Greece: Untitled

[seastack]

http://www.hydeimages.com/misc/greece04sm.jpg

Untitled. Greece, 2008.

[Qarik]

the clouds are amazing..great contrast and shapes. The composition is near perfect..very strong angles, curves, etc. Focus and exposre are great. The BW is treatment is good as well.

I know you must have had the discussion in your own head about the tilt. It is the one thing that bothers me.

[termina3]

The clouds and street almost seem to compete--which adds to the photo--and yet there is a definite focus point just off-center left.

It may be interesting to see the dog brought out a little--make him more of a subject by lightening the area around him?

I don't like the tilt. A distraction. You have plenty of interest already, and great potential with the winding street that is diminished by the tilt.

[rutt]

Yeah, lose the tilt. The shot is plenty good without it. I'd also lose the word "untitled" since you do, in fact, have a title, "Greece, 2008".

[Miguel Delinquento]

The is a wonderful photograph. Great decision to convert to B&W. Great timing with the dog. Excellent perspective. I like the tilt because it brings a modern surreal POV to a surreal scene. This view looks like it could have come out of Fritz Lang's Metropolis.

A few tweaks with localized exposure would improve the shot. The area between the dog and the building might be lightened better to bring out the dog's shadow (a sublime component of your shot). I'd also slightly lighten some of the lower clouds to the right of the frame.

Other than that, this is one of the pure portfolio shots I've seen here in a while. :beer

M

[seastack]

Thank you for the helpful comments.

The tilt, well yes, I understand how this can be bothersome and it can be overdone. This image is full frame, uncropped and not rotated, appearing as it did en camera and as composed with a 35mm lens wide open. The tilt was conscious to highlight the dog in the frame, or rather the dog's shadow and bring it level (upside down level), to create the off center elongated triangle with lower sides equidistant frame frame edge, and to pull more white in the sky into the frame over the black dog. In short, the framing was designed to fit all the essential elements (or what seemed essential to me) in the frame on the fly.

Self critique: The uneven density on the building upper left makes the sky look unnaturally burned in, or just a little sloppily burned in. This would be better with the building showing consistency in tone. This might have been just a little better if I had bent my knees a little more to bring the two strongest elements - the dog and the clouds - just a bit closer.

P.S. I love bad weather and storms. I was thinking both Trent Parke and Josef Koudelka when I took this :))

[seastack]

Regarding the area between the dog and the building: I did lighten it a little bit already (so we were thinking the same thing) but trying to keep it looking natural. Will take another look. Thanks again :))

[HoofClix]

Good to see you in the threads again!

I'm just really impressed at how you've been able to keep nice definition in the clouds while at the same time not seriously overexposing the buildings and foreground. Would love eventually to know what color channels you used to do the conversion, or if you just settled on a default filter..

The tilt does bother me, both too much and not enough... Perhaps even a portrait orientation to show more of the clouds, but really, a stunning image..

[NeuralLotus]

I like the tilt. I think it gives it a sort of maniacal/insane feeling, kind of like a path leading up to a mad scientist's laboratory; or more specifically it reminds me both of the way a mad scientist's laboratory is depicyed from the outside in Looney Tunes, and of Dark City. If you have seen either of these (I'm sure most have at least seen Looney Tunes), I think you'll understand what I am talkign about. This tilt, juxtapositioned with the interaction between the dog and its shadow (which I feel gives a sort of Jekyll and Hyde feel because of the distortion from the water) makes for a terrific scene. This is all brought together with the rest of the image through the intense clouds and the high contrast. It gives you those deep blacks and bright whites, making for a very stormy, eery feeling scene, like a scene out of Frankenstein. I definately suggest you keep the tilt.

Aside from the tilt, I would have to say that, although it is exposed excellently, I do wonder if the large highlight in the clouds (just to the right of the middle) is a little too blown out. No drastic measures need to be taken, but if you could bring out a little more detail (i.e. selective leveling or etc.), just a little more, it would be a little less distracting, and would add a bit more to the eery feelign that this photo already posesses. That area of clouds just looks slightly too harsh, so if you do edit that part, don't overdo it.

I do, however, disagree with lightening between the dog and the building anymore. If you dodge anymore it would take away the sense of mystery that is there. I'm definately not saying darken the area, but don't lighten it either.

I do somewhat agree with lightening the lower clouds on the right, but I don't think much needs to be done there, otherwise, again, it would take away from the sense of mystery. The fade out that exists on the right in the clouds works very well, but I think the black part of it is a bit too long.

[cadred]

I'd like to chime in and say that it's not that the clouds compete with the rest of the image, I think they are an important part, it's that the blown out highlight right at the top of the image is pulling my eye away from the main subject.

If you can crop it, I would crop just below that white area, if not, you'll have to fill it in somehow.

[sweet caroline]

Very surreal feeling. Love the contrast. The dog and shadow are amazing. Reflections. Angles and curves. A lot of cool stuff going on in this shot. I feel some of the intensity is lost because of the tilt. It makes me lean into the side of the curved building first instead of straight down the street toward the dog and fabulous background. It makes me work too hard to see the scene, and makes me a little queasy. Let me reiterate, I love this image. The tilt is my one issue with it. But, you're the artist, so you do what you like:) Maybe you want to throw off my balance.

Caroline