Golden Gate, b&w

Oso

I was driving through S.F. earlier last month and pulled over to take this.

Looks nice in color, but I thought I'd give it a try in B&W. Thoughts? Dramatic or kinda dark, self-indulgent, poorly executed and cliched crap? (or perhaps something in between).



Tx, Steve
Blog: http://stevehymonphotos.blogspot.com/

Earache

I like it Steve... with these thoughts;

* It is a little dark, but as so, lends to the drama and probably, is a YMMV aspect.
* The light on the water creates a false horizon and so, it seems (I know it's actually level) to dip to the right - the perspective on the bridge lends to this - maybe split the difference?
* The earth/sky ration is heavily weighted to sky - perhaps a bit more foreground?
* ^^ Having said that, I always struggle with these comps that include expanses of featureless water as they sometimes create too much (relatively) negative space.
Where's a breaching Whale when you need one!
* The silhouettes have a nice WTH factor.
* It's a nice image - the sky is wonderful and the beams over the bridge are cool, so, I say, Keeper!
* I see nothing self-indulgent - unless you were scarfing Krispy-Kreme doughnuts on scene! :-)

Oso

Hey Eric --

Thanks much for the good suggestions. I'll give them a try during next Lightroom session. The horizon one is tricky -- the pic has a water horizon line and one below that which is actually the end of Crissy Field. Needless to say, the Photo Gods did not allow them to be the same!

Best,

Steve

Earache

Oso wrote: »

Hey Eric --

Thanks much for the good suggestions. I'll give them a try during next Lightroom session. The horizon one is tricky -- the pic has a water horizon line and one below that which is actually the end of Crissy Field. Needless to say, the Photo Gods did not allow them to be the same!

Best,

Steve

OMG Steve.... I'm so sorry! I looked closer, and now I see that I mistook the foreground as water, and of course, it is a field.
So, regarding the horizon (and the Whale).... in the famous words of Emily Littela -"Never Mind"

Pteranodon

I think this is good, I'll say classic and not cliche. My only nitpick- the object silhouette in the left hand side is distracting from the image because it isn't exactly obvious what it is. Part of me doesn't like how it's competing against the tower of the bridge, that's not such a good element.

Oso

Hey Pteranodon;

Thanks for the comment and that's a good point -- I went back and forth on that and decided to leave it in. It's actually some kind of temporary art installation with several other similar pieces around Crissy Field. I tried cropping it but then the image was too tight on the bridge, so I figured what the hell, I'll leave it in and justify it by saying I was going for an air of mystery or something like that

Best,

Steve
http://stevehymon.smugmug.com
Blog: http://stevehymonphotos.blogspot.com/