Assignment #1
We critiqued each other's submissions for the "Your Neighborhood As a Special Place" assignment in photography class tonight. My shit held up pretty well, I must say. Some students demonstrated composition skills superior to mine, but others' shots were mundane and uninspired.
This is my favorite of the two, and it solicited at least one "oooh!" I tried to improve upon my first train photo by shooting lower to the ground and incorporating more sky, which is particularly beautiful with the gradient effect afforded by a recent sunset.
I cropped a bit from the right side; the transit power grid wires were all joining with this ugly-ass pole, which detracted from the "sleekness" of the imagery, so I cut it out (along with a bit of the bottom so I could maintain the same aspect ratio). Other than that, not much Photoshopping, other than Auto Contrast and maybe adding a smidge of extra blue.
I love how the train tunnel can been seen in the lower right background.
I don't like this shot nearly as much. It's the Duboce Park Cafe, and I really wanted to do something with that neon sign, which I love. The problem, which the instructor pointed out (but didn't call a "problem"), is that the shot isn't actually showing the viewer anything. I mean, it shows a lot, but nothing is really the object of the photo since there are so many items of interest.
I wanted to shoot with a wider angle and catch more of the street and possibly some people walking by the cafe, but there was too much ugly and mundane shit on the ground, like an overflowing garbage can and a bunch of brightly-colored stands containing free magazines and newspapers. I should've found a better angle and shot this scene differently. We'll see what my grade is before I decide whether or not I want to reshoot it.
This shot needed a buttload of Photoshopping. Everything was tainted with red light from the neon sign since I had to keep the shutter open for 25-30 seconds, so I desaturated it, then boosted the cyan (a.k.a. "the anti-red") to better approximate how my eyes viewed the scene.
This is my favorite of the two, and it solicited at least one "oooh!" I tried to improve upon my first train photo by shooting lower to the ground and incorporating more sky, which is particularly beautiful with the gradient effect afforded by a recent sunset.
I cropped a bit from the right side; the transit power grid wires were all joining with this ugly-ass pole, which detracted from the "sleekness" of the imagery, so I cut it out (along with a bit of the bottom so I could maintain the same aspect ratio). Other than that, not much Photoshopping, other than Auto Contrast and maybe adding a smidge of extra blue.
I love how the train tunnel can been seen in the lower right background.
I don't like this shot nearly as much. It's the Duboce Park Cafe, and I really wanted to do something with that neon sign, which I love. The problem, which the instructor pointed out (but didn't call a "problem"), is that the shot isn't actually showing the viewer anything. I mean, it shows a lot, but nothing is really the object of the photo since there are so many items of interest.
I wanted to shoot with a wider angle and catch more of the street and possibly some people walking by the cafe, but there was too much ugly and mundane shit on the ground, like an overflowing garbage can and a bunch of brightly-colored stands containing free magazines and newspapers. I should've found a better angle and shot this scene differently. We'll see what my grade is before I decide whether or not I want to reshoot it.
This shot needed a buttload of Photoshopping. Everything was tainted with red light from the neon sign since I had to keep the shutter open for 25-30 seconds, so I desaturated it, then boosted the cyan (a.k.a. "the anti-red") to better approximate how my eyes viewed the scene.