Some autumn shots from Geneva

Carmelo75 · November 11, 2009

Hi, here are few shots I have taken last week aroung Geneva. Any kind of C&C will be appreciated as usual.

The last one is not new, as it has already been "refined" at the refinery...

Carmelo.

#1

#2

#3

invisible · November 11, 2009

I like the first one for its beautiful curves, colours, and zones of light and shadow. The clouds are really nice.

Number 2 would've probably benefited from either more foreground or more sky. As it is, the scene looks a bit unbalanced (at least to me).

The third one is very intriguing, it looks like an impressionist painting (the bottom half in particular). Cool stuff.

Dogdots · November 11, 2009

I really like your last photo...so different and I agree with invisible....its intriguing

Azzaro · November 12, 2009

Hi Carmelo.....I think that the exposure is off a little on the first one..and it seems a little flat....You might check it against your histogram. Its a nice shot and the best of the three...I think.
The second one has the horizon in the middle and that divides your picture in half, and doesnt make for the strongest composition....If you arnt aware of the rule of thirds you might read up on it..... I general live by it.......

Looking forward to your next post.....azzaro

Carmelo75 · November 12, 2009

invisible wrote:

I like the first one for its beautiful curves, colours, and zones of light and shadow. The clouds are really nice.

Number 2 would've probably benefited from either more foreground or more sky. As it is, the scene looks a bit unbalanced (at least to me).

The third one is very intriguing, it looks like an impressionist painting (the bottom half in particular). Cool stuff.

Thanks for the nice comments. I agree, the second one had the horizon too centered. I have uploaded a cropped version...

I also like the third one quite a lot, I now have too see how it comes out when printed large.

Carmelo.

Carmelo75 · November 12, 2009

Dogdots wrote:

I really like your last photo...so different and I agree with invisible....its intriguing

Thanks Mary, for me "so different" is really a compliment, means this time I reached my goal!

Carmelo.

Carmelo75 · November 12, 2009

Azzaro wrote:

Hi Carmelo.....I think that the exposure is off a little on the first one..and it seems a little flat....You might check it against your histogram. Its a nice shot and the best of the three...I think.
The second one has the horizon in the middle and that divides your picture in half, and doesnt make for the strongest composition....If you arnt aware of the rule of thirds you might read up on it..... I general live by it.......

Looking forward to your next post.....azzaro

Hi Azzaro, in fact I am still fighting to get the PP of the first shot as I would like it... it is a blend of three exposures, and not straightforward, but I think I'm improving it. I have replaced the image in the post with an updated one, you can check it out if you are interested.

Same thing for the composition of the second shot, I agree with you and I have updated the image with a cropped one... this time it seems the rule of thirds is valid:D. Some more sky would have helped... next time I have to remember the textbooks before pushing the trigger!

Carmelo.

Azzaro · November 12, 2009

Carmelo75 wrote:

Hi Azzaro, in fact I am still fighting to get the PP of the first shot as I would like it... it is a blend of three exposures, and not straightforward, but I think I'm improving it. I have replaced the image in the post with an updated one, you can check it out if you are interested.

Same thing for the composition of the second shot, I agree with you and I have updated the image with a cropped one... this time it seems the rule of thirds is valid:D. Some more sky would have helped... next time I have to remember the textbooks before pushing the trigger!

Carmelo.

Hi Carmelo.....The first shot is a real improvement..... WELL DONE!!!

The proportions of the rectangle have a lot to do with the composition. Have you heard of the Golden Rectangle???? If not, google it, and read up on it.
If you cut off the bottom part of a pic to meet the rule of thirds, what have you done to the composition????? The Golden Rectangle isnt the end all be all to the perfect pic., but it will make you aware of the importance of the proportions of the rectangle..... IT ISNT EASY, CARMELO.:D

azzaro

Carmelo75 · November 12, 2009

Azzaro wrote:

Hi Carmelo.....The first shot is a real improvement..... WELL DONE!!!

Thanks a lot, your suggestion was very helpful!

Azzaro wrote:

The proportions of the rectangle have a lot to do with the composition. Have you heard of the Golden Rectangle???? If not, google it, and read up on it.
If you cut off the bottom part of a pic to meet the rule of thirds, what have you done to the composition?????

I see what you mean. Indeed this picture gets imbalanced with the crop. I'm not very fan of rules, but it is also true that one has to know the rule in order to break it correctly:D... and that picture does not call for a rule breaking. So I went back to the textbooks and applied the rule

.

Azzaro wrote:

IT ISNT EASY, CARMELO.:D

would it be fun otherwise?

Carmelo

Dogdots · November 12, 2009

Carmelo75 I found this on the Golden Rectangle . If you click on the unlined word TOOLS in the section telling about Golden Spiral or Golden Rectangle you can play with the different shapes on a photo. I just played with the photo that was on the page. Didn't download my own.

Azzaro is right -- it isn't easy.
Rules are to be broken

but rules sometimes help set up a photo too.

Carmelo75 · November 12, 2009

Dogdots wrote:

Carmelo75 I found this on the Golden Rectangle . If you click on the unlined word TOOLS in the section telling about Golden Spiral or Golden Rectangle you can play with the different shapes on a photo. I just played with the photo that was on the page. Didn't download my own.

Azzaro is right -- it isn't easy.
Rules are to be broken but rules sometimes help set up a photo too.

Thanks a lot for the link Mary. So, if I understand correctly, the picture below is "more or less" following the rule of thirds (could be improved)

Dogdots · November 12, 2009

Carmelo75 wrote:

Thanks a lot for the link Mary. So, if I understand correctly, the picture below is "more or less" following the rule of thirds (could be improved)

Like I said....rules are to be broken

If you don't mind I cropped your photo the way I would of cropped it. I'll have it removed if you wish

Key word is "I" meaning this is what I see in my mind as 3rds...or a bit off of the 3rds rule. Thats why I say rules are made to be broken. I'm not a professional at all, but when I look at a photo I offset the subject (most of the time) which I'm assuming are the trees at the top. Then I look to see if I want to show more sky/clouds or ground. In your photo you have some wonderful clouds. The field can be cropped some (like you did) since people will assume that below your crop there is just more field. After those decisions are made I play with the cropping till my eyes come to rest on something that seems to settle the eye. Do I do it weird...yep I do and that's why I'm not a professional

Hopefully someone else will hop in and correct me if I'm way off on this as I'm telling you what I do, but someone with much more knowledge might be of more help to you.

One rule to remember tho...try to do all this before taking the photo. Yikes...I know it's so hard to remember to do that when your excited to take a photo, but when you have the time...slowing down and composing before the shot is taken really helps. Do I remember to slow down....not always

Here is what I did:

Carmelo75 · November 12, 2009

Dogdots wrote:

Like I said....rules are to be broken

If you don't mind I cropped your photo the way I would of cropped it. I'll have it removed if you wish Key word is "I" meaning this is what I see in my mind as 3rds...or a bit off of the 3rds rule. Thats why I say rules are made to be broken. I'm not a professional at all, but when I look at a photo I offset the subject (most of the time) which I'm assuming are the trees at the top. Then I look to see if I want to show more sky/clouds or ground. In your photo you have some wonderful clouds. The field can be cropped some (like you did) since people will assume that below your crop there is just more field. After those decisions are made I play with the cropping till my eyes come to rest on something that seems to settle the eye. Do I do it weird...yep I do and that's why I'm not a professional Hopefully someone else will hop in and correct me if I'm way off on this as I'm telling you what I do, but someone with much more knowledge might be of more help to you.

One rule to remember tho...try to do all this before taking the photo. Yikes...I know it's so hard to remember to do that when your excited to take a photo, but when you have the time...slowing down and composing before the shot is taken really helps. Do I remember to slow down....not always

Here is what I did:

For me, cropping in the camera is still one of the most difficult things to do. In this particular case, I was trying to show the contrast between the lines in the field with the smooth shapes of the clouds, therefore I opted to give a 50/50 share to the two parts, with the trees breaking the symmetry... except that it was clearly a bad choice!!!! The reason why I opted to keep the trees more centered in the cropped version is that otherwise one cuts the big white cloud above them, that is for me making a good part of the picture...

In any case, I have the impression that the rule of patience and good framing is the one I have to start with

Ah, I don't mind at all for any change/improvement of my pictures, I'm just here to learn, so do whatever you like with them, I'll always be thankful.

Carmelo.

Dogdots · November 12, 2009

Carmelo75 wrote:

For me, cropping in the camera is still one of the most difficult things to do. In this particular case, I was trying to show the contrast between the lines in the field with the smooth shapes of the clouds, therefore I opted to give a 50/50 share to the two parts, with the trees breaking the symmetry... except that it was clearly a bad choice!!!! The reason why I opted to keep the trees more centered in the cropped version is that otherwise one cuts the big white cloud above them, that is for me making a good part of the picture...

In any case, I have the impression that the rule of patience and good framing is the one I have to start with

Ah, I don't mind at all for any change/improvement of my pictures, I'm just here to learn, so do whatever you like with them, I'll always be thankful.

Carmelo.

Carmelo -- Have you thought about cropping this in a square? That way you can keep all you like or crop it in a pano type crop. Play with it. You have a lot of room for play with this photo with many options. You may have to give up something that you like, but that's what re-shooting is for

Don't say you made a bad choice. When we start telling our self that we stop creating. I did one just like you here. As you can see from my photo I didn't follow the rules, but when I saw this I just went with what I saw from the position I was standing in. And I like it

Remember its not what we like, but what you like

Carmelo75 · November 14, 2009

Dogdots wrote:

Carmelo -- Have you thought about cropping this in a square? That way you can keep all you like or crop it in a pano type crop. Play with it. You have a lot of room for play with this photo with many options. You may have to give up something that you like, but that's what re-shooting is for

Don't say you made a bad choice. When we start telling our self that we stop creating. I did one just like you here. As you can see from my photo I didn't follow the rules, but when I saw this I just went with what I saw from the position I was standing in. And I like it

Remember its not what we like, but what you like

I think the advantage of being just an amateur is that one is free to do mistakes, regretting at worst to have missed a good opportunity... there is a lot of room for mistakes, and nothing wrong with them. Unfortunately, in this particular case re-shooting is not an option, so I have to work with what I have.

By the way, very nice winter shot, a nice breaking of the golden rectangle rule

.

I'll play bit more with the comp. I'll post some more if I'll be finally satisfied...

Carmelo.

Dogdots · November 14, 2009

Carmelo75 wrote:

I think the advantage of being just an amateur is that one is free to do mistakes, regretting at worst to have missed a good opportunity... there is a lot of room for mistakes, and nothing wrong with them. Unfortunately, in this particular case re-shooting is not an option, so I have to work with what I have.

By the way, very nice winter shot, a nice breaking of the golden rectangle rule .

I'll play bit more with the comp. I'll post some more if I'll be finally satisfied...

Carmelo.

I did break the rules on that winter shot didn't I

Your photo is good -- You'll figure out what you want to do with it

Have fun

Some autumn shots from Geneva

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