Some shots at the mall - critique please

[Eccentric M]

I got a chance to take a couple of pictures at a mall with my new Tamron 17-50 (love it!). Very little PP was done, white balance and exposure were the only changed I did. Critique on! :p

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3637/3580854627_dbe800f199_o.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/gtothat/3580854627/)http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3654/3581668320_312a70e254_o.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/gtothat/3581668320/)http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3316/3581678916_3663e681c3_o.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/gtothat/3581678916/)http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2479/3580859323_2450bedc1c_o.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/gtothat/3580859323/)http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3365/3581660488_9386dbf6bf_o.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/gtothat/3581660488/)http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3654/3581663524_c9ac85b85d_o.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/gtothat/3581663524/)

[tonydee]

Yup - looks like a shopping mall. Exposure, sharpness look good in all of them. But, looks more like you're documenting the place than doing anything deliberately arty or emotive. Is that more or less what you had in mind, a kind of "hey, let me show you round my mall" series?

Cheers, Tony

[brennasg]

Once again..agree with Tony. I feel like there are some pretty cool architectural features of the mall if you wanted to get a little artistic:)

[Sisyphus]

All good shots. In many cases in and around buildings it's nice to see things uncluttered without people all over the place. But here in most of the shots the shopping mall seems almost abandoned. The series could almost be titled, "Shopping Mall Falls on Hard Economic Times."

[Eccentric M]

thanks for the critiques guys.

tonydee - can you show me some examples?

Sisyphus - this was taken at noon; malls over here start becoming crowded after 4pm.

[rcpcduck]

I agree...tighter crops on some of the shots may have accented the architectural details.......try zooming in on some of the details and you might have some interesting shots.....
quack quack

[tonydee]

tonydee - can you show me some examples?

Since getting an SLR, I don't think I've taken a shot in a shopping mall. They're relatively rare here in Japan: far more freestanding shops. Most shopping areas and practically all shops actually prohibit photography. So, don't really have any examples.

Still, the main difference is the feeling that there's a specific subject... a person, fountain, chair, cabinet, item for sale etc that's the focus of attention. This is lacking from the shots you posted... it's more about the sense of space rather than any one event, person or object. That gives the pictures less impact in my mind. The eye travels around the pictures, but there's no point where you feel you're contemplating the essence of it all, and empathising with the photographer's instinct to have taken the photo. Hope that helps a little in suggesting what you might add in future: find something you want to capture because it's emotive for you, rather than just trying out your new lens for its own sake....

Cheers, Tony

[Markitos]

Yup - looks like a shopping mall. Exposure, sharpness look good in all of them. But, looks more like you're documenting the place than doing anything deliberately arty or emotive. Is that more or less what you had in mind, a kind of "hey, let me show you round my mall" series?

Cheers, Tony

+1... just because you're shooting something with a DSLR rather than a P&S doesn't make it automatically better. And I'm definitely not saying that there aren't good opportunities taking photos in a mall....