LPS19 - Flurry

Llywellyn

After sitting out a round, I seem to have lost my stride a little (though I enjoyed lazing around for the holidays ). I have been working on this image for a week now, and I'm still just "meh" about it. There are a few things I plan to clean up still, but it's just lacking something in execution to my eyes.

What're your thoughts? Have I just been staring at it too long? :dunno

EDIT: Thanks to the great feedback, I reprocessed this from scratch in an effort to fix some of the problems. Thematic debate aside, does the photo look sharper now? Also, does the new version seem too dark to you?

Old Flurry


New Flurry


Thanks for looking! :thumb

HoofClix

I love the concept and composition of the image itself, though it doesn't convey either side of the theme to me. That's truly yours to answer..

What I thought when I first saw in in the entry thread is that is lacks focus or sharpness in the areas that aren't moving, and I can't tell if this is because of the way it is reduced for display or if it's actually the way you shot it... Did you handhold it? What was your focus point? I look at the capitals on the collumns and they also seem blurred...

I think there are a lot of ways to shoot that large space. You could take that shot every day for a year and be going after something entirely different each time. The soft light and contrast display one thing, perhaps peacefullness. So what are you going for?

pyroPrints.com

At first glance i really liked it. But it does lack a little sharpness. I think a reshoot using this angle and some other angles is in order, but it certainly has potential.

Llywellyn

Thanks so much for your feedback! I think the lack of sharpness is compression as well as some lazy layer masking that I need to go back and fix. This was shot on a tripod at f/22.0 with focus set 1/3 of the way in (the forward columns), and it looks tack sharp in PS. I'll try to figure out why it went a little dreamy after uploading here.

As for theme...people moving = actions in my mind. But interpretation is king here. No one else may agree with me.

I was trying to get the light to highlight the people moving on the ground, to emphasize the action, as I saw it. That's my goal!

sherstone

The moving people fit the theme in my interpretation of it.

I too had the first thought of -- "hmmm what is with the softness?"
If you can figure it out, that would be awesome!

Shudderz

Llywellyn wrote:

As for theme...people moving = actions in my mind. But interpretation is king here. No one else may agree with me.

I was trying to get the light to highlight the people moving on the ground, to emphasize the action, as I saw it. That's my goal!

I agree people moving = action...BUT...they are not the focus of this image. The architectural structure and details are so overwhelming in this image that I think the people moving will be a second thought to most viewing it. They do not appear to be the "subject" of the image.

Just my .02 FWIW

Llywellyn

sherstone wrote:

I too had the first thought of -- "hmmm what is with the softness?"
If you can figure it out, that would be awesome!

Yeah...I'm thinking it's a variety of factors. I had to do some major stitching and correction for barrel distortion, plus masking several layers. I'll need to filter down through my workflow to see when the quality started to deterioriate and see if I can't fix it. Mental note: do not do elaborate masking at midnight after your first day back at work after a two-week vacation.

Shudderz wrote:

I agree people moving = action...BUT...they are not the focus of this image. The architectural structure and details are so overwhelming in this image that I think the people moving will be a second thought to most viewing it. They do not appear to be the "subject" of the image.

Just my .02 FWIW

I agree with you. I've been struggling to adjust the lighting to bring the focus back to the people, so I'll tweak it more. I just can't bring myself to crop the top (it fixes the issue, sure, but dang I hate losing all that cool architecture ).

Shudderz

Llywellyn wrote:

Yeah...I'm thinking it's a variety of factors. I had to do some major stitching and correction for barrel distortion, plus masking several layers.

Is this why the walls appear to be falling/buldging in?

Llywellyn wrote:

agree with you. I've been struggling to adjust the lighting to bring the focus back to the people, so I'll tweak it more. I just can't bring myself to crop the top (it fixes the issue, sure, but dang I hate losing all that cool architecture ).

I love the architecture in this picture (I was an architecture major)...however, seeing as the theme is ACTION or THOUGHTS....I don't know if this image conveys either idea strong enough to be a contender. Just my .02....take it or leave it.

Aside from LPS 19......I'd continue to rework the image to correct the softness etc. It has the potential to be a beautiful image.

shatch

Great shooting location and fun composition. The barrel distortion is a little distracting but the photo yet stands on its own. Nice job.

Llywellyn

Thanks again to all for the feedback. I've edited the first post to add the reprocessed version (started from scratch in an attempt to avoid the fuzziness caused by excessive masking in the first version). Am I moving the right direction?

pyroPrints.com

Llywellyn wrote:

Am I moving the right direction?

Yes

Llywellyn

pyroPrints.com wrote:

Yes

Danke!

sherstone

noticeably sharper! You fixed the leaning walls nicely.

Llywellyn

sherstone wrote:

noticably sharper! You fixed the leaning walls nicely.

Thank you! It helps to not try editing after midnight.

shatch