Abandoned Chairs in an Alley

[pixbyalan]

Found this walking around Seattle. Shot with a D7000 & Nikkor 24-70 f/2.8 lens at 40mm, f/5.6, 1/400. Would love some comments on the composition and colors.

[ArmySoldier777]

Pixbyalan,

First of all, I find this photo very interesting. I'm drawn to the chair on the left first, and then led to the one in the middle that's turned to the side, and that's where my attention seems to stop.

Composure: The image doesn't really flow because of that middle chair, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I find a lot of people talking about the rules in photography and how lines should always flow into the next point of interest, but sometimes those rules are meant to be broken. That middle chair being turned to the side adds a sense of.. rebellion. Like it's not where it's supposed to be. I also love the angle that this shot was taken from. I might have gone just a few inches lower "just a tiny bit" but i still think that the shot works well. That's just my 2 cents on the composure side of the shot.

Color: I find that overall, the colors work out pretty well. The colors in the background are a nice contrast to the mostly black chairs.

Lighting: I know you didn't ask for this one, but I thought I would give my opinion..At first, the lighting seemed a little too harsh for me "I understand that sometimes we come across amazing shots at the worst time of day, it happens to us all". But then after really studying the image, i realized that it just help define the fact that some rules were being broken and the image was taking a life of its own. You probably could find a better time of the day to re-do this shot, but overall I've come to like what the harsh lighting brings to it.

In The End: I think it's a very well done picture. It's by no means easy on the eyes, but as I said before, this photo just seems like it was meant to break all those rules. I'm sure there are going to be a LOT of people that read this and disagree with what I said, but I welcome seeing other people's opinions on it. It's amazing to see how many different viewpoints people will have on the same image. And none of them are necessarily right or wrong, that's all up to what the artist/photographer is trying to portray.

Good luck in all your future shots, and I look forward to seeing more from you
David

[pixbyalan]

Thank you very much for the insightful critique. It's given me much to think about. I like the shot myself though I shot it at mid-day. Like you said, sometimes you come across a shot where the rules have to be broken.

[MorningStar]

I really like it, but maybe step back a bit. If you asked me, these chairs look like their sitting outside to make room inside, or their waiting to be moved. It's a nice shot, but I don't get the "abandoned" feel.