Tropicana Road

[night86mare]

Taken with Pentax K100D, kit lens..
HDR with 7 exposures (+3, +2, +1, 0, -1, -2, -3) merged in Photomatix.

Taken at Kallang Basin area.

Quote: 1. in what area is critique to be sought? 2. what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work? 3. under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions) 4. what the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture

Critique is sought in everything - composition, processing, colours, angle. Anything goes. I will listen, I promise. =D

I was just walking around when I saw that van. So I stopped, and the sky was getting dark, and the road just drew me in, so I just decided to take the shot, it seemed like there was a picture. The idea behind the picture would be one of moodiness, and some sense, solitude, there is nothing on the road but the van. And the sky. I'm not actually sure what I want to achieve with the picture, though. It's just a picture to me.

What I personally think of the picture, it is unforgiveably soft at some parts, probably due to haste of taking the series of JPG to merge, so there is probably some movement of frame. If you blown it up larger you can see that the van's edges are slightly, slightly blurred. So I should actually be more careful about that next time.

Also, I think the framing is slightly flawed, but I'm torn between whether I should step up closer to the van at the end of the road to emphasize its importance (should I even, at all?) .. And thereby leaving out the tree, which seems essential to me.. Or step back more to get a larger view of the scene.

Thanks for all comments in advance, appreciate your time.

[tribal.snake]

i think is a very nice picture. get a little closer, u dun need so much of the road.
otherwise, i like the look and feel of it.

btw, this should look good in print.

[espion]

this is an evil pic!

first the nitty gritties: shld correct the barrel distortion and slight tilt. this seems to be a constant thing in your pictures, so its either deliberate (which I dunno why) or your blindspot.

compositional: its ok. I like the balance between the organic tree and the ugly manmade bins - and BTW I wld never incl such things in my photos; the ugly barbed fences on both sides; and also the balance btw open empty road and sky and bldgs. I think the amount of empty road is adequate for it being evil ...

and now why is it evil.

cos the white line and open road compelled me to look into the picture, with its strange and unnatural colorations, and when I do, I see only a bus. But I am not satisfied. I feel there is something yet to be seen. So I look and search the picture and I see only an interesting bldg silhouette and bright garish lights consistent with its surreal feel - like the scenes I "see" in my dreams - and a nice, nice sky, that actually looks real - a gnashing contrast to the whole surreal sensation so far.

But the "thing" I was led to look in is yet not these things. So I continue to look and look and yet I see nothing, but I cannot stop looking and am already trapped, and I wasted my time looking at the picture.

So its an evil picture.

[night86mare]

Originally Posted by tribal.snake i think is a very nice picture. get a little closer, u dun need so much of the road. otherwise, i like the look and feel of it. btw, this should look good in print.

Thanks for the kind comments, but I need to know, is the tree important to you in this picture?

I can't decide. =/

[night86mare]

Originally Posted by espion cos the white line and open road compelled me to look into the picture, with its strange and unnatural colorations, and when I do, I see only a bus. But I am not satisfied. I feel there is something yet to be seen. So I look and search the picture and I see only an interesting bldg silhouette and bright garish lights consistent with its surreal feel - like the scenes I "see" in my dreams - and a nice, nice sky, that actually looks real - a gnashing contrast to the whole surreal sensation so far. But the "thing" I was led to look in is yet not these things. So I continue to look and look and yet I see nothing, but I cannot stop looking and am already trapped, and I wasted my time looking at the picture. So its an evil picture.

Hahaha, I get what you mean. There are elements which attract your eye and draw it in, but you can't really find anything to focus on?

=( I assure you, I didn't mean it to be evil. Hehe.

[tribal.snake]

hahaha i like ur comments on the evil part.
agree partially, but i guess it adds to the overall feel of the place.
a special place beyond somehting common.

but i do disgress on the part of the white line. i know in theory that is a good practice to shoot with a leading "line" to ur objective. but there are people who look at the overall pic before the lead line, so perspective will differ. i had a nice overall feel of the pic, before noticing the details of the line.

yes, the tree is good imo. adds to the overall feel of the picture. a little more of it is good, but not necessary.

[espion]

Originally Posted by night86mare There are elements which attract your eye and draw it in, but you can't really find anything to focus on?

I dunno whats the pic about. Really its like a dream, that sometimes you wake up and wonder whats the dream all about.

Originally Posted by night86mare I assure you, I didn't mean it to be evil. Hehe.

Dun u see that's the problem .. Hehe.

[miketre]

Hi there,

For me, the focus is on the buildings across the lake. The road and the fence lines cues me in to the buidings. The body of water seperating it from the viewer, and the orange sunlit sky in that place depicts to me a place of hope that is unreachable.

From that perspective, the bins, truck and garbage bag are distracting elements (esp the latter 2). I keep coming back to the picture, trying to visualize the scene without the truck.

Processing wise, the seems to be some halo surrounding the top part of the tree. This can be tweaked down in photomatix.

The picture also has a 'gray' feeling to it, something which seems quite common with HDR. This can also be tweaked in Photomatix. For me, the 'grayness' works in this photo, as it adds on a surreal feel to the parts of the picture other than the buildings.
Like being stuck in a nightmare, unable to go to the place of hope.

Horizon seems to be tilted to the right, or is it just me.

I like the warm tone, esp in the buildings.

Regards

[night86mare]

Originally Posted by miketre From that perspective, the bins, truck and garbage bag are distracting elements (esp the latter 2). I keep coming back to the picture, trying to visualize the scene without the truck. Processing wise, the seems to be some halo surrounding the top part of the tree. This can be tweaked down in photomatix. The picture also has a 'gray' feeling to it, something which seems quite common with HDR. This can also be tweaked in Photomatix. For me, the 'grayness' works in this photo, as it adds on a surreal feel to the parts of the picture other than the buildings. Like being stuck in a nightmare, unable to go to the place of hope.

Thanks a lot for your time. =) Really appreciated.

I know what you mean about the bins and garbage bag, they are really out of point, but I somehow would like to keep the truck there, as some sort of idea that there is someone around. Maybe it's just me. =D

Ahhhh crap, didn't notice that halo.. Thanks for the heads up. Will definitely be more careful next time.

Yeah, I deliberately left it grey, because it was actually quite grey at that moment - nearing sunset.. =)