I took this shot in Vancouver at the brockton point lighthouse, I find that everyone takes a photo of the actual lighthouse or some composition of the lighthouse. The nice part is that there is an actual lower section where you walk under and through the actual lighthouse. I ended up taking this shot at f2 to try and cause a lack of depth, to have a high shutter speed to catch the birds that were flying around, and also make a highly layered image more flat. Any feedback regarding composition or colour selection would be greatly appreciated.
Some banding may be present on the image when I upload it to fstoppers but it's not there on any of my actual monitors.
Hi Jaspreet,
Lovely image. Great catch with the bird. If you let your eyes relax, it almost has an abstract nature with the strong shape element of the black area. The only suggestion I have would be the crop. If you have it on the original and this is cropped, adding the bottom back in so that the point where the left sidewalk meets the wall would be great. I would also portrait crop it. It would turn the view into sort of a keyhole.
Just a suggestion. I like the image overall.
Looking forward to more from you!
:)
Hey Ruth,
thank-you for your feedback, I do like the keyhole look that you've given to the image, the issue when I shot this was that I shot this in landscape mode. I have since tried to fill in the base of the image using content aware scale but may I ask how you were able to manipulate the image?
What editing software are you using? Someone here will likely know if it can do this. You want to change your canvas size, fill the new space with black and then use the 'blacks' slider in 'light' to darken your image a bit if you can see where the edge between the old and new section is. For the purposes of the example I opened your image in Google Drawing, changed the canvas size, saved as a jpg and did the rest in polarr which is the photo editing software I use. Google Drawing is not going to preserve a high res file though so this was just for a quick show and tell. Let's hear what you are using and then I'm sure we can advise.
PS - don't forget to comment on other people's posts. You are more likely to get feedback if you are participating in the group's dialog. Even a 'Hey Nice Work' goes a long way!
Hey Ruth,
I'm using photo shop, and Iactually love logging into fstoppers. so many talented people trying different things, I've only ever picked up a camera in my entire life in the last year. I feel like I have so much to learn from everyone here so every new photo presents a chance for me to see something new etc... But thank-you for the help and feedback I really appreciate everyone here.
You are going great. The image on your portfolio is fabulous. Looking forward to more!!
Thanks so much Ruth,
I look forward to seeing more from you as well.
Hi Jaspreet, I'm in general agreement with Ruth, and appreciate your desire to climb outside of the box.
I might try cropping a little from the bottom, but this is a personal preference and encourage you to follow your own artistic tastes.
If using PS you can easily crop to extend the size, marquee to include the new space + small sample of the original and then use content-aware fill (shft-F5) to fill the space.
I truly believe that a great way to learn is to analyze the work of others (what makes it work/not) and through groups like this so highly encourage you to force yourself to comment on others as Ruth suggests (there are NO wrong opinions…)
Lovely image, the bird completes the shot for me.
Hi Alan, thank you for your feedback and encouragement. my original composition choice was to show this from my perspective (I'm tall and I shot it like how you would see something when walking through a doorway) I do think however I could create a tighter crop on the sides as the negative space doesn't contribute much to the original image. Thank you so much for the instructions and I love your work as well. I had a project in mind just a few days ago and after looking at some of your shots it's kind of pushed me to pursue it. Thank-you.
Thanks for your kind comments Jaspreet. I think it important that we each inspire one another so I feel honored I have touched you in this way.
Stay true to yourself and have confidence in your own voice. I look forward to your future posts, both in artwork and comments.