Abstract Whipping

[pemmett]

I've recently become interested in taking some abstract images and so starting to shoot a few. This image is of air exhaust vents in our building with a tungsten white balance. I really like it's simplicity but is there something I could do to make it better with more impact? I can easily reshoot if necessary. Cheers/Peter

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/179/430396986_8f4181b5c1.jpg

[ericgtr]

To me, it's composition and color are both abstract enough. I wouldn't know where to comment on improvements for this because I really like it. Have you tried it in B&W? Could be interesting to see the results of that.

[Gary Glass]

It captures the attention. The diagonals are strong and the color is engaging. The danger is monotony. There's some workable tonal variation from top-left to bottom-right that I'd probably try to enhance just a bit (but not too much) by curving in just a little more contrast. Sharpening might help too, even a bit of over-sharpening. And I'd also play with gradients, my first impulse with this shot being to try darkening right. But with all these things, I'd tread lightly because you don't want to lose the compositional power of those parallel bands.

[pemmett]

To me, it's composition and color are both abstract enough. I wouldn't know where to comment on improvements for this because I really like it. Have you tried it in B&W? Could be interesting to see the results of that.

Here's the Black & white version. Not sure if I like it as much (but that's probably because I like the colour purple:D)
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/197/442876872_e0eb0d3e2b.jpg

[pemmett]

It captures the attention. The diagonals are strong and the color is engaging. The danger is monotony. There's some workable tonal variation from top-left to bottom-right that I'd probably try to enhance just a bit (but not too much) by curving in just a little more contrast. Sharpening might help too, even a bit of over-sharpening. And I'd also play with gradients, my first impulse with this shot being to try darkening right. But with all these things, I'd tread lightly because you don't want to lose the compositional power of those parallel bands.

I've tried to improve the picture a bit, but not sure ifit's worked ot not. What do you think?:scratch
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/191/442876808_7417185811.jpg

[pemmett]

A number of people mentioned that the image makes them feel dizzy so I tried to work on this to see if I could make the affect even stronger. What do you think? :scratch

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/205/442876988_6fcf9573fe.jpg

[Gary Glass]

The shot doesn't work for me in B&W. (Take that with a grain of salt, of course. I have one B&W gallery that people tell me should be in color. But I just can't bring myself to agree.) I think you're re-processed color version takes it too far the other way. It's not that supersaturation is a bad thing, but in this case I think it really distracts from the thing that makes the shot worth looking at. And what makes it worth looking at is, among other things, the way the subtle colors and tonal variations play over and through the strong diagonal composition.

[pemmett]

The shot doesn't work for me in B&W. (Take that with a grain of salt, of course. I have one B&W gallery that people tell me should be in color. But I just can't bring myself to agree.) I think you're re-processed color version takes it too far the other way. It's not that supersaturation is a bad thing, but in this case I think it really distracts from the thing that makes the shot worth looking at. And what makes it worth looking at is, among other things, the way the subtle colors and tonal variations play over and through the strong diagonal composition.

Gary, Thanks for the feedback. I spent a lot of time trying to improve the image and agree that the original looks better. I think that I'll just let things be and try something completely different :-)

[Mike02]

Wierd, I guess the white balance/stripes are cool, although the picture is leaning more towards giving me a headache :P

P.S. B&W Looks way better =).