First Thoughts on MC#4

KevXman

Here's one attempt on my first thoughts on the challenge. All C&C is not only welcome, but needed.



Thanks for looking.
— Kevin

Halite

To my eye, the image is too placid to convey "energy". The only sign that anything is going on is the relatively small puff of smoke.

The image is nice, well-composed, with lovely colors. But it just reads as more "antique factory" than as "energy".

DsrtVW

Kevin it does look good for what it is. I love old buildings I did the same thing the first shot I took was of the first power plant in the area, really cool place as far as building and equipment.
http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=22909
It was an energy producing entity but after looking at the shots did not make feel energy if that makes any sense. I still might go back and shoot the inside which was not open that day.
I find this subject to be a tough one, while there are many sources of energy it is hard to convey in a still photo.

richtersl

It's a nice photo, but for the Mega it needs to show a bit more "oomph".

More smoke from the smokestack perhaps? Maybe make the smokestack + smoke the center of attention like in some of these shots? http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=COe&ei=fKcISuHELIKItgeYveicBw&resnum=0&q=smokestack&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

Katmitchell

My Thoughts
Hi Kevin,:D

Well.... I get where your coming from here.. However, I see clouds and not smoke or steam from the stack, perhaps it gives this impression because of the bright blue sky..

The stack in this composition looks like it is bowed out some and not straight, and that keeps grabbing my attention along with the odd crop at the bottom.

The composition is almost successful and you shot it well giving us some awesome and exhilarating height at a good angle; it really pulls my eyes and attention "upward towards where you want my attention, "on the energy" However, there is not enough energy at the top...

You gave us the light colored pavement as a foreground, and it does draw my attention and gives me an exit.. however, it seems too tight of a crop down there, and does not give me a complete and pleasing exit, and so I feel a little trapped in the photo. When I think of an energy producing plant, I think of a large building kicking out energy, and we are getting very little of the building in view here..

I hope this helps....


There is a lot of potential here with a re-shoot or a rework.

Perhaps maybe an HDR while shooting it in the evening with the sun coloring it with copper and steel tones while bringing out the rust on the building and reflecting color in the windows?

Or maybe just shoot it non-HDR too, but giving us more building and color by shooting in the evening or even at night, perhaps it is lit up and will give us some light. Extended exposure star lites look good on these types of buildings at night too.. The stack it very bright and generally you think of plant buildings as darker with detailed bricks and steels..

Hope I helped some.. Good luck to you...thumb

Kat

KevXman

Thanks for looking and commenting everyone. I was going for low/suppressed/lack of/etc energy. I have cleaned up and tweeked according to your comments. Oh, and Kat, the smokestack is crooked in real life. That's part of what I liked about it. Also, those are clouds, for which I stood there for 15-20 minutes waiting for them to get in as close to the right position as possible. No reshoot possible. Here it is as entered.

Smoldering Dinosaur



— Kevin

Katmitchell

ok
ok,, well I did not know you were going for lack of energy here... in that case it does well to express that with just the few clouds or smoke up top... I like the way you brightened it up a bit on the rework..

Best of luck to you in winning...

Kat

KevXman

Katmitchell wrote:

ok,, well I did not know you were going for lack of energy here...

That's ok Kat, I was intentionally vague about which way I was going with this hoping that I would get more comments on the technical aspects of the photo and less on whether it met the theme or not. You were very helpful and thorough with your comments though and I appreciate it. Thanks!
— Kevin

Katmitchell

Great
no problem... and kudos to you...for you closing the deal on yours and getting it up there..

still stuck on mine... Good luck to you in the competition..

Kat

rookers

Hey,

Well i think it looks alright. I like it.

Good luck in the competition!

Rooks