Bridge of contrast

[Revald]

The original was lifeless in color, so I went for an antique look to get those contrasts out, not only the contrasts in the picture, but also the contrast of an obvious modern day bridge in an old style photograph. I deliberately darkened it a bit and threw in some vignetting. Please comment if you have the time.

Thanks!

[Clockdoc I]

I am no expert but i like the shot maybe try to crop out a little of the sky (more panoramic)

[The Weird Witch]

What is the triangle in the corner? It is some pp work or what? It looks a little strange to me, but thats just me

[JerInTheBox]

I think it's a jet stream. I agree though, they look a little unnatural, maybe paint them out. I'm a fan of big skies, you could crop it a touch but I dig this.

[steevdavis62]

I agree with the panoramic idea. I think it would really come to life if u cropped it down a bit.

[Revald]

Thanks for the feed-back. I really appreciate it. I tried a version which was cropped for a more panoramic view and I also edited out those jet-streams (don't you just love the spot-healing tool in PS? ). I like the picture better now, so in my own opinion you were all right.



Thanks again!

[jdwalz]

I like your original crop.

The tighter crop may have seemed like it would strengthen the photographic structure of the bridge but in my opinion, it made it look smaller, diminutive in contrast to the original.
People will eternally disagree on what is art and what is constructive photography but I feel the original was artful; the high open sky, dramatic clouds, jet streams (you can never go wrong with a powerful dramatic sky - unless you're shooting baby portraits and even then I might still argue for the "big sky" approach - after all, it's not just for bridges anymore, but I stray....)

The high sky seems to crush the bridge, not making it an afterthought, but rather taking this beautiful bridge and showing it in an atmospheric scale. Reminds me of a picture I once saw of the city of Denver photographed against the Rocky Mountains, and the city looked small, this grand and big city minimized by the largess of the mountain range and I felt there was a genius to that shot, the city was beautiful, the mountains were amazing and it forced a re-alignment of perspective in which the city itself, or perhaps a bridge is not really the grand structure we think it is in comparison to an immense sky filed with softly ripped clouds and a corner of explosive sunlight.

I guess what I am saying in my typical long-winded way is that the original picture seemed to more than a picture of a bridge. The second cut is very much a picture of a bridge, both good, but one, in my opinion is clearly better.

[the_camera_poser]

Hey- the crop really made it come alive for me!

[steevdavis62]

Im sorry Jdwalz, i love the second cut. the panorama excentuates the length of the bridge, disappearing into the distance.. It makes it a much more focused photo. In the first i was confused as to weather the bridge or sky was the focus. Love the second crop. Great shot though

[mrodgers]

Originally Posted by jdwalz

People will eternally disagree.....

Yup, because I'm going to come in with the opposite. I think the crop really emphasizes (sp? I hate not having my firefox while at work..) the length of the bridge allowing it to stretch out to the back of the photo.

I like the mood that the color (or lack of color) gives the scene. I do agree in regard to the original about the jet contrails.

Either way, both versions are great.