Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: James Clark on May 09, 2017, 03:51:01 pm

Title: London Abstracts
Post by: James Clark on May 09, 2017, 03:51:01 pm
My wife was working in London a few weeks ago, and I tagged along, since it would be silly to pass up a free hotel room, right?

Anyway, I only had about two days, so no time to get out of the city really.  I started walking and clicking off a few images, but I wasn't really feeling it, so I thought I'd play with some of the deeper functions on my 5Dsr.   A lot of the results at first were not good.  But I took a break, thought about what I wanted the compositions to look like, and how I could achieve some abstract color blocking while retaining some semblance of subject, and came up with these.  Comments and thoughts, both positive and negative, are appreciated!

 
Title: Re: London Abstracts
Post by: 32BT on May 09, 2017, 05:08:44 pm
Nr 1 Totally, very strong image. Has London written all over it.
Nr 2 you caught dr Who during the actual act of time travel

Nr 3 & 4 : I'm still chewing on these
Title: Re: London Abstracts
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on May 09, 2017, 06:12:54 pm
Nr 1 Totally, very strong image. Has London written all over it.
Nr 2 you caught dr Who during the actual act of time travel

Nr 3 & 4 : I'm still chewing on these
Oscar nailed it. I agree.
Title: Re: London Abstracts
Post by: Slobodan Blagojevic on May 09, 2017, 06:56:38 pm
Excellent idea and execution!
Title: Re: London Abstracts
Post by: RSL on May 09, 2017, 07:02:17 pm
+1
Title: Re: London Abstracts
Post by: John R on May 09, 2017, 10:02:19 pm
The first image I like a lot. It conveys a frenetic impression without looking or being too busy.
The second I feel would look better without the person next to the booth. He is too nebulous to stand with the booth and yet craves attention and needs more definition. Alternatively, if the person was not there at all it would be an impressionist cityscape anchored by the booth.
The fourth I like a lot; looks like pastel shadows of structures cast against a mist. Very nice.
The fifth has too much white sky that does little for the underlying structure. I think it would still look good without the sky, a sort of impressionistic outline of structure and lines.

JR
Title: Re: London Abstracts
Post by: James Clark on May 09, 2017, 10:29:03 pm
Oscar - I'll try changing the booth to blue ;)

Thanks Eric, Slobodan and Russ for the positive encouragement!

John - good thoughts - in the last image the sky is actually a light tan, but it's hard to see on the screen.   Nevertheless, that IS a bunch a negative space.   I'l look more into that one.  I have a few more of these I'm playing with as well.
Title: Re: London Abstracts
Post by: Jeremy Roussak on May 10, 2017, 03:34:00 am
Nr 1 Totally, very strong image. Has London written all over it.

England, really. There are red double-decker buses all over the country, although I agree those outside London don't have the TfL logo.

Nr 2 you caught dr Who during the actual act of time travel

No, that's a red public telephone box. Dr Who travelled in a blue police telephone box. Very different. It's well known that the red ones have no ability to travel in space (although going into one does give a sensation of jumping 30 years back in time).

Jeremy
Title: Re: London Abstracts
Post by: 32BT on May 10, 2017, 04:00:04 am
England, really. There are red double-decker buses all over the country, although I agree those outside London don't have the TfL logo.

Well, yes, could be Hong Kong as well. The arches give it a distinct old-world look & feel. It either way is an image that would sell well with agencies e.a.

No, that's a red public telephone box. Dr Who travelled in a blue police telephone box. Very different. It's well known that the red ones have no ability to travel in space (although going into one does give a sensation of jumping 30 years back in time).

No, you must think in 4 dimensions since he caught it during the actual travel: Red light travels before Green, and Green before Blue.
(Some scientists adhere to the theory that it must be travelling away from the viewer and it is therefore red-shifted, but that wouldn't explain the large colordifference).
Title: Re: London Abstracts
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on May 10, 2017, 09:08:09 am
It immediately brought back memories of a scene from an early Alec Guinness film. As the head of the group pf of thieves, Alec is standing outside a London phone booth looking at his watch. He reaches for the receiver just as the phone starts ringing, picks it up, and says into it "Press button B, Major!"
Title: Re: London Abstracts
Post by: Krug on May 13, 2017, 11:34:30 am
I think these are a very interesting set - like the technique, it has real possibilities - for me 'South bank' is special - but they all bring back memories and provoke thought - thank you.
Title: Re: London Abstracts
Post by: James Clark on May 15, 2017, 02:37:52 pm
I think these are a very interesting set - like the technique, it has real possibilities - for me 'South bank' is special - but they all bring back memories and provoke thought - thank you.

Thank *you*, John!  I'm always please when something I do can provide a pleasant reaction in the viewer.  I'm only sorry I had just a few days in London.   I'd never been before, and I had a wonderful time experiencing the places I had only read about in history books.