Good ol' Siglap


whitewabbit

New Member
May 4, 2013
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Singapore
One lazy afternoon along Siglap... I happened to have my Nikon with me... the rest is history... indeed.

DSC_0993_small.jpg


1. In what area is critique to be sought?
Feel free to blast me with all types of comments/opinions on my composition and post-processing (constructive criticisms are most welcome).

2. What one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
Growing up in Siglap during my formative years, i've fond memories of the neighborhood and when i read that the last remaining HDB estate in siglap will be redeveloped, i knew that i had to capture as much as i could, as well as i could to keep these memories and share them with future generations. Well, to the best of my ability and with help from the sifus here. I'm pretty new to the DSLR and hope my fellow CS-ers could guide me on the appropriate settings, composition and lighting to capture the perfect photo.

3. Under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)
Equipment: Nikon D7100 (10-20mm lens)
ISO:125
Shutter:80
F-Stop: 8.0
Flash:No
Taken Hand Held

4.What the Critique seeker personally thinks of the picture?
Personally, I'm a fan of bokeh.. and i felt that more focus could be placed on the ARROW (on the road) and the background could be a little more blurred. Minor editing was done on the contrast and saturation settings and i've also tuned up the temp slightly to achieve the yellowish warm effect. If possible, I would be extremely grateful if you guys could also give me some advise/critique on the remaining photos in the album. As mentioned, i'm really new to this and will be more than glad to receive any form of suggestions and advice from my fellow CS-ers.

Thanks for reading!
 

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Hi whitewabbit,

Its a wonderful idea to document this old neighbourhood of yours. Good project!

What I like about this photo is the pattern of the shadows (of the tree foliage) that are falling on the cars and the face of the building. Looks very interesting. However, it looks sort of muted right now. Maybe it can be pumped up a little during post processing? Just a suggestion.

I also like the subject that you have chosen. You don't see this sort of HDB design anymore. The slanted window slits and straight long corridors are a thing of the past I feel.

Good choice to pump up the temp of the pic. It works for me. Makes it more ol skool. Haha.

One of the first things that struck me as I saw the photo was the orientation. I naturally tilted my head to get the proper orientation. Don't know if you had a specific purpose for introducing this orientation.

Additionally, I would have chosen to focus more on the building instead of including so much of the road (which has a big white arrow and similarly distracting double yellow lines) That would probably convey more of the message (the old neighbourhood) which you intended.

Also, as for bokeh, I don't really see the building being blurred out. Probably becos of the settings. Cos according to the DOF calculator, on a DX camera at f/8.0, (assuming the point of near focus is about 3m or more away from the camera, which seems to be the case if the arrow is the point of focus) the DOF stretches all the way from 0.6m to infinity. Which means that your entire scene will end up without any bokeh. The seniors need to verify this. I am just using the DOF calculator app on my iphone.

The last thing is the noise. Was it introduced in post-process? Cos it makes the bars and the grills on the building look very grainy.

Question : You mentioned that there is a "remaining album". Got the link? Would love to take a look at more of the series.

Cheers! And Keep shooting!

(Btw : I'm very new to photography. Just sharing my point of view.)
 

i am waiting for the painful impact of tarmac on my shoulders and face when i first saw this image. its a perspective which i would expect while fainting towards my right side.

focus wise , since you are capturing a semi landscape scene or are intending to do so, keep your aperture small so everything is in focus and there isn't a thin depth of field.

just so you know,
DoF blur is NOT bokeh. bokeh is the characteristic of the DoF blur. check out the Old/Alternate Mount lenses thread to see what bokeh really is (very wide variety of bokeh) .

editing wise you may have edited a little too much. it looks grainy even on my mobile. were you trying to sharpen the image?

what i like about the image is the shadows of the trees creating interesting detail.
 

Thanks for both comments! Really appreciate that you guys took time off to give some tips for me to work on.

Re. grainy pic, its due to the resizing that is required before uploading into the forum I've since corrected the uploaded pic and the grains should have been reduced/cleared. The only pp i did was a slight adjustment in the contrast and saturation and like what Norman correctly pointed out.. the temp.

Re. the angle, I was trying to keep the yellow lines parallel to the y-axis of the photo frame.. hence attempting to draw more focus to the yellow lines and arrow... Maybe i should have taken more of the road or maybe decrease the DOF so that only the road is clear while the backdrop is in blur?

Re. the shadow of the foliage... thanks!
 

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pls keep to the critique corner posting guidelines. 1 pic per thread. thx.

all other posts have been moved to "cityscapes" forum.
 

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For one I felt the subject was interesting but is majorly overshadowed by the presence of modernity, perhaps that was your intention?

It seems too saturated by orange for my liking, but i'm a food photographer so yeah..

the trees are a huge distraction

what i felt when first i saw this picture, without any mention of your thoughts, it'll seem like some random picture taken. that is my very honest two cent.
 

Some questions for you to think about:

1) The tilt here is clearly deliberate, but does it add value to the picture?
2) Is the lighting here the best? Is it better in another light?
3) Why have you chosen this angle? If it's meant to be a documentary shot, what context does the road lines and arrow signage have?

Other than that, the WB is a little too warm for my liking. It's alright to be a little creative on the colors but having a dominant yellow cast doesn't really add anything here imho. :)

Keep shooting!
 

Thanks for all the comments.. I've got much to learn from the sifus here :)

Hi jaytanjiabao! : Thanks and I appreciate your honesty (always the best policy!). With re. to the trees, i wanted to create a sense of "depth", i.e. overhanging trees casting long shadows onto the buildings. And i agree that i overdid it on the temp.. will keep it less overbearing in future.

Hi Edutilos!: The tilt is to keep the double yellow lines parallel to the frame... something that resulted in an unintended effect on my viewers having to tilt their heads.. hehe. It was a bright day, although this side of the flats are shadowed by the trees.. perhaps the block next to it had better unobstructed light.

Hi catchlights!: Perhaps I should change my caption/title to your quote ;)

And thanks Norman & Shizuma for the invaluable tips too.

In summary, the following pointer learnt from this photo:
1) Don't be greedy. Focus on one main subject (in this case, it should be the flats, not the road)
2) Avoid shooting at an angle. It'll confuse the viewer and cause unwanted head tilting.
3) Shoot in places with more distinctive lighting (use shadows to your advantage)
4) Go easy on the PP. Avoid overdoing temp settings.
5) When shooting landscape, keep the aperture small so that everything's in focus.

Thanks guys!