Tower of Light

[thekevinmonster]

Haha, it's not a tower of light, it's a tower with a light on it. And it's during the day, so it's not even lit up.



What I'm wondering:

- Should I have cropped the bottom part off the tower (where the grass is)

- is the sky too dark? (I used a polarizer, and also goosed the contrast. I think the whole photo may be underexposed.. it looked almost overexposed on my mac at home)

- Is it 'ok' to crop photos to all kinds of weird dimensions, or should I keep them to 'standard' sizes for prints? (I don't print, but maybe there's some aesthetic reason?)

[windrider86]

Now to me, I would think if you cropped out the trees at the bottom it would lose the effect of how tall it is. And no I dont dont think its underexposed.

[clockdoc]

I think the cropping is fine as the wire configuration adds to the overall shot. This would make a great documentary shot for the company that owns the tower or the entity that operates it. Cropping generally is a matter of taste or as prescribed by its end use in a magazine or a newspaper column where a narrower size may be necessary. Nice work!

[jiminyClickit]

thekevinmonster,

If anything, I'd add more of the greenery at bottom. It presents a more complete look and would add to the sense of height.

[wulf]

You can crop to whatever size you want, although odd choices may mean you have to add some padding borders if you want to print or display at standard sizes later on.

Back to this shot in particular, I think the exposure is fine but the overall composition, despite strong colours, looks unexciting and rather cluttered. For example, I find that cloud towards the top centre, which looks like it is caught in the tower, is distracting - a couple of seconds earlier or later, with it less centred, might have made a stonger result.

It works okay as a personal memory of a place but a different perspective (eg. standing closer and looking up) would have made a more dramatic photo.

Wulf