearly like to hear if any of these shots are worth the harddisk space they are on and what worked and what didn't. Here are the 4 shots:

A semi-abondoned (at least from outside) house near by:
http://members.oztralia.com/~bfeldman/Testshots/house.jpg

Water lilly at Victoria Park next to Sydney Uni. I went 5 years there but never botherred shooting anything as I could not afford a digital camera on student income 8)
http://members.oztralia.com/~bfeldman/Testshots/victoriapark1.jpg

And another one
http://members.oztralia.com/~bfeldman/Testshots/victoriapark2.jpg

Last one for the series are the ducks at the pond. Its funny how ducks are always so photogenic :) I'm thinking they must rank somewhere on the top 10 list of most photographed subjects :wink:
http://members.oztralia.com/~bfeldman/Testshots/ducks.jpg

The above are only slightly processed by tweaking curves (white/black point), levels, reducing some obvious noise and slight sharpening via Focus Magic. They were resized using FM WP.

If anyone likes to take detour then I uploaded the rest of the shoot on the webspace http://members.oztralia.com/~bfeldman/VP/ These are unprocessed raw converted but I would dearly love to know if any of them worth any merit. Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Flagpole
Sydney, Australia

Gear: Canon PS G2, SL 420EX, Tiffen Meguplus 0.75x, 2x lenses (which I almost always forget to use), a few filters which I bought to mask any inadequacies in my techniques

[lomond]

G'day, Flagpole.

I'll concentrate on the shot I like most, if that's OK. No 1, the B&W conversion.

What I like :-

1. The composition. To my eyes the shot is well framed, with the hanging foreground lamp grabbing the attention and then leading the eye to the door and background lamp and beyond.
2. The perspective. Again this is pleasing to the eye.
3. The B&W conversion. This image lends itself well to mono. I find you can't please everyone when it comes to mono, some like more contast, some less, etc, etc. It becomes a personal preference.

What I "might" change.
Not a lot. I might clone out the object on the ground ( bottom left )
I might also clone out the note/sticker behind the foreground lamp.
I would try to straighten the vertical on the right foreground.
I might look for more contrast. ( see no. 3 above ).

I like this shot very much,

Cameron

[Flagpole]

G'day!

Not a lot of replies but I've expected as much :(

Lomond, thanks for the time you took to post some critique. I appreciate it. I may go back to the house and try and get other shots from different angles. Its a strange design reminiscent of colonial American style with large wrap around balcony rather than typical Victorian terraces found in Sydney. It looks very run down from the outside and that what grabbed my attention everytime I go past it.

I do like your suggestions and I'll try to do some alternative B&W conversion out of it. I'm not ready to shell out $30 for FM B&W Plug-in yet as I would rarely use 90% of its features, so the two methods I am thinking of trying are by Petteri Sulonen http://194.100.88.243/petteri/pont/How_to/n_Digital_BW/n_Digital_BW/a_Digital_Black_and_White.html and Glen Mitchell http://www.thelightsright.com/DigitalDarkroom/LearningGalleries/B&WFineArt/B&WFineArt.htm.

Here is the quick effort I came up with acting on your suggestions:
http://members.oztralia.com/~bfeldman/Testshots/housealt.jpg

I do find this shot more pleasing but I miss the empty space in front of the foreground lamp :( What do you think?

Flagpole

[lomond]

Hi, Flagpole.
Or G'day maybe. :wink:

I agree, the space in front of the lamp is needed. That said, I think you did a good job with the verticals, etc. The contrast I like, however I think it's a personal thing. ( some like more some less)
If you are close by I would reshoot since the crop is now too close to the lamp.
I can't put my finger on it but there's somthing about this shot I really like.

Och Aye the Noo, Hoots Mon. :lol:

Cameron