#31 - No Lines

whiterice

I'm interested in initial feedback before I spend any more time on this image. I have 2 other options but haven't started the post work on them.

Is this theme worthy? Composition? :dunno



Thanks for looking.

DsrtVW

It certainly pops with the color. The only sense of open or closed I get is the sign,which shows it is certainly closed but it does not get your attention right away due to the bright busy colors. Contrast seems to fade or dull from bottom to top.

JAG

DsrtVW wrote:

It certainly pops with the color. The only sense of open or closed I get is the sign,which shows it is certainly closed but it does not get your attention right away due to the bright busy colors. Contrast seems to fade or dull from bottom to top.

I wonder if you were to do a selection of the sign and keep it bright in color and tone down the rest by fading them to more muted colors. Also brighten up that top to get rid of the darker contrast in there? Just a suggestion.

travelways

DsrtVW wrote:

It certainly pops with the color. The only sense of open or closed I get is the sign,which shows it is certainly closed but it does not get your attention right away due to the bright busy colors. Contrast seems to fade or dull from bottom to top.

Hi Christopher,

I have to agree with Chris K. on this one. The idea of "closed" is not obvious enough.

- maybe you can take a closer shot, or find another subject...

DsrtVW

I lke JAG's idea about the color selection on the sign leaving the rest in BW or other desaturated condition. It is just to dag gon bright to look closed, needs to be more foreboding as Kerry was stating in the original theme description.
Need some big flames from the great popcorn fire coming out of the roof:D sorry I was getting carried away.

I had a shot of 2 brand new car dealers that had closed recently, but could not get the feeling of loss or abandonment from the shots although they look closed, it did not have any emotion

whiterice

Thanks guys!!
You guys are too great! Thanks for the speedy feedback.

This was one of those grand ideas that was near impossible (for me) to execute. I went to the State Fair this AM bright and early before the public arrived. I thought it would be neat to photograph the midway area when it is empty, no people - a huge contrast to what to we normally see.

And I agree with everyone's comments. The colors here are too bright to really give a feeling that this is closed. I have several shots with the vast expanse of midway emptiness but there is too much visual clutter.

BTW, this is an HDR, and I actually added the "closed" sign in post.

On to idea #2!

Katmitchell

Hi Christopher,


I want this one to work so bad.. I know it does not, but I have to at least say, I love the colors.. At first glance, I thought you were shooting for "open" because of all the inviting colors and yummy treats, then I saw the closed sign.. so I agree with what everyone else said, but I still like the shot by itself outside of it being an entry... I think it is a keeper if you can work on the dark grid up top..

Where you using a lens filter here perhaps?

Nice Shot; loving that tile floor..

Kat

kds1

I thought it was for 'open' also because of the brightness of it and the 2 huge open-looking window areas. And then I saw the sign. Not sure that doesn't work, but it would need to be played up. I realize I'm redundant to others' more practiced opinions here. Just thought I'd put in my 2 cents.

whiterice

Katmitchell wrote:

Hi Christopher,


I want this one to work so bad.. I know it does not, but I have to at least say, I love the colors.. At first glance, I thought you were shooting for "open" because of all the inviting colors and yummy treats, then I saw the closed sign.. so I agree with what everyone else said, but I still like the shot by itself outside of it being an entry... I think it is a keeper if you can work on the dark grid up top..

Where you using a lens filter here perhaps?

Nice Shot; loving that tile floor..

Kat

I've looked at this image so much and worked on it so much that I think I REALLY hate it now! Nope, no filter, just a little HDR with Photomaxtix. Yeah, that darn dark grid....that's a result of the HDR conversion because the originals look just fine. I'm still new to the HDR software - it's probably the way I tone mapped it.

whiterice

kds1 wrote:

I thought it was for 'open' also because of the brightness of it and the 2 huge open-looking window areas. And then I saw the sign. Not sure that doesn't work, but it would need to be played up. I realize I'm redundant to others' more practiced opinions here. Just thought I'd put in my 2 cents.

Thanks Kara for chiming in!

adbsgicom

Could you crop it to just the one side, so the closed sign is more prominent? What is nice about the theme is everything in the picture except the sign says 'open' -- all the stuff is there to see.

whiterice

adbsgicom wrote:

Could you crop it to just the one side, so the closed sign is more prominent? What is nice about the theme is everything in the picture except the sign says 'open' -- all the stuff is there to see.

Hi Andrew - funny, I was playing around with some of those state fair images today, mostly to experiment with LR presets, etc. Now this darn image is starting to grow on me because everything screams "open" but that tiny sign says "closed".

I've got to fix that dark gradient issue. Was wondering if it would be best to dodge/burn or to use some sort of gradient in CS4?? You all would scream if you saw the workflow for this image.....it's probably so degraded and mucked up at this point.

Anyway, just for fun, here are a few of those shots - I was worried that the colors weren't bright enough...



And I sort of like the vast emptiness in this one.....

adbsgicom

I think they are plenty neon, almost unreal until you account for it being a carnival...