Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: stamper on June 12, 2012, 09:40:35 am

Title: Urban Living
Post by: stamper on June 12, 2012, 09:40:35 am
A tenement in Edinburgh, Scotland. Photographed it a few times over the years. The light falling on it can be tricky at times hence the reason.
Title: Re: Urban Living
Post by: Justan on June 12, 2012, 09:50:13 am
!!Excellent!!

As just a couple of small details, and these may be due to the reduction, but were this mine, I’d do a slight multiply on the upper left window, the white laundry objects, and the 2nd floor right window. They jump out compared to the remainder of the composition.

Andreas Gursky would be delighted by your work as exemplified by the following http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltqio8RWpm1r1bvyn.jpg
Title: Re: Urban Living
Post by: Jim Pascoe on June 12, 2012, 09:57:48 am
Excellent!  Is that a homage to LL I see in the window above the bicycle front wheel?

Jim
Title: Re: Urban Living
Post by: amolitor on June 12, 2012, 10:05:28 am
For some reason it feels slightly tilted to the right, which is probably the effect of some slightly asymmetrical keystoning. Anyways, it makes it a little hard to look at, for me.

Otherwise, it's a good "slice of life" kind of thing, I think. Witty, fun to look at, and interesting at a pretty basic level. It's not very dramatic or interesting in a graphical sense, it's actually too busy for me considered in that light. I think it has enough juice in the subject to carry it past that, though, so ultimately it works and I like it pretty well.
Title: Re: Urban Living
Post by: William Walker on June 12, 2012, 10:06:58 am
Hey stamper - nice to see you posting again!

I like this - it is a more colourful version of what sprang immediately to mind - the cover of a Led Zeppelin album cover.

William
Title: Re: Urban Living
Post by: RSL on June 12, 2012, 11:41:39 am
Bravo! Stamper. Best thing I've seen you post. It's really splendid work.

Look closer, Andrew. It's keystoned a bit because the camera was pointed slightly upward. A two-second fix in ACR, Photoshop or Lightroom if Stamper had wanted to bother. But it's fine as is.
Title: Re: Urban Living
Post by: WalterEG on June 12, 2012, 06:33:36 pm
I wonder if the couple of bricked-in window portals on the top floor are a remnant of the view tax?

Title: Re: Urban Living
Post by: stamper on June 13, 2012, 04:19:09 am
Bravo! Stamper. Best thing I've seen you post. It's really splendid work.

Look closer, Andrew. It's keystoned a bit because the camera was pointed slightly upward. A two-second fix in ACR, Photoshop or Lightroom if Stamper had wanted to bother. But it's fine as is.

Thanks Russ. I had to do a bit of straightening on the image and didn't want to push it too far. I am a believer in not trying to make an image perfect because in real life nothing is? If I post an image and the response is only that small things are commented negatively on then I am happy. Thanks to the others for their input. :)
Title: Re: Urban Living
Post by: amolitor on June 13, 2012, 06:02:42 am
Keystoning is fine, I approve of keystoning! And I didn't really intend to complain as much as observe. There's just this slight visual.. tilt.. when I look at it. My thought was that it might come from some slight keystoning, but honestly I'm not sure. It could as easily be an optical illusion deriving from the arrangement of shapes.
Title: Re: Urban Living
Post by: stamper on June 13, 2012, 06:23:16 am
I straitened it up in Lightroom 4. It was leaning back as Russ observed and to the side. I don't know how much you can "push" an image in lightroom because you aren't really working on the raw, instead a rendered  file. I normally do it in PS with a smart object. Try smart objects with a duplicate layer. Push the image to what seems correct and then set the layer blend mode to difference. You will be amazed at the shift in pixels and then wonder how it looks fine when the layers are flattened. :)