Reflections on the road

[yangsimo]

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD550
Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 7.7 mm
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Auto, Did not fire

This was taken with a point and shoot on a trip last year. I tried this in B+W and was really attracted to the light reflecting off the street. The reason I'm posting is I rarely experiment with B+W photography as I'm unable to "see in B+W". Is this the type of image others would choose B+W for? If so, what could I have done to make the composition/tones better?

Thanks.

[Doctor Atomo]

Beautiful shot, looks fine to me.

Where was this taken?

[yangsimo]

Originally Posted by Doctor Atomo

Beautiful shot, looks fine to me.

Where was this taken?

Thanks. This was in the old city of Zadar, Croatia.

[SuperDan]

Fantastic shot!

I love the use tones here

[Murtasma]

In order to me to take my photography to the next level I've decided it's time for me to step up my critique's and give a little more feedback to people. This will help burn into my head as well as others things to watch out for when making an image. Please bear with me as this process is new to me.


Technicals

1. Exposure
The exposure on this photograph appears to be pretty spot on. The buildings in the distance are over exposure but I feel it works pretty well for this image and given the circumstances there may not have been much you could do about it short of using HDR. Under exposing the image could lead to a completely different feel to the photograph, neither would be wrong depending on what you wanted to convey in the image. I think this same place would look pretty cool at night just after a rainstorm.

2. Focus
I may have opted to stop your lens down a few stops depending on what you were focusing on. It's a little hard to tell exactly what you focused on but over all the image is sharp enough.

2. Depth of Field
Looks good

3. Lighting / White Balance
Light is somewhat hash, shadows are pretty deep but it does not distract from the image. I think the hard light worked well here. Soft light would probably not have worked as well. White balance appears correct but I can't say 100% since the image is black and white.

4. Color
I like the black and white, with out seeing the color version I can't say for sure which would be better but my money is on black and white. The tones in the image are very similar leading me to believe that the buildings were all a similar color. If the buildings had lots of color or one building was some out landish color, color may have been the correct route to go. I think in this particular image you made a good conversion, perhaps a little light but I like the look and feel.

5. Effort
It looks like you did a good job with composition, exposure may use a little tweaking. You may have waited for people to move out the street to obtain a clean shot. If so that would also have demonstrated to me some effort and previsualization on your part which is good. Otherwise I don't think a shot like this requires a ton of effort to pull off.

Composition


6. Centered / Rule of Thirds
Framing looks good I don't think I would change a much here. Perhaps just some slight adjustments, crouch down so the street fills more of the frame since I find the reflection to be most interesting in the image.

7. Crop
Looks good no comment here.

8. Tonal Range
You have pure whites and blacks and middle grays. Tonal Range looks good perhaps all little on the light side but I enjoy the lightness of the image.

9. Leading Lines
Good use of leading lines here, the buildings draw your eyes into the road which has a nice reflection on the surface that appears to be from a recent rainfall but which is probably not actually the case. The lightness of road, sky and distance buildings gives me the impression of rain when there may have actually been none, which is cool.

10. Dark Vs Light
The distant buildings a little light I would like to see this corrected in the future with an exposure adjustment or shooting during a different time of day.

11. Balance
I enjoy the balance, crouching down may have given even more depth to the image and stronger leading lines.

12. Direction
The first thing I notice in the photo is the strong leading lines and interesting stone road. The subject here appears to be the road, my eye is drawn to it quickly but then leads off into the white area in the background. If the background was less white I think the eye would tend to stay where you want it a little longer.

How does it make me feel?

The image makes me feel a alone or empty because the streets are empty, the processing on the road looks like it just finished raining and everyone is still sitting around inside. I'm not sure if this was what you were intending but if so then I think....

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Thank you for sharing!

BTW Were was this taken? What was the weather really like? Why did YOU decide to take this picture?

[yangsimo]

Thank you so much for the detailed critique. This is how amateurs like myself can learn.

This picture was taken in the old city part of Zadar in Croatia. I was there on a business trip (hence the point and shoot camera I used) but got up early in the morning to walk around the city. What struck me was how clean every street and alley were, so much so that the sunlight was reflected off the stones. I walked around the entire region to find an empty street with the lighting the way I wanted it. I wanted to convey a sense of emptyness but also cleansiness, if that makes sense.

Thanks again for the valuable input.

[Judilori]

Wonderful shot! My eyes traveled right up the road taking in the sights

[RllyDrvrIX]

Really enjoy this capture.