My First Critique: Lost Jacket

[Chaotic Beds]

Found what looked like a young girl's jacket abandoned in a park along the river.

I'm specifically interested in critiques regarding:

-The composition (I know I messed up the framing, the photo is not cropped) - but what about DOF, how the eye moves through the photo, relation of different objects, and the like.

-Post-processing (shall I upload the original to compare?) - Good exposure, color, contrast, etc?

-Sharpening (can that be judged with the 1024 max size on flickr?) - I'm still feeling my way through adjusting sharpness, and feel slightly lost....

Any other comments are appreciated as well!

This is one of my rare experiments shooting outside of manual mode (which I still much prefer), and since shooting this I've learned more about adjusting AF, metering, and such, but I just really dig the subject.

I already know I want to move the watermark to the lower right - This one was applied during a batch process.



Camera Canon EOS REBEL T1i
Exposure 0.001 sec (1/800)
Aperture f/4.0
Focal Length 60 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program Shutter speed priority AE
Date and Time (Original) 2010:09:14 16:17:36.02-04:00
Subject Distance 2.71 m
Metering Mode Multi-segment
Exposure Mode Auto
White Balance Auto
Scene Capture Type Standard
Compression JPEG (old-style)
Creator Tool Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
Lens EF-S60mm f/2.8 Macro USM


Thank you

[lputman]

For me, this doesn't work because the bench is drawing all the attention even though it isn't in focus. It's an after thought that I even notice the nicely focused jacket at the bottom.

[Eastree]

I completely agree with Iputman. Perhaps if the jacket had been draped over an arm rest, it would have had more presence in the photograph. The bench would still be prominent, but it would bring attention to the jacket rather than taking attention away from it.

Also, someone's more likely to forget a jacket on a bench, than to drop it ... just a thought.

[Chaotic Beds]

Haha... I actually literally found it just like that, it wasn't put there by me....

But yeah, otherwise, I see your points. Looking back and thinking about what else in the area could have been in view, I could have probably gotten a much better angle to isolate the jacket without even having to move it. I like the crumpled jacket on the ground where it is - I can't help but wonder whose it was, and why it was left there...

Thank you both!

[wmbtaylor]

I think maybe if you got up above and shot down keeping part of the bench in the scene it might be better. I agree that the looks of it the subject appears to be the bench and that the camera "picked" the wrong thing to focus on.

The colors are lovely though.

[Chaotic Beds]

Good idea - and thank you!

It's too late for retakes, I'm sure the park has been cleaned and the jacket removed in the month or so since I took this, lol...

[cee122]

It'd interesting to try a landscape orientation from the ground - it might give the jacket more focus, and give longer lines leading down the path..

That might highlight the absence of anyone claiming the jacket.

[carlyfan]

I actually really like this picture. Especially knowing you found it like this. But I guess that's just me.

[Chaotic Beds]

Originally Posted by cee122

It'd interesting to try a landscape orientation from the ground - it might give the jacket more focus, and give longer lines leading down the path..

That might highlight the absence of anyone claiming the jacket.

Good idea. I know that's one thing my eye lacks so far - getting those lines that guide the eye and so on. Thank you!

Originally Posted by carlyfan

I actually really like this picture. Especially knowing you found it like this. But I guess that's just me.

And, thank you! I don't know why I like it so much myself, I just found it... interesting?... to discover with nobody around.