Did I get the warmth, symmetry, sharpness and burn / dodge right? NY Chelsea Market

[sharsidd]

I'm finally starting to get brave enough to post my pics for critique! I will be posting one per day or so. Here's my first, taken at Chelsea Market in New York.

Please also feel free to browse my picasa shots and PM me about what you think: Picasa Web Albums - Shariq

EXIF data summary (full details at at Flickr: More detail about In a New York Minute)

Camera: Nikon D40X
Lens: Nikkor 18-200mm VR
Exposure: 1/50
Aperture: f/3.5
Focal Length: 18 mm (cropped)
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: No Flash
Some post-processing in Lightroom - ask for more details

[JessicaO]

hi Shariq,

Nice shot! You really captured the bustling moment of Chelsea Market. Since you asked, here are my thoughts on the photo:

Warmth: the color is warm, which I like since it adds to the feeling of the cozy market.
Symmetry: It is symmetrical, which I guess is what you were going for? However your angle is tilted to the left-- you notice it if you look at the brick wall. I do this all the time; one way to check yourself before taking the pic is to look at something that is supposed to be vertical: a pole or wall corner, to make sure it is going straight up and down.
Sharpness: The image could definitely be sharper. You shot this at f/3.5 which has a really short depth of field. For me, I've found that when I shoot in situations like this w/ wide apertures, unless I focus exactly on, the subject will be slightly out of focus. This picture may have benefitted from a narrower aperture to make sure that more things are in focus.
Burn/dodge: Not sure what you burned/dodged, however you are losing detail in the darker parts in the people and floor in the bottom half.

But in general nice looking picture! I am glad you're enjoying taking photos and hope to see more pics soon

[sharsidd]

Originally Posted by JessicaO

hi Shariq,

Nice shot! You really captured the bustling moment of Chelsea Market. Since you asked, here are my thoughts on the photo:

Warmth: the color is warm, which I like since it adds to the feeling of the cozy market.
Symmetry: It is symmetrical, which I guess is what you were going for? However your angle is tilted to the left-- you notice it if you look at the brick wall. I do this all the time; one way to check yourself before taking the pic is to look at something that is supposed to be vertical: a pole or wall corner, to make sure it is going straight up and down.
Sharpness: The image could definitely be sharper. You shot this at f/3.5 which has a really short depth of field. For me, I've found that when I shoot in situations like this w/ wide apertures, unless I focus exactly on, the subject will be slightly out of focus. This picture may have benefitted from a narrower aperture to make sure that more things are in focus.
Burn/dodge: Not sure what you burned/dodged, however you are losing detail in the darker parts in the people and floor in the bottom half.

But in general nice looking picture! I am glad you're enjoying taking photos and hope to see more pics soon

Thanks Jessica!

I was trying to align the pic at the bottom, but no matter what I do I find that getting shots to be straight along all four edges is a toughie especially when you're shooting that wide. Any tips?

Regarding sharpness - in retrospect I should have shot this with a far longer DoF but I guess I was focussing on the clock.

Burn / dodge - ok time to confess that this was actually a pic that I was trying to retrieve from the rejects but ended up liking the result...

[JessicaO]

Originally Posted by sharsidd

I was trying to align the pic at the bottom, but no matter what I do I find that getting shots to be straight along all four edges is a toughie especially when you're shooting that wide. Any tips?

Hm, it is hard shooting @ a wide focal length like 18mm, esp with the distortion that you get. I usually try to make sure that any strong lines in the frame are straight. For horizon shots it would be the horizontal line. For this one it is the vertical lines of the brick walls. Hope this helps!

Originally Posted by sharsidd

Burn / dodge - ok time to confess that this was actually a pic that I was trying to retrieve from the rejects but ended up liking the result...

Yeah, I do that too! I've gotten good at "fixing" reject photos. It would be more ideal if I had just a better pic tho.. Hope you get to go back to the market sometime and perhaps take another picture!