Thoughts on the angle/perspective?

[ktsdz]

Brick Fence



Nikon D5000
ISO 200
Lens: 50mm 1.8
Aperture: f/2
Shutter speed: 1.200
taken on 5-22-10

My first critique post - I'm a little nervous.

[PaulVI]

(I'm a newbie to "art" photography, and I don't know when I'll stop saying that, but...)

I feel that the "story" of your picture should come out more. "What am I trying to say?" If you're saying, "Look at this brick fence in a new way," then what way?

Or is it the colors that you are trying to bring attention to? I like the saturation of the red and the green. You might find a perspective that uses geometry to put these colors foremost in the viewers mind. I'm imagining a "tri-color" like the flag of Italy. Your use of shallow depth of field is nice, but I don't know how it contributes to a theme.

What do you think of my critique? (I don't want to be mean, but I don't like "love fest" comments, either! )

[ktsdz]

Hmmm - thank you for your comments, I appreciate your thoughts.

I was feeling off kilter when I took this particular shot and it gave me the sense of "vertigo" or "slipping" that I was feeling at the time. So my story is that sense that I was feeling. Perhaps a stronger angle would have brought that out more?

Again, I thank you.

Katy

[RLucas]

I think the angle is good. I like the almost vanishing point perspective. It is almost a nice minimalist image. Try cloning the wheel of the truck out. You have this nice flow going on with it, then my eye gets stuck on the wheel.

[BigFuzzy]

I quite like this image.. I looove the use of DoF creatively.

I do, however, agree with RLucas in that I think the wheel should have been composed out of the image (or cloned out), it's distracting. There are great lines and colors and patterns in this image otherwise, well done. I also have no problem with the angle you used.

[ktsdz]

Thank you RLucas and BigFuzzy - I will try to clone out the wheel and see what that does to the picture. I appreciate your comments!

Katy

[LeeR]

You have some things going for you here; in particular you have repitition of forms, perspective, angles and some color harmony. I'm troubled by the fact that so little is in focus. Your point would have been made better if everything had been in sharp focus. That being said, I am especially pleased to hear you talk about your process for developing this image. Too often people are so concerned with following a set of rules for composition and forget that our real responsibility is to communicate with our viewers.

[ktsdz]

Thanks LeeR. I appreciate your advice - I may head back there and re-shoot with your idea to see what happens then.

[JessicaO]

Hi Katy,

I like the fading in and out of focus of the brick wall. And I get your idea of expressing vertigo. To emphasize the brick more, what if you had shot it in the vertical frame instead of the horizontal one? Also, this is purely my own opinion, so feel free to dismiss it-- but I personally like photos that have a focus object. Like I kind of want to see something on the brick wall, like a ball or leaf or something sitting right on it. Sort of how landscape photos often have more impact when there's a person somewhere in it, even if it's tiny. But that could just me!

[ktsdz]

Thanks Jessica - I will definitely keep that in mind in the future!