Totem, yes or no

[Jonny]

Do you like this? I really cant make my mind up.

What could improve it....anything?

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/j.speed/Forums%20Pictures/totem.jpg

[Steven M. Anthony]

To know whether it's okay, or can be improved, I really need to know what you are trying to say with it. Without knowing your intent it's kind of like me saying "four score and seven years ago" and asking you "what do you think? If you knew I was writing a paper on Lincoln, you'd probably say "sounds good!" If I told you I was planning to use that line to propose to my girlfriend, you'd probably think it could be improved... :)

As is, your shot does not evoke any particular emotions for me. But as a documentary photo of the top of a totem, it's just fine.

[boomer1959]

Jon, do you have any vertical photos of it?
It is a nice sharp image but it is lacking something. I'm not sure what though.

[Jonny]

To know whether it's okay, or can be improved, I really need to know what you are trying to say with it.

Well to be perfectly honest i wasn't trying to say anything! I was walking back to my car when a saw it and just pulled the trigger.

When i downloaded it i thought oooh..thats not bad. But after a while i wasn't so sure hence the question.

Boomer - this is the only shot i have as i was in a hurry but i may go back another day and try again.

[Steven M. Anthony]

Well to be perfectly honest i wasn't trying to say anything! I was walking back to my car when a saw it and just pulled the trigger.

When i downloaded it i thought oooh..thats not bad. But after a while i wasn't so sure hence the question.

Boomer - this is the only shot i have as i was in a hurry but i may go back another day and try again.

More likely you just don't realize what you were trying to say. I don't mean that in a condescending way--it's just that humans don't do things without a reason (although our subconscious frequently "pulls the trigger") and sharing photos is a form of communication.

So it might take some reflection on your part to uncover why you took the shot. Something must have struck you about the scene or you woulddn't have taken a picture of it. If you can identify what that "something" was, you will have a base from which to start thinking about how you could make it better.

For example, if the sense of man interfacing with nature (shaping wood) was what you were trying to capture, then a shot showing the totem was more a part of its surroundings would help.

Typically, however, once a person understands what they were trying to capture--what they were trying to say--the "what could I do differently" question is no longer that puzzling.

One exercise you can do is to think back on the scene as you saw it originally. List the first 5 feeling you can remember having while you were there. Those are likely among the things your subconscious was responding to when it convinced you to take this photo. Now, think of what techniques/equipment/composition tricks you could use to help get those 5 feelings across in the image (or even one or two!).

I know it can make one uncomfortable to think about not being in complete conscious control of one's actions. But trust me--and the knowlwdge base of the fields of psychology and neuroscience--our conscious lives are but the tip of the iceberg...

[marie]

"What could improve it....anything?"




http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_confused.gif



I think if you had took the shot at an angle... say nearer the ground looking upwards and the camera held sideways ( a more narrow view) the pole would have been more dramatic and 'all there'

?



http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif

[edsarkiss]

More likely you just don't realize what you were trying to say.

(note: not a rebuttal to the quote above...)

note that "i think this is beautiful" is a perfectly valid thing for art to say ;-)

most folks get bogged down with finding a deep meaning that the world is deprived of beautiful things.

deep meaning is good
beauty is good

[Wrench]

I think it would look a lot better if taken from a lower point. That would make it look bigger, more powerful. DOF looks good though.

[Steven M. Anthony]

(note: not a rebuttal to the quote above...)

note that "i think this is beautiful" is a perfectly valid thing for art to say ;-)

most folks get bogged down with finding a deep meaning that the world is deprived of beautiful things.

deep meaning is good
beauty is good

Wanting to show beauty in the world is, indeed, a valid message--and one that is behind much of my work. The message one is trying to say with their art need not be some profound statement about anything. The helpful thing for the photog is to understand whatever message they are trying to get across--not to force something "profound."