First odd shot

[dbright007]

Hello - first request for a critique.
New to the dslr and have mainly played with action shots. Decided to try a b/w shot with a 50mm I just bought.
For me it was an exercise in trying to see different perspective, learning DOF, and focal range. ( Basically carrying the camera manual and doing things I don't fully understand yet).
And then trying Lightroom for the first time to tweak.
Glad to hear opinions on any of the above.

And there has to be away to catch EXIF easier than i have found..

Camera - Canon T3i
Shutter - 1/250
Ap - 3.2
ISO - 100
Lens - 50mm @ 50mm
Auto metering

[mudskipper1]

Flickr is a really easy way to grab exif data, in actions in the top left when viewing a photo.


The photo is very interesting to me, I like it a lot. It might be a little better if the subject was either centered better, or moved even more off to the left, to either shoot for symmetry or using diagonal converging lines/patterns to draw in the viewers eye. That is really a matter of opinion though. Since there is an extra bolt on the left side in the foreground, I might try gong the diagonal route, but again it is already pretty good in my opinion.

The Horizontal supports towards the top of the telephone pole appears to be slightly off of horizontal, hard to tell without a grid, but to me it looks that way.

Depth of field is about right for me. The texture on the pole itself adds a lot for me, love the diagonals in it.

Good work.

[mwatson]

I am with mudskipper here. I like this picture.

This photo has a certain different feel to it. It incorporates the converging lines and feels very industrial (possibly because it is). It reminds me of the early century skyscraper photos.

How much did you crop this? I am not sure if I like the bolt missing. This is a very symmetrical photo and something is telling me it needs to be cropped down to where the bolts are even. Unless, of course, you were going for the missing bolt to show an imperfection or something like that.

Get the thing more centered and I think you have a great picture. It may be just my style but I would definitely hang this on my wall.

[dbright007]

Thanks for the replies.
Really is cropped very little. Actually in the original on the left there are 3 bolts, and just one on the right - in the power pole where they insert pegs to climb to the top - so they are offset.
And I had a bitch of time as you both mentioned with rotation/straightening. I think my original position was off just enough that if i get one thing straight something else looks off.

Am getting better in lightroom though - might give it another shot. Thanks again for the help.

d

[Doug Sundseth]

Originally Posted by dbright007

And I had a bitch of time as you both mentioned with rotation/straightening. I think my original position was off just enough that if i get one thing straight something else looks off.

I'd guess that you're dealing with a perspective issue here. When you're shooting something with lots of straight lines and a symmetrical composition, you have to make sure your subject is directly in the center of your field of view, otherwise you start having lots of problematic angles.

Interesting shot, BTW. I like the texture on the pole and the strong graphical nature of the composition. I would like to see the crop show the ends of all of the crossbars rather than clipping them, though.