Study of the Sydney Opera House - Aesthetic/cropping perspective

[graciousness]

Went for an hour yesterday to practice shooting during golden hours at the Sydney Opera House. I think I did ok, however, as I did study shots, I have to evaluate all of them as part of my learning. Whilst I have questions for all of my shots (in my flickr), I had to choose this one for your critiques.



I really like the effect of the motion blurs of the people in this shot, but I wish that woman on the left side and the woman on top of the stairs (left side) weren't there. Then that man sitting on the top stair would get the focus it deserves.

Do I, then, crop this shot to make it square, getting rid of that distracting left side?

What would you do?

Oh, also, I had a hard time straightening this photo --- does it look balanced to you?? The stairs go to diminishing point here, which made it difficult to balance the architecture against it. Does the architecture look straight to you? I've found I had this problem in a lot of my shots. Is this from lens distortion?


Your comments and honest critiques would be kindly appreciated! Of course, I would also love to receive advise on other technical aspects of this shot.

(B&W conversion, I thought was better in this shot than colour. Shot cropped as such on the top most tip of the building as I was already against a construction wall to take this shot. I also decided to crop the tip of that roof because there is a hideous security camera there.)

EDIT: I mean the blurred woman on the RIGHT side, not LEFT!! Me and my stupidity with always getting left/right confused!!

Cheers!

Grace

Exif data

Camera Canon EOS 40D
Exposure 0.25 sec (1/4)
Aperture f/16.0
Focal Length 24 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias -1/3 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

Lens: 24-105mm L
Circular Polariser used
Taken around 5:30 pm Sydney time
Hand held

[jeanneholverstott]

While not a consideration/question you put forth, I would have liked to have seen the Opera House not cut off on the left.

[graciousness]

Many thanks for that!

Yes, I would have to! I was concentrating on the people passing by and wanted to focus on getting some of their movement, including that woman on the left. Alas, though, she was too blurry and it caused distraction instead.

I do have another shot, in colour, where you do get to see the structures more in full (in my flickr). But then that's a different evaluation altogether, as the people in it didn't pose to be as interesting as in this shot (different 'aesthetic' altogether as far as study). I do prefer that coloured shot, though.

Of course, your critique is valuable and did ask for as much as I can so many thanks for that! I had to concentrate my question, however, as per critique rule so asked about the tight cropping to see if I can save this shot.

Cheers!

[edbayani]

i like this bw photo of the opera. i wish the top of the left most structure was not cut.
since your title is study of the opera house, aesthetic cropping, perspective, maybe you should wait for the moment when there are no people that distracts from the wonderful perspective and architecture.

[RichardTaylor]

To me it is a great idea that just needs a little refining in its execution.

The curve of the stairs (easier to see on a larger Flickr pics) is due to lens distortion that can be fixed during PPing.

I feel the pic is too tight as it is. The cut off building and cut off people in the foreground, and the people on the left don't help.

If you do not have a wider (and 24mm on a crop camera is really not wide enough around the Opera House) lens try shooting it from another position or even in portrait orientation.
You may need a bit of luck in timing for the people to be in the right place. However if you a shooting from a tripod you may be able to take a series of exposures and just merge parts of the scenes with people in the right place when PPing.

[graciousness]

Originally Posted by edbayani

maybe you should wait for the moment when there are no people that distracts from the wonderful perspective and architecture.

THe trouble is that there were literally hundreds of people that time and you just couldn't get an instant when you didn't have people around your shots. It was frustrating, so I thought perhaps I should change my tactic and incorporate the people in it, hence this shot. In such popular structures such as this, there is never a time when there aren't gazillion tourists milling about

Thanks for your critique!

Originally Posted by RichardTaylor

To me it is a great idea that just needs a little refining in its execution.

The curve of the stairs (easier to see on a larger Flickr pics) is due to lens distortion that can be fixed during PPing.

I feel the pic is too tight as it is. The cut off building and cut off people in the foreground, and the people on the left don't help.

If you do not have a wider (and 24mm on a crop camera is really not wide enough around the Opera House) lens try shooting it from another position or even in portrait orientation.
You may need a bit of luck in timing for the people to be in the right place. However if you a shooting from a tripod you may be able to take a series of exposures and just merge parts of the scenes with people in the right place when PPing.

Hello Richard, it's been a while

You've confirmed my thoughts about the issues I saw on a lot of my photos, which is lens distortion! I wasn't quite sure if that was the case but now you've confirmed it. Cheers for that.

I will have to do some reading on this, as I don't understand lens and they're role on lens distortion. So on my crop sensor camera, I can still use a wide angle lens and it won't cause distortion? I will figure out how to fix distortions in Aperture, otherwise, Photoshop CS3 (the horror!!).

I fiddled with my tripod which I brought with me but I had such a hard time with it. I think I need a new head I ended up just doing handheld shots out of frustration and I was running out of time.

A question - I found that certain skies in some of my photos have 'layering'....is this chromatic aberration? How do I avoid this without the use of PP or is this something I can't avoid if I'm taking shots directly towards bright sky?

Cheers and many thanks again for your reply!

[ChrisBrn]

I particularly like the fact that there are these people on the foreground!

IMO it works very well,because its them that "give" scale to the building shapes and them being blur they don't distract you from the main theme (the building) . They add dynamism too...
If they werent those blur figures, you should have put them!
For me architecture is more than just shapes and therefore it doesnt "exist" (or it is dead) with absolutely no people around...
As a mirror doesnt exist in an empty room... (only when someone stands in front of a mirror the mirror is)
Finally, yes it would be preferable if the building wasnt cut off, but NOT if you'd have to cut off the free space on the right (which gives you a sense of openness, depth & freedom)

I love that photo as it is!

EDIT: I wouldnt be afraid to put that security camera in the picture too, it's part of the building now... (it is there on the other roofs), also when we look at the photo we look at the building, so why should we mind if it looks back at us? ;-)

[RichardTaylor]

Chromatic aberration is usually a thine purplish line between areas if high contrast, like leaves on a white sky.
Could you post an example of the "layered" sky?

[graciousness]

I've re-edited my post - I meant to ask about the blurred woman on the RIGHT side, not the left!! Grrrrrr...I hate my stupidity with lefts and rights!! Sorry about that!

[graciousness]

Chris, many thanks for your critique I do share your opinion regarding the roles of people with architecture as I believe in the dynamic relationship between the two subjects.

In this photo, I am looking for some balance and I am/wasn't quite sure if it would be better achieved without that woman on the right. It didn't bother you, though, so that's good to know from another person's perspective.

Richard, here is an example where there is this layering effect in the sky as oppose to gradual toning.....



I don't know if you'll see it in your monitor, but I see it in mine. Do you? Is this an effect of chromatic aberration?

Actually, I can see the layering in the B&W photo above - the one for critique. On the right side - do you see it?