Looking for some real opinions...

[jcrane]

Night scene of some artists with their work. San Marcos Square, Venice, Italy.
http://vision.smugmug.com/photos/109725764-L-3.jpg

[Riverlander]

Too far away. Too dark. Too straight on to the paintings, causing the burnt out highlights from the flash. Not worth the trouble of putting a watermark on it.

[z_28]

Way too dark but artworks are overexposed already.

BTW - this City is Venezia or Venice !!!
Veneto is an Italian Region with Venezia as Capital :scratch

[jcrane]

Too far away. Too dark. Too straight on to the paintings, causing the burnt out highlights from the flash. Not worth the trouble of putting a watermark on it.

No flash used. Just a long exposure leaning against a post. Thanks for sharing your opinions. I admit it would have been nice to light up the two gentlemen whom are facing away and stood perfectly still. Thanks again.

[Gary Glass]

What I like best about the photo is the dizzying regularity of the building's facade. However, that also makes the background very busy and the foreground sort of gets lost in it. Others have remarked on the lighting problems, and they are a problem, but I thought I would also point out the background/foreground problem, as that is less of a technical challenge and more of a compositional problem. There is the potential for a good photo in this situation, but you really have some tough technical hurdles to overcome to bring it out.

Not worth the trouble of putting a watermark on it.

That is unkind and unfunny.

[jcrane]

I thought the perspective of the fascade created the triangle to lead the eyes to the artwork. The upper piece does have a couple of stops too much exposure but I was happy that the remaining 75% came out nicely exposed. I will try to gaussian blur the background a bit to pop the artwork. Thanks for the constructive C&C.:thumb

That is unkind and unfunny.
(I was't going to dignify it with a response.)

[Riverlander]

Having read the other posts, and in light of you asking for real opinions about the image, I have nothing further to add to my original post except - oops - no flash!!.

[pyrtek]

Having read the other posts, and in light of you asking for real opinions about the image, I have nothing further to add to my original post except - oops - no flash!!.

And here I thought you could add, oh, I don't know, an apology for your
extremely insulting and inappropriate comment, perhaps?

[Felicia]

Having read the other posts, and in light of you asking for real opinions about the image, I have nothing further to add to my original post except - oops - no flash!!.

Graham, I think what folks are trying to tell you is that being honest doesn't mean you can be "mean." Stating that a photo isn't worth a watermark, while YOU may honestly think so, comes across as very harsh and mean. We're not here to tear down someone's work. We're here to point out problem areas and then suggest improvements. In other words, stick to honest opinions which will prompt the photographer toward IMPROVEMENT.

[jcrane]

I'm working on the image and will upload it when I'm finished. Should I post the edited one here as well? Could someone here can help me with another problem: when I view the picture here it is much brighter (sometimes darker) than in photoshop. Thanks in advance!

[Maldon]

IT seems to me that there are lots of elements - the paintings, the silhouettes, the building facade and so on. But I can't find an answer to the most basic question: "What were you trying to say or show." I thought I'd stick this in, because you talked about editing.

[pyrtek]

I'm working on the image and will upload it when I'm finished. Should I post the edited one here as well?

There's a before and after thread for posting whipping post edits.

[Rockporters]

I'm working on the image and will upload it when I'm finished. Should I post the edited one here as well? Could someone here can help me with another problem: when I view the picture here it is much brighter (sometimes darker) than in photoshop. Thanks in advance!

First step is to make sure the color profile is embedded. sRGB or sRGB IEC61966-2.1 for web viewing.

[DavidTO]

Hey, it turns out that critique is an art, just like photography! :D

You may want to check out Andy's most excellent post on How To Critique (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=13427), or you may subscribe to the Hamburger Method (http://n8tip.com/the-hamburger-method-of-constructive-criticism-works-for-vegetarians-too)! Either way, practice the art of critique, just as you do the art of photography. :D

[saurora]

I agree with Gary that a scene like this has lots of potential, and also that the compositional aspects of this shot are tough. Obviously you aren't going to be reshooting this. :D I'm wondering why you left the two people in the foreground fade into black? For me, they are an interesting part of the scene. Here is a poor artist with his work brightly displayed and the shoppers have their backs turned to him and are gazing in the other direction, probably at the building. I think your focus on the artwork, which is somewhat blown out, could be toned down and the people brought out of the shadows somewhat for an interesting and slightly humorous shot. Great try though.... it's not easy to pull a big scene like this together!

[i_worship_the_King]

I have no idea of the options here... but I would love to see a lot MORE of the building behind, properly exposed and filling up 80+% of the frame. Then perhaps the artist and their comrades down in a corner (properly exposed) with the focus shifted to them from the variation of values. However, I think this would definitely require a tripod and 2-3 frames (bracketed?) to get everyone exposed right then photoshop all of it together.

Great idea though :thumb

And don't worry, I got my butt handed to me on my first few pic's posted. In fact I still do, cause I'm slow...