Condemned

[dpgiffin]

This is the first photo i'm putting up to be critiqued. I took it last month. It was rather impromptu, before i started reading this site. But i liked the shot and wanted to know what you all thought of it with me not knowing much at the time (i still don't! haha). Specifically i'm curious to know how the composition could be improved including camera settings. This was done on semi automatic on my camera with no tripod

Canon EOS Rebel XT
Exp: 1/1000
Ap F/18
18mm Focal Length
ISO 1600

I know the ISO could have been lower and should have at least been at 800. I just wasn't thinking.

[Sterling]

Actually, your ISO could've been at 100 pretty easily. This would've lowered your shutter speed to about 1/60 which is plenty fast enough when shooting at 18mm. Or you could've opened up the aperture a couple of stops and still maintained a very high shutter speed. There really is no reason to degrade a shot with ISO 1600 on a sunny day.

Regarding the composition, obviously the eye is drawn to the yellow sign first. It is a little too far to the edge to comply with a traditional rule of thirds position. I don't know what was to the left of the sign but I wonder if rotating slightly to the left, and putting the sign at the upper left "thirds" intersection would've worked. This would emphasize the beams and the sandy ground which is more interesting than the "ceiling." As it is, that white piece of pipe is a bit distracting.

[dpgiffin]

Thanks sterling/ Like i said it was a pretty impromptu shot. But I definitely will take all of those things into consideration next time. I'm not sure why my ISO was at 1600 to be honest. I won't let that happen again.

I couldn't figure it out before, but something on the right side of the photo was bothering me. It is the pipe! Thanks for that.

[dandellion]

As Sterling said you could easily go with ISO100. Not only that you'd got less noise, but you'd have lower aperture and lower DoF. And lower DoF, would give nice depth to the image. This way there is too much lines an the same plane. Also, the yellow thing should kick into the third.