Post Alley

[MattC]

I captured this outside of the Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington. I think it was a pretty cool location but I'm a bit dissapointed in this shot. It seems to be lacking something, perhaps a main subject?

I plan on re-visiting this location in the near future and I was hoping some of you may have some suggestions for improvement when I go back. If I were to shoot with a tripod and a shutter release cable, could I bracket the exposures and combine the images to compensate for the over-exposure of the sun-lit areas down the alley?

Thanks!

http://www.pixelwrench.com/pa.jpg
Canon EOS 300D, 18-55mm @ 55mm, Av, F/8.0, 1/400, ISO 400

[Owen]

Did you use the shadow/highlight tool?

[gefillmore]

and tweak it, or 'pop' it, with levels and/or curves..

I think this is a neat shot-

george

[MattC]

Did you use the shadow/highlight tool?

I've tried, but it tends to get pretty grainy/noisy when I do that.

[ian408]

Try a lower perspective. Wider too so as to give us both the rise of the hill
and the height of the buildings. A vertical would do well too.

As for bracketing, you could. And if you are a CS2 user, try using HDR to better
mix them.

Looking forward to the re-shoot!

ian

[Owen]

The reason I asked about the shadow/highlight tool is because it looks like you did use it; dull colors, grainy, unusually lit.

[Frogwell]

Hi Matt, my 2 cents: I really like the location, but for me I think it would really work as a moody shot - de-saturated colours, low light, grainy type thing. Roughly like below is what I'm talking about. That's a 30 second job while pretending to listen to a client on the phone, so it's not show quality, just a doodle as an example. Just a thought anyway :)

Oh, and if you could get a lone hunchbacked old woman labouring with a basket of cabbages in the foreground it wouldn't hurt either :)

http://www.frogwell.com/misc/matt_c.jpg

[wxwax]

I think your composition is fine. I think it's one of those deals where you need to be there when the light is right. The light for your shot doesn't work.

Fog might work, or maybe a shaft of sunlight going down the alleyway, or maybe at dusk with the lights providing pools of light?

[ChrisJ]

The reason I asked about the shadow/highlight tool is because it looks like you did use it; dull colors, grainy, unusually lit.

That's just Seattle... :D