Bridge over the Sea !

[prashant_s]

This is the shot of the bridge and want some critique on this so that i can improve on my next shot..

Location : Bandra Worli Sea Link, Mumbai - India.




EXIF Info :

Camera: Canon
Model: Canon EOS 500D with 18-55 Lens
ISO: 200
Exposure: 1/15 sec
Aperture: 11.0
Focal Length: 34mm
Flash Used: No

Cheers,
Prashant S.

[cristen]

Nice shot and cool colors. It has good composition also. But there are several things that bother me: 1) that clump clump of black at the bottom right, probably rocks, 2) too much glare (for me) on the horizon at the right. Both can be corrected with a tighter crop. and 3) the buildings at the other end of the bridge could be seen from underneath it. I would have framed it in a way that they would appear on top of the bridge. But then, would it look just as nice?

[prashant_s]

Originally Posted by cristen

Nice shot and cool colors. It has good composition also. But there are several things that bother me: 1) that clump clump of black at the bottom right, probably rocks, 2) too much glare (for me) on the horizon at the right. Both can be corrected with a tighter crop. and 3) the buildings at the other end of the bridge could be seen from underneath it. I would have framed it in a way that they would appear on top of the bridge. But then, would it look just as nice?

Cristen, thanks for the criticque. Abt the 3rd point. I wanted to get that shot and it was there on my mind, but frm the spot frm where i shot this ..this was the least thing i could get. But will surely try this on my next visit to this place.
1 and 2: yeah you are right....they are rocks and i could have cropped it little tighter.

Thanks for the suggestions.
Regards,
Prashant

[NgaiHill]

I feel like the bridge kinda disappears in mid air due to the way it curves, my first thought was, what would it look like if you were on the other side of the bridge (left) so that you see the inside of the curve.
On the other hand I like what you did to show the buildings under the bridge although the bottom of the bridge appears to cut their tops off.
If you are able to revisit the spot are you able to gain a little height to change your perspective?
Look forward to seeing more.

[SwissJon]

I like this shot.. I agree that a tighter crop, losing some of the empty space on the right would improve this.

Personally I think this might have been enhanced by moving DOWN a little so that the buildings could be seen whole under the bridge, at the moment they're getting cropped.. For me that would have enhanced things.

[Krusty79]

My take is that there are 3 things in this image that bug me. The first two have already been mentioned.
1. The rocks in the lower right corner.
2. The bridge disappears in mid-air.
3. The sky is grey, the water is grey and the shot looks kind of dull, as the colors do not "pop." Were you going for this kind of monochrome(ish) look? The dull, grey sky is pretty dominant in this shot. I would suggest reshooting when you have a more interesting sky.

I also agree that a change in elevation could improve the perspective of this shot. On the positive side, I see that you did use the rule of thirds and your horizon looks pretty level.

[prashant_s]

Originally Posted by Krusty79

My take is that there are 3 things in this image that bug me. The first two have already been mentioned.
1. The rocks in the lower right corner.
2. The bridge disappears in mid-air.
3. The sky is grey, the water is grey and the shot looks kind of dull, as the colors do not "pop." Were you going for this kind of monochrome(ish) look? The dull, grey sky is pretty dominant in this shot. I would suggest reshooting when you have a more interesting sky.

I also agree that a change in elevation could improve the perspective of this shot. On the positive side, I see that you did use the rule of thirds and your horizon looks pretty level.

This is not the grey color, it was 5.30 PM to 6PM and it was a clear sky... but within few minutes it was cloudy and thats what you can see over the bridge and as the wind was blowing over the water it shows a diffrent texture in color.


But will surely try to shoot this again next weekend with the complete curve of the bridge.

Thanks for your suggestions and critics.

Regards,
Prashant

[SwissJon]

Unfortunately, the difference between a good shot and a great shot is not neccesarily shown in the story behind it and difficulty in obtaining it. You can spend many many hours planning your perfect shoot, only to have mother nature ruin it for you at the last minute.. National Geographic don't care what the weather was doing, or how many weeks you took in getting the shot, an image that fails to inspire their readers won't make their pages.

An observer isn't interested in the photographer, they're interested in the photograph, so we must be too.. I don't know how many landscape photography books I've read where the photographer says they went back day after day, week after week to the same spot, until the light and the weather were just so. We need to imagine how a scene will look at an optimal moment in time, not at the particular moment in time that we happen to be standing there, and then keep returning until the scene looks how we want it to look.

Great Landscape photos aren't often taken by accident, because we don't often stumble upon the perfect scene with the perfect light, they're taken by the commitment of the photographer to get whet they want from a scene, not what they are given at a particular moment in time.

What I guess I'm saying is that this seems to be a really photogenic spot, you should go back, and keep taking photos, even on the bad light days, (And nights) until you get the composition just right, then mark the spot, and come back when the lighting is just right and the weather is just right and it all comes together into one superb photograph.

LoL.. My GPS is packed full of Points Of Interest that I've noticed while I've been out and about, and put them into categories like "Stormy Day", "Sunset", "Night" etc. Then when I'm out looking to take a photo, I just turn on the GPS and go to the nearest PoI that matches the lighting conditions that I'm currently experiencing.. You never know what you might get when you save a scene for a different day.