Guggenheim Bilbao

[XavierG]

This is my first time publishing a snap in the forum and I am really afraid of doing it given the standards of the DPS. I am a new digital photographer trying to understand the new techniques with a Nikon D5000 and a Lightroom3 program.
The snap that I share with you to criticise shows the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain, designed by North American architect Frank O. Gehry. It is a magnificent example of the most ground-breaking architecture to have come out of the 20th century.

EXIF:
Nikon D5000 with 18-55mm
Focal : 55mm
Aperture : f/5.6
Shutter : 1/3.200
ISO : 200
Flash : Flash did not fire.

Lightroom helped to contrast the image and to obscure a bit the sky.

I am quite satisfied of this photo but I have some doubts about the proportions between the building and the sky.

Let me know your critics please. I need you to Know where I am in the photographic world.

Thanks.

XavierG

[Vernian]

I can definitely see why this building caught your eye - the lines are lovely. You've got the horizon at the bottom third which is great and I think the sky adds to the photo because of the clouds, I'd say you've got the proportions on that one right.

However I find the saturation a bit distracting - the photo feels like its been artificially darkened - the light reflecting from the building and the sky/clouds indicate that this was a bright sunshine day, yet the the colours are too dark for that. However this is just my opinion and should be taken with a grain of salt since I'm still only learning about all this too (and probably will be all my life)

I'd love to see this building from a different direction too, though I don't know if the lines would work, but maybe using the bridge that seems to extend out on the right hand side as a way to lead the viewers eye into the photo.

All in all, nice shot. Keep shooting!

[NgaiHill]

Nice shot and the building is very interesting, looks like there will be a lot of photos in there!
I find the photo to be a bit oversaturated as said above, the sky is too dark for the kind of sunny day that it is. I also think that you have minimised the interesting building by having the sky take up more than a third of the photo - there are no interesting clouds there so I would rather look at more of the building. Also a little contrasty, this would look good in HDR.
But a nice shot all the same, look forward to seeing more from you.

[XavierG]

Thank you, Vernian and NgaiHill.
You are very kind criticising my snap. I totally agree with your opinions.