To Heaven.

[weishengg]

Hi all,

I took this photo a couple of days ago at the City Hall War Memorial.

I like a few things about the photo:
1) How the light strikes onto the top column of the tower, throwing the vague symmetry slightly off through the use of contrast.
2) How the lines lead me from the base of the tower, which is dark, dirty and grainy towards the top of the tower, which is cleaner brighter and purer.
3) How the overexposed part of the sky resemble a cross.

To me, this photo represents the ascension of our civilian victims from the dark abyss of the war to the purity in what I perceive to be Heaven itself.

Amen to our lost ones.



Camera: Sony A100
Lens: Minolta 50mm f/1.7
Focal: 75mm (35mm equivalent)
Iso:100
Aperture: f/1.7
Shutter: 1/4000s
Postprocessing: Picasa



Would like to seek C&C on the following:
1) Should I have selected a larger aperture value to get a deeper D.O.F?
2) Do you think the picture has a subject?
3) Does the picture have a “mood”?
4) Does my interpretation fit the picture? (this is pretty personal, but just asking anyway)
5) What could I have done to get rid of the badass purple fringing?
6) Is my white (im)balancing ok?
7) Any other comments?


Cheers,
WeiSheng

*ps: i'm a free-thinker btw*

[mpguitars]

I hope I can help answer your questions and improve the pic:

1) yes, shld use deeper DOF so whole picture becomes sharper
2) subject: not really necessary if the mood is created using the WHOLE picture
3) mood: the pic doesn't have a mood in its current form
4) i wouldnt say it doesnt fit, just have to improve the picture until its closer to your interpretation
5)-7) i believe you need to PS the picture to bring out thebest in it. once you achieve overall sharpness, you can then play around with hue and saturation to bring out the mood, not to mention the 100 other controls in PS that can be tweaked.

but the basic picture must be good first ie DOF problem. It may look nicer with some strong sunlight shining thru the pillars.

Hope this helps.

[night86mare]

Originally Posted by weishengg Would like to seek C&C on the following: 1) Should I have selected a larger aperture value to get a deeper D.O.F? 2) Do you think the picture has a subject? 3) Does the picture have a “mood”? 4) Does my interpretation fit the picture? (this is pretty personal, but just asking anyway) 5) What could I have done to get rid of the badass purple fringing? 6) Is my white (im)balancing ok? 7) Any other comments?

i'm afraid a lot of these do not have any right answers.. it is more or less subject to personal taste, every photo can work for some people, and may not work for others. so long as your idea is brought across and appreciated by the people who understand though.. then you have done a good job.

1) it depends. for me, i like this dof, it is different from the usual photo taken of this scene
2) yes, albeit of an abstract pattern more than anything else
3) certainly
4) interpretation as a stand-alone photo, perhaps not. it would be a clearer concept with an entire photo series depicting the chopsticks memorial
5) i cannot help you in this area, i have no idea
6) i do not like the color palette here, i am thinking careful channel mixing and toning later on to give a sepia overall tone would be good though
7) i feel it is not a bad attempt. but definitely not everyone may feel the same way.

[weishengg]

Hi all,

thanks a lot for the comments and feedback, I appreciate it!

[yehosaphat]

Depending on what you want to achieve will decide what comments you will get. For this shot, I would go at least f16 so it stays sharp throughout. WB could be altered at PP so depending on what you want to achieve. Perhaps you can share where you metered in this shot and metering mode

[pcpsk59]

Originally Posted by weishengg Hi all, I took this photo a couple of days ago at the City Hall War Memorial. I like a few things about the photo: 1) How the light strikes onto the top column of the tower, throwing the vague symmetry slightly off through the use of contrast. 2) How the lines lead me from the base of the tower, which is dark, dirty and grainy towards the top of the tower, which is cleaner brighter and purer. 3) How the overexposed part of the sky resemble a cross. To me, this photo represents the ascension of our civilian victims from the dark abyss of the war to the purity in what I perceive to be Heaven itself. Amen to our lost ones. Camera: Sony A100 Lens: Minolta 50mm f/1.7 Focal: 75mm (35mm equivalent) Iso:100 Aperture: f/1.7 Shutter: 1/4000s Postprocessing: Picasa Would like to seek C&C on the following: 1) Should I have selected a larger aperture value to get a deeper D.O.F? 2) Do you think the picture has a subject? 3) Does the picture have a “mood”? 4) Does my interpretation fit the picture? (this is pretty personal, but just asking anyway) 5) What could I have done to get rid of the badass purple fringing? 6) Is my white (im)balancing ok? 7) Any other comments? Cheers, WeiSheng *ps: i'm a free-thinker btw*

Wonderful shot and I made some little changes..

>> Image cropped to give a depth.

>> Image sharpened

>> Green tint added for spiritual mood

>> Contrasted Increased

>> Framed

Hope you like this changes.. this is all to my personal taste only.

PCP
Chennai, India