My Autumn 2 Cents

[David Eckels]

Out a window. It's too early for snow, mood. Question is about composition.

[louoates]

I think you've done the best with the location you chose. I like the unbalanced feel re: the lines of the fence vs. the window sill angle. All the muted colors and light balance seem to be perfect on both the sill and the scene.

[RSL]

+1

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

I find the presence of the dark wall to the left overbearing compositionally. Cropping it out (up to the window frame) would help the balance and shift the attention to the lovely outdoor scene.

[RSL]

I don't agree. I think the dark wall says: "I'm looking out a window at a gorgeous snow scene." If what you want is just the snow scene, go outside and shoot the snow scene.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

...  If what you want is just the snow scene, go outside and shoot the snow scene.

Which isn't what I suggested. I clearly opted to keep the window frame, both as a compositional and emotional element.

[David Eckels]

I have to say that in the browser rendering, that edge is "blockier" than in the LR view. That's probably why I chose not to open that edge up more. Interesting that the diagonal running out of the lower right hand part of the frame didn't break some rule , which is more what I worried about.

[Christoph C. Feldhaim]

Again - I allowed myself to do a quick sketch-edit to show an idea ...

[David Eckels]

Interesting, Christoph.

[stamper]

I agree with Slobodan. Too much wall. My eye was instantly drawn to it rather than the scene which is a pity because the scene deserves a frame and the idea is very good but not the execution. An image that can be cropped and processed in many ways. Worth working on.

[David Eckels]

I agree with Slobodan. Too much wall. My eye was instantly drawn to it rather than the scene which is a pity because the scene deserves a frame and the idea is very good but not the execution. An image that can be cropped and processed in many ways. Worth working on.

I understand that and agree, but the question is how much? Granted that's up to me, so I will have to figure out how far to go. The comments are helpful.

[Rob C]

I think that the wall adds context, and also a spiritual sense of where the power lies, where its limits.

To prevent Isaac from running a temperature I shall say no more than this: gentle and lovely as it is (the image - not Isaac because I don't know if he's an aesthetic consideration, an enigma or simply another electronic LuLa short-circuit of some kind).

;-)

Rob C

[brandtb]

Dave- all cropping and slider jockeying aside...the question I would be asking..."do I really want to be taking a picture...with that metal fence?" I think that and the pristine interior window jamb and sill...work against the snowy wild in your composition in a zero sum game. /B

[David Eckels]

After studying this, the wall stays. It's more opened up in LR and I like that look. Brandt, didn't have a choice about the fence, but I liked the angle countering the window sill and picking of the same angle of the curbing outside. Rob, context was exactly what I was thinking about in the above consideration. Slobodan, I know you weren't saying remove it, just reduce it; while I didn't crop it, the LR version is lighter in that edge. Thanks everyone!

[RSL]

As is usually the case, David, your first impression, the one you instinctively reacted to, is the best of all possible choices. Learning that, more than any other photographic revelation, is what most improves a photographer's work. I keep finding people here and elsewhere on the web who complain they can't learn anything from the masters; that those dead folks' time is past; that their photographs are passe. But one thing you can, and should, learn from Cartier-Bresson is that the best results come from framing in the camera's viewfinder -- not in the darkroom or in Photoshop.

[David Eckels]

Yes, Russ, that instinct is worth honing. Whenever I view HCB's work I think about the critical moment. Even with landscape photography it is hard to avoid impatience sometimes. This, too, has been a helpful discussion. Thanks and have fun in Florida. My in-laws always head for Labelle FL the day after Christmas and we try to visit every January. Not this year though, wifey got a brand new job!

[RSL]

Sorry to hear you're not going to make it this year David, but congrats to your wife.

[ned.ward]

The composition made me feel like I was passing the window, stopped for a quick look, wanted to explore past the fence and "now are my boots still in the car"

As an outdoorsy person it whets the appetite to get out past the barriers, their size, colour, position become irrelevant.

Thats my 2 cents worth.

Ned

p.s if you sit back and dream a little the concrete path edge looks like a railway track and so the window becomes a carriage window....