Repeating arches... and a banister

[Vernian]

I have a couple of questions about this shot.

It is actually a fairly well-lit (for human eyes) building on the inside, but I deliberately left this photo a bit darker to emphasise its age and dignity. Does that come through or does it just look under exposed?

Also, the first arch is clipped at the top and the side, do you find that distracting?

And lastly, does the banister work here, should I have included the full post on the left or should I have tried to frame it in such a way that the banister was not included?

I realise its not quite as sharp as it should be, my hand holding technique still requires quite a bit of work, but I did sharpen it in post - and it looks much sharper (over sharp even) now that its on flickr than it did in GIMP - is there a way to turn that off in flickr?

Any other comments/critique is welcome too. Thanks for looking.



Camera Canon EOS 500D
Exposure 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture f/4.0
Focal Length 25 mm
ISO Speed 800

[sk66]

I don't really have issue w/ the exposure... I think I'd prefer a bit more fill and maybe more contrast.

The clipped arch is minor...it's got to break somewhere.

The railing; either more, or none. As is it looks "accidental".

[Krusty79]

I think the age and dignity is coming through. I don't find the clipped arch distracting. Actually, I had to look around because I didn't know if you meant the far one on the left or the near one on the right, so it wasn't that noticeable to me. The banister leads my eye downwards and out of the image, so I don't think it's helping in the present composition. You find your images sharper on Flickr? I haven't found that on my images and I don't know of any setting to adjust that. Some of my images look darker on Flickr, but not sharper.

I think in general, a lower perspective looking up is the easiest way to show off the grandeur of these type of buildings, but of course, you should keep experimenting.

[benchdog]

Really nice shot.

I like the exposure for me it emphasis's age and dignity respectfully.

I don't like the railing, I agree with sk66.

[EOBeav]

Yeah, compositionally that banister in the foreground gets in the way. The arches are a nice repeating pattern, though, and certainly deserve to be in a photograph.

[williamawalker]

I agree with sk66 on the railing as well. As far as exposure, it looks fine. The clipped arch is not a distraction for me.

[Vernian]

Thanks everyone for the comments. Fortunately I can go back and redo this. I think I'll play with either getting up a little higher so I can shoot "over" the banister or standing on the actual stairs (of the banister in the photo) with a wide angle lens.

Krusty, when I've tried taking shots of buildings from below (tilting the camera to get it all in), but that invariably leads to my building "falling over" and if I fix that in post with the perspective tool, I end up having to really stretch it to the point that the it looses its sharpness. Am I going about this completely the wrong way and do you have any examples of photos showing off the grandeur from a bottom up shot. Or have I misunderstood what you were referring to?