RGB Street Snap

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

I noticed this juxtaposition of the word "green" with large red and blue areas, while strolling around our suburban downtown today. That reminded me of one of my daughter's Nintendo games, a brain teaser, where for instance the word "green" would be written in say red letters, yet you are expected to correctly (and quickly) denote it as green. I had my G10 with me, as always.

[attachment=20105:RGB.jpg]

P.S. Given my propensity to critique work of others, here is your chance to retaliate  

UPDATE: Further down the thread I posted several other compositions of the same scene and my thoughts on the whole process.

[seamus finn]

Hi Slobodan.

I'm taking a tremendous liberty here and offer the following:

This is a very good picture, well seen. Would you consider cropping it back severely on the right to exclude the sky, the background building and the branches for a more graphic representation. What's left of the branches on the red right edge could be cloned out - or not. Deepen the shadows around the red brick a bit and bring out a little more detail in the (wooden?) post which now anchors the picture nicely.

On second thoughts, that's me thinking graphics and it would eliminate the blue sky which would destroy the RGB theme. However, how about cropping out the building in the background and leaving in the sky ?  That way the RGB theme is preserved. I find the building a bit distracting.


Cheers,

Seamus

[fredjeang]

Hi,
I like this pic, I think that the strenghs are color and a very good composition.
In fact, how you composed is very interesting and lines are perfectly distribuited.
As for details, I like the clean white and would no add more details in the branchs because I think it might be distractive.

Maybe the only point, being maniaque, would be trying with  a color wheel other subtiles greens (the word green) with the red as it is
or try different red according to the green as it is. This green handles better next to a little more darkened red in my opignon.
Anyway, blue, green red and orange is difficult when colors are "dense and full".(do not know how to say it well in english).

Again, I think it is an outstanding composition.

Fred.

[fredjeang]

Watching the picture again, in fact the green and the red are fine. I definetly find the cloud distracting and that is the only think I would do, so the sky will have the same treatement than the other colored elements and I think it will be more "one language".

Cheers,
Fred.

[Patricia Sheley]

Slobodan,  I like the concept. The immediate distractions from the clarity of that concept are the capped chimney and the sector of brick wall, along with the branches in the sky that when viewed memory/imprint (or close eyed) lower the primary blue purity,

My first thought was to blur the sky but that still leaves the contamination of the blue by the branches...A lower shooting position might have excluded the chimney and maybe given you unbranched sky but may well have eliminated the power of the red sector...

That brick wall and chimney keep bouncing back and forth, interrupting the clarity of statement...I lack skill as a remover of such things as the branches...but I wonder if a color replacement on them, sourced from the purist portion of your sky maybe at decreased opacity might help...

Not sure how I would attempt to handle the wall and chimney but looking back at it ,the chimney could be replaced with more of your sky and the wall could be replaced with more of your red and seems like it would still hold up well compositionally...you did not say if you wished to stay completely representational or open to altering , so above just my first thoughts...now I've got to take a look to see what others responded...again, I like what you saw and that you took the time to record it...these are the things that keep our creative juices flowing as we "see" our worlds...Pat

[ckimmerle]

....immediate distractions from the clarity of that concept are the capped chimney....

That was my feeling as well. It's a powerful shape and as it's rather neutral in tone isn't adding much to the idea of color.

Also, as the reds and blues are quite vivid, it might be nice to have the green text be a bit more saturated, though I am not at all sure about that.

Other than that, it's very nice.

[Patricia Sheley]

After responding and then allowing myself to take a look at other's perceptions, I see that several have suggested changing the hue of "GREEN".  For me, doing so would remove the "puzzler" part of the equation as it presented...in fact, if the sign font were black it would make the image stronger still...Pat

[Patricia Sheley]

After responding and then allowing myself to take a look at other's perceptions, I see that several have suggested changing the hue of "GREEN".  For me, doing so would remove the "puzzler" part of the equation as it presented...in fact, if the sign font were black it would make the image stronger still...Pat

...and how is it that the type "GREEN" is not apparently on the signboard itself? referring to the cap 'G' floating en plein air...did you add that type for the purpose of the puzzle?

[ckimmerle]

If you'll look closely, you'll see that the top of the sign is in shadow. It's an illusion.

[Patricia Sheley]

If you'll look closely, you'll see that the top of the sign is in shadow. It's an illusion.

AH Ha!!! Thank you Chuck, I am not at my own workstation and know that it hadn't been something I had noted when viewing there...I am happy to see thatit is indeed the wonderful seen serendipity of the moment it appears to be..looking carefully on this miserable work monitor I can see you are correct,   Pat  ( thanks for that)

[fredjeang]

Yes, top of the sign is in shadow so as the G.
It looks that it has been added, G seems to be something like arial black,
and the other look like a kind of Franklinish typo.
These letters are too perfect to be real, but I find the intervention coherent.

Fred.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... These letters are too perfect to be real, but I find the intervention coherent...

Thanks for all the comments so far. I will post my thoughts later today, but in the meantime let me clarify this: the letters are real, and the shadow indeed touches the tip of the G. The only thing I did change in Lightroom is the shade of green... the original was more like a murky brownish green.

[Christoph C. Feldhaim]

I see the image as a funny puzzle which makes you scratch your head in thought.
I personally find the twigs a bit confusing and would prefer a more straightened perspective - truly vertical chimney and such.

[seamus finn]

I still think - get rid of the chimney. The bare branches are a distraction but what's to be done about them? Now, if they had green leaves.......

Seamus

[fredjeang]

May I disagree about the chimney?
I think that precisely, the chimney perspective angle is very important in that sort of composition.
If I draw imaginary lines from the chimney, the angle serves (in this case) the overall image.
If the chimney was straight then it would be discompensed.
My feeling is that it is all well distributed as it is.

Also, keeping details, adopting a more conventional perspective approach etc...seems to me more "from the school rules",
and it is welcome to break these rules here. As the subject in itself is not "strong or singular" in this image,
the only approach, according to me, is to adopt a different perspective angle, and play with unique composition and colors.
In that sense I think Slobodan did it well.

Fred.

[John R]

To me this is really an exercise in balance- a juxtaposition of shapes, tones, and colours within a picture space. Even the shadow areas balance, and in that respect there is no need to crop out the chimney. The perceived branches as a spoiler is not that critical to the overall balance and fits right in as part of creating a little order from randomness. But more importantly, what does it convey? To me it conveys a kind of urbanity, one where the photographer sees and wants to depict a little colour as a respite from the urban concrete! Some days, I just feel like that too.

JMR

[seamus finn]

To me, the bare branches are an overtly intruding presence, breaking up the clean lines of an otherwise splendid image and creating disorder and dissonance in the context of  'a juxtaposition of shapes, tones, and colours' . Without them, I could live with the chimney. So, I guess we'll have to agree to differ.

Cheers,

Seamus

[Patricia Sheley]

For me I did filter my thoughts through the artist's statement and  title...perhaps if it had been sumbitted nude, the branches, how they subliminally affect the blue, the chimney the way it adds little, detract from the clarity of the message...less is more sort of thing?...surprisingly as much as I do not like the battle going on at  the sidelines between chimney and brick, the brick itselfjuxtaposed to the red wall does luminize and saturate the perception of RGB red...

for sure as we all have different filters informing our opinions/thoughts, we will definitely agree to disagree..it is illuminating simply to read how others see...glad for that...P  (and as Slobodan does state he changed out the green, there were some concious decisions to control the perception/puzzle...)

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Once again, thanks all for commenting.

Most of the comments have something to do with the branches and/or the chimney, so let me address it first:

Branches... well, I wish they were not there... but given they were, I am a bit reluctant to go into so much cloning to remove them. I do not mind cloning a stray element here and there, or changing a limited aspect of a picture (like the shade of green), but I am not so comfortable as to alter reality that much. After all, where do you stop? Remove branches , chimney, other recognizable elements of reality... and what do you end up with?... pure geometric abstraction of shapes and colors?... another Rothko or Mondrian? Perhaps I would not mind arriving to such an abstraction, but I would prefer to start with a viewfinder, rather than post-processing. From another perspective, the image is all about juxtaposing, and in the case of branches, it is juxtaposing complex, chaotic shapes of nature with those orderly, straight, man-made lines and shapes.

Chimney... I tend to agree with Fred on this one. I like how the chimney balances the dominant creme-white on the left side. It also repeats the shape of the brick wall, introduces a pure triangle, rectangle and mini squares, counter-balances all those diagonal lines, and the blackness of its top counter-balances the deep shadow on the left. Phew... a lot of intellectualizing... but ultimately, I simply like it the way it is  

I do have other versions of the scene. I managed to "work the scene" compositionally and take a whopping five frames (the posted one is number five). I say "whopping" mockingly, but five is a great success for me, given my ADD (as per my doc) or my "natural laziness" (as per my wife)  

I started with this scene, attracted initially to the juxtaposition of green and red (I left the original shade of the word "Green" unchanged, for comparison):

[attachment=20151:RGB1.jpg]

I then noticed a flower pot, with its own Christmas combination of red and green, and how it matches the red awning in the background:

[attachment=20152:RGB2.jpg]

As I was coming closer and closer, I had to use wider and wider zoom in order to get both the sign and the awning, and at some point the sky started to creep up (again, the original shade of the word "Green" is unchanged):

[attachment=20153:RGB4.jpg]

I then realized I actually like the additional color, but somehow the area was too small to balance well with the huge red one. Hence the snap number five (originally posted), where all the surfaces and colors tend to balance well (according to the ultimate authority, i.e., me   ):

[attachment=20154:RGB5.jpg]

If you managed to read this far and did not fall asleep, I am indeed flattered  , but I hope we all learned something in the process... I know I did.

[cmi]

Thanks for going that much into detail and showing the process Slobodan! Very much appreciated.

My first thought about the image was something like: ...how sophisticated, to take notice of something like that. So, it's good to know how it developed.

Christian