Balboa Park; Old Globe Plaza

I'm a novice interested in improving composition.

I made this image last week and while I feel pretty good about, I'm sure it has many short comings.

I want to learn something from this image; so would appreciate some really tough love.

So sock it to me

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great building to shoot - both from afar and some close shots. This pictured is marred by the pergola on the left and the overhang on the right.

I appreciate you may have been limited as to where you could shoot from and still get everything in shot, but the structure on the left is a little distracting.

Also, just to be slightly picky, the main building looks like it's leaning, which is a result of using a fairly wide angled lens and tilting your camera upwards - it causes the vertical lines to converge towards the centre, making your vertical lines look less vertical. You can correct this to a degree in post processing.

I wonder if it's possible to go back there again, but instead of holding the camera in a horizontal (landscape) oritentation you could rotate it so it's in a vertical (portrait) orientation? That would allow you to get the entire building in shot, but you would also be able to stand a bit closer and not have the roof getting in the frame, nor the wooden structure on the left hand side.

Also you may not have to tilt the camera as far back to get the top of the building in the frame.

pelooyen wrote in post #12507757
great building to shoot - both from afar and some close shots. This pictured is marred by the pergola on the left and the overhang on the right.

Yes, I too felt it got in the way.

I noticed that but I wasn't sure what caused it. Thanks for explaining. But maybe I can fix it in Photoshop

I live in San Diego so I can shoot it again; I'll try in portrait as you suggest

I guess I was wrong about the the overhang.

I didn't set it up when I took the picture but when saw it in the editor I thought it was cool, the way the angle followed the line of the tops of the buildings.

Well, it would be fun to compare. It might look better with the overhang and structure in the shot.

Great critique in here so far! Just thought i'd point out that i really like the color you brought out in the building, specifically the yellow partly due to the very blue skies. I look forward to future shots of this same building!

JayZ235 wrote in post #12509540
Great critique in here so far! Just thought i'd point out that i really like the color you brought out in the building, specifically the yellow partly due to the very blue skies. I look forward to future shots of this same building!

]Ok, here's two. It appears that I can only upload that many at one time.

I don't understand the Sticky instructions on uploading. I get the 1024 part but what about the file size? What the combined (2 images) max file size? I've failed to upload several times; I assuming it was because the file was too large, but how would I know, there is no indication, just no images in the post. I reduced these images to 6x at 100ppi. I guess that's what happened again. No images, even though two images show on the upload list.

I'll try again and reduce them way down

JayZ235 wrote in post #12509540
Great critique in here so far! Just thought i'd point out that i really like the color you brought out in the building, specifically the yellow partly due to the very blue skies. I look forward to future shots of this same building!

Another try. one is 340x227 100ppi 226k the other about the same.

It worked but they are rather small. compared to the others I've seen here; and my original.

I see how the tower in the second one leans o the right. Need to go into Photoshop and check out the feature that corrects that.

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Out of the two new ones I prefer the composition of the second (right hand side) one. It seems more balanced than the other one, the tree on the left hand side balances it nicely.

Also, if it was the main tall building you wanted to capture you could take a photograph in portrait orientation instead of landscape and then you'd be able to get the entire building in from top to bottom.

JoYork wrote in post #12514821
Out of the two new ones I prefer the composition of the second (right hand side) one. It seems more balanced than the other one, the tree on the left hand side balances it nicely.

Also, if it was the main tall building you wanted to capture you could take a photograph in portrait orientation instead of landscape and then you'd be able to get the entire building in from top to bottom.

Yes, that's the one I like as well. I kinda want to keep the Theater in the picture because it's the Globe Globe Plaza; taking it out makes it more about the Tower. I just like that the tower is a significant part of the Plaza. That's why I didn't crop out everything else.

another thing you might want to try out is taking pics of this structure at different times during the day. in the photos you've posted, there are some super dark shadows. You could see how the shots look when shooting early, mid afternoon, and late afternoon.

and hey, while you're at it, if its lit well at night bust out a tripod and see what it looks like at night

Dirk Funk wrote in post #12517470
another thing you might want to try out is taking pics of this structure at different times during the day. in the photos you've posted, there are some super dark shadows. You could see how the shots look when shooting early, mid afternoon, and late afternoon.

Yes, I've done that. Actually early morning is the only time this side of the building gets sun.

I have taken my tripod to the park to gets nights shots; it's a great place for that because of the lighting. The last night shot I did, here, was at Christmas; with the Christmas tree. Used it in my Christmas card.

Thanks

Mike you want to get a tilt-shift lens for this shot and get out from under the over hangs. Move into the square and shoot without canopy. Even with a tilt-shift you likely have to make lens corrections. No worries a properly captured image can be manipulated fairly easily in post.

jetcode wrote in post #12520423
Mike you want to get a tilt-shift lens for this shot and get out from under the over hangs. Move into the square and shoot without canopy. Even with a tilt-shift you likely have to make lens corrections. No worries a properly captured image can be manipulated fairly easily in post.

That's a pretty expense option and I just blew a wad on my 60D. Think I'll concentrate on post.