empty rows

[Hinana]

a simple photo i took a few weeks back. i guess it was a rare opportunity to take photos of empty seats in theatres. the seats are empty but the arrangement of the seats made it feel like there were people.

taken with d40x, 1/10s, f3.5 at 18mm using kit lense, iso 400

a little distortion at the top ( kit lense.. haiz =/ )

c&c welcome

*btw it's my first post in critique corner

[attap seed]

1/10sec, hope u use a tripod.

why shoot at f3.5? u wan shallow depth of field? a lens usually perform better when stopped down a bit. which is why, a tripod can be important.

how do u know that the distortion is caused (only) by the "kit" lens? all lens ve some degree of distortion, esp zoom. but really, my advise is to ignore all these "technical B.S" and concentrate on the really important stuff, that is, shooting.

your 1st row consisited of 2 1/3 chair.

can try 3 whole chair, or 2 in the middle, then each with 1/2 or 1/3 by the side.

and the picture looks pretty empty w no center of interest. one common trick for this type of shot is to introduce something interesting, eg, a lone figure sitting according to the "rule of thirds".

[Hinana]

i was shooting hand held and it was a kit lense so f3.5 is the lowest i could go

i guess it does lack some interest without any figure in the photo

thanks for ur comments!

[dennisc]

wow i feel so empty now lol. front a little reduntant

[night86mare]

1) the foreground in the picture is redundant - much prefer that you keep it limited to the red tops of the seats - a higher viewpoint, just a teeny weeny bit to provide more separation between each row would be good too

2) the frontmost row, not sure if anyone else has mentioned, the framing sticks out like a sore thumb. details count, the patterns from second row onwards do not matter as much, it is not what the viewer sees or concentrates on.. if you notice the very first row of seats, you have done a 2 1/2 thing which seems careless. make it 2 or 3, or leave half to the left and half to the right. hope you get what i mean. organisation is important

[patch17]

might i suggest a landscape format would emphasize the emptiness a bit more. i also agree that the foreground is just a mass of black which does not add to the overall image. crop it out and focus more on the pattern of the seats. a good effort none the less, hand held.

btw, the reason why most of your picure still looks sharp even with the f3.5 aperture is because you're shooting at 18mm setting. the wide angle gives you a deeper depth of field than say, 50mm at the same aperture.

[yehosaphat]

The pic has nice symmetry or repeated patterns. I would use small apertures for these kinds of shot.

[sprintist]

i like this picture alot, minus alittle for the distortion which i felt was distracting.

the only issue is i would have preferred a more symmetrical postioning of the seats. to centralise it rather than placing at the thirds. There's this feeling of unbalance. haha

of course, with a tripod will be good. Cant fault you for not having a tripod anyway!



btw i like the colours too!

[dw8888]

When taking photo like this I like to crop away the bottom part, just left the head rest only. create more thought and not one look you know what it is.

[dawgbyte77]

I also think it is nice (but forgetable). Perhaps good as a background pix or part of a collage or photostory. Anyway, what others have said + 2nd row arm rest seems like out of place (maybe can hide with a slight change in angle). To make it interesting, you might frame 3 seats in front and put a cup or something on one of the armrest which also compliment the color red (perhaps yellow or white). Or a stuff toy sitting on the chair.

[Evil_Angle]

IMO, I believe it will be better if you can make the picture symmetrical.

[keast]

do see abit of distortion in the picture.

gave me a wow when i first look at it. the lighting makes the rows and rows of chairs look very 3D

i'll say good job on this