City Portal

[dlambert]

While hunting up and down the river for a good place to shoot the Columbus skyline, I came across an old concrete viewing platform with a circular portal in it. This is actually in a pretty rough part of town, and I thought the skyline took on a different look through the weathered paint of the portal.

I'm looking for some feedback on composition here -- specifically, the use of the portal to frame the skyline. I thought the path provided some interesting leading lines, too -- any thoughts on that?

EXIF:
* Canon 40D / 17-85 f/4-5.6
* ISO 400 / 24mm / f/9 / 1/25 sec
* PP in Lightroom (B&W, contrast, etc.)

[mrteacherdude]

I think it's cool, and I like the mood. I do think the photo would benefit from a tighter crop around the portal, thus showing less of the wall. I'm guessing you included a lot of the wall to provide context to the portal, but I'm not sure if it's necessary in this case because there is enough texture to the wall and depth to the hole that just a little bit of it should allow it to be understood that there is a structure with a hole in it that the observer is looking through. I'm also thinking that the composition would be just fine to have the portal centered in the frame since the scene within the portal seems to me to be composed well and has some asymmetry to it.

Re the pathway: to me it looks like it works well. I also like the way there is a divergence in the pathway and the top of the hill or levy (whatever that land structure is) as well as the low wall to the left of the levy (?); all lines essentially leading my eye into different portions of the scene. My eyes ultimately become trapped within the portal and don't settle in any one particular area. When my eyes reach the top of the portal edge, they follow the circular line downwards until they pick up one of the lines leading back into the scene; very nice.

I suppose some might suggest the left side of the portal has a few horizontal elements (the protruding branches) that might distract or conflict with the rest of the scene, but I'm not sure if this is really a detriment or what could be done about it. Overall I find it very pleasing. Good job

[dlambert]

Thanks -- the tighter crop is definitely something I considered. FWIW, I tried some other angles, including some compositions w/ only part of the portal showing, but I liked this one best. Thanks for the feedback -- I'll definitely try a tighter crop here -- maybe even a square crop.

[RobSPhotoNut]

I have always been a little off I guess, but if more wall was on the left, say what appears to be the wall thickness on the right, and less wall on the right, what you might say appears to be the wall thickness on the left might be interesting. It might add another dimension to the picture. In any event, I like the conversion to B&W. Very interesting shot. Looks like a keeper to me!!! The down side? The blasted litterbugs! The bad part of the shot is, it isn't mine......

[dlambert]

Thanks, Rob. The wall is the same thickness all the way through -- that's all perspective. I like the idea to play around with the direction of that perspective, though, if I can get that to line up with anything interesting on the other side.

I hadn't even noticed the litter yet when I shot (I hadn't gotten to that part of the trail yet), but I think it sort of helps the mood here. As I mentioned, this is a pretty iffy part of town, and this structure (not to mention the whole trail) definitely has an "urban decay" feel to it.

Interestingly, the city's just put a bunch of time & money into building / renovating a trail along the river on the *other* side -- there's a really pretty section running along the river in downtown and brand-new pavement along the walking / biking path on the other side of the river, though you can't see that from here, obviously.

[Doug Sundseth]

I think the fairly loose crop here actually works pretty well. It gives a context that a tighter crop wouldn't, I think, though at the cost of some impact to the downtown buildings.

An artistic choice, IMO.

[dlambert]

Thanks, Doug.

BTW, here's a slightly wider view - this shows the river a bit, but I still like the extra context of the whole portal, I think.

[RobSPhotoNut]

Yes, I realize the difference in thickness is due to the angle of the shot. I meant to add the top and bottom should have stayed like the original posted picture, just the "sides" like your second post. More wall on the left, less on right. To me, might have been interesting with the perception of the different angles involved. I still like it, though.

[dlambert]

Got it. Definitely some good pointers for the next attempt.

[Hill Country Hack]

I was reading mrteacherdude's comments nodding my head as I was thinking the exact same thing...until I saw the tighter crop. The looser first image is much better IMHO. I also feel moving the portal more to the center will not be a bad thing.

A small part of me wishes the concrete path did not diverge off to the right as it leads my eye away from the skyline. The walkway is not as obtrusive for me in the tighter crop.

The B&W converstion and litter works for me as it helps tell the story.