Old Gas pump...photoshop done - Want to know if you like

Just wondering if you guys like this conversion! Let me know what you think about it!

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Nice DoF, interesting conversion, the white keyline is kinda of gimmicky, and the subject is too centered in the frame for my tastes.

I like the warm tones of the sepia, but I am not impressed by the composition. It seems too centered in the horizontal direction.

Is it the handle that has you bothered? I see thirds both vertically and horizontally here. Just kid of curious. The funny thing is it looks like it was printed using one of my old negatives with water spots all over them. So in that sense it has a very familiar and comfortable look to it... in an odd way.

The coloring is good, But the spots look like dirt on the glass of a frame. They are way too uniform. Try to put the "age spots" on 2 or three layers. This way you can make some more pronounced, and some very faint. Or even vary thier color a bit. This will help the conversion a lot I think.

i like the effect, but like the others mentioned, the pump is too centered.

Dually noted guys... Don't think the pump has gone anywhere so I'm thinkin I'm goin back. Thanks so much for all the input!

Honestly, the handle fills in the middle 1/3 , the pump fills 2/3rds , and 1/3 is negative space on the left. 2/3rds is in the foreground, 1/3 is background. Just some food for thought. I am obviously seeing this different then you all are.

Croasdail wrote in post #6426354
Honestly, the handle fills in the middle 1/3 , the pump fills 2/3rds , and 1/3 is negative space on the left. 2/3rds is in the foreground, 1/3 is background. Just some food for thought. I am obviously seeing this different then you all are.

I think the consensus is that it's too centered. What's your point?

My point is if you are simply looking at the handle, sure then. But if you look at it as foreground subject vs background negative space, it isn't. Having the subject centered (most still life and portraits are) isn't necessarily a problem. There are times when centering the subject can be an issue - a horizon or when you're showing motion. But there are other times when having the subject centered is perfectly acceptable. The rule of thirds then comes in when you balance the other elements.

That is my point. But I am open minded. How would you have composed the same shot?

I would have centered the handle on the lower left cross.

Croasdail wrote in post #6431329
My point is if you are simply looking at the handle, sure then. But if you look at it as foreground subject vs background negative space, it isn't. Having the subject centered (most still life and portraits are) isn't necessarily a problem. There are times when centering the subject can be an issue - a horizon or when you're showing motion. But there are other times when having the subject centered is perfectly acceptable. The rule of thirds then comes in when you balance the other elements.

That is my point. But I am open minded. How would you have composed the same shot?

Thank you for sharing your point of view. You definitely have an interesting concept of this particular aspect of composition.

My own point of view is that in such a case as the one at hand, finding one of the intersections of the thirds dividing lines is the more conventional approach. In this particular thread the "too centered" votes would seem to have a slight edge.

My initial thought was...

It's confusing me as to why, but the fact that the letter "U" is cut in half is more distracting than the fact than the nozzle might be too centered.

If the letter "U" was pp'd from the image and the contract boosted a bit, I think the centered nozzle would look fine, if not better, than being on a third.

But thinking about it...

I would crop from the image the whole (recessed) area on which the "U" sits.


But then again..

Well at least it go me thinking about it, so it must have something

We're beating this picture to death over nit-picks.

I take full credit for a nit-pick compositional issue by saying that I thought it was too centered. That's just my opinion. Meanwhile, it's a great picture, regardless.
Moving on....