Abstract subject: "street" photography

Just learning this addictive hobby, and this little fellow caught my eye as I was walking to lunch on Friday. I've done just some basic tweaking in LR5 to get my feet wet, but honestly wasn't sure what to do. Any redeeming qualities?

40mm, f/2.8, 1/400s, ISO250

Thumbs up.

I say this only because you are just getting started, but you can often get sharper images with smaller apertures. F/5 vs f/2.8. Not that the image lacks sharpness but you never know, it could be sharper.

agree with the above, would like to see this with no OOF area on the bottom. Assuming this was shot at a slight angle. Get perfectly level with the flat surface, stop down I'd say even to f/8 to minimize OOF in this situation. Also, try breaking out of the rule of thirds a little, it's rather obvious here. I think the blue ball placed on the point of a golden intersection might actually work better. For post processing, since this is abstract, dont be scared to be a little more liberal in post. Personally I might destaurate the blacktop, and make thr blue ball pop even more. All in all, a decent capture. Keep it up!

I like it

hiketheplanet wrote in post #17196163
agree with the above, would like to see this with no OOF area on the bottom. Assuming this was shot at a slight angle. Get perfectly level with the flat surface, stop down I'd say even to f/8 to minimize OOF in this situation. Also, try breaking out of the rule of thirds a little, it's rather obvious here. I think the blue ball placed on the point of a golden intersection might actually work better. For post processing, since this is abstract, dont be scared to be a little more liberal in post. Personally I might destaurate the blacktop, and make thr blue ball pop even more. All in all, a decent capture. Keep it up!

Great feedback! I'm hoping the ball will still be there today when I return with better tools. I brought my 100mm macro with me and will stop down DOF plus assure I'm parallel to optimize focus. I'll also work more in LR to make the ball pop; total noob there. I was torn with losing the detail of the asphalt cracks. Just read up on the golden intersection...like the nautilus shell....cool (and vaguely remembered reading about it in a composition book). The current pic isn't cropped much so I'll be able to reposition easily.
Now if I can just avoid getting hit in the parking lot!

Was able to find the spot again and there was a bit less traffic in the lot....not enough time to focus stack, but it's better. It's really a miracle I found it the first time because it had been raining and made the blue pop. When I went today, it was dried out and a pale chalky blue. I poured a bit of water over the area and voila, it popped again! Even a big cloud diffused the sun for a couple of minutes before relenting.
Both shots at 100mm, f/8, ISO400

Starting a bit further away. PP: I took out the minor bits of other colors except for the blue which I upped the saturation and sharpness a bit. Moved the ball a bit over to the golden intersection. This blue is also much closer to the actual bead.

the cropped shot looks better for me.

i think i might like something between the crop in the original post and the crop of the first in post 7. It gives more of a sense of place.

the desaturated rocks don't really do it for me either. Again, something in-between full saturation and desaturated might be the answer.

If you turn "IMAGE EDITING OK" on through the User CP, others can take a stab at editing this in post.

hiketheplanet wrote in post #17203862
If you turn "IMAGE EDITING OK" on through the User CP, others can take a stab at editing this in post.

Done. Thanks.
The linked image is of a course a highly resized jpg version of the full RAW.

Here's my go at it. Cropped (heavily) and some adjustments. Tried to fill the frame more.

I like the first image posted the best. The ball breaks the repeating patterns found in the asphalt. By reducing the area of the repeating patterns, the ball doesn't have the same impact.

I arrived at the same conclusion...a little further out the better.
1-it helps identify the setting
2-it helps establish the pattern of the cracks to give the ball something to break up
I almost interpret it as the ball fell like a meteor and created the cracks upon impact

AudiOx wrote in post #17204434
I arrived at the same conclusion...a little further out the better.

My thoughts exactly. The ball is not really the main subject, the pattern in the asphalt is and the ball disrupts that pattern. Closeups of the ball just reduce the pattern.
Your viewer's eye will be drawn immediately to the ball regardless of it's size in the image.