I'm Waiting for You

[aHxi-o]

Hihi!

I'm new to photography and I'm still exploring my photography skills. Critics and comments are much appreciated. :bsmilie:

This shot was taken at a reservoir park.
2 benches, placed side by side, gave me a lone feeling, sense of emptiness. I decided to capture such a sight and hope that my photo will evoke a "I'm waiting for you" response with the 2 empty benches.

As the benches are under the shade, my initial shots turned out either overexposing the sky or underexposing benches. As such, I processed the photo using HDR, a technique I am learning now (and can be seen from the ugly watermarks...).

Please help with the following:
1. How well was the theme portrayed?
2. What do you think of the composition of the picture?
3. What do you think of the post-processing, particularly in terms of saturation and brightness?

Thank you!

 

[pplneedthelord]

my opinion is that you should have taken in potrait style instead of landscape. next is that you could go a little closer to the benches keeping your 18mm focal length if you were using your kit lens. because from the way i first saw the picture the trees and the sky in the background caught my eye first.

however if you still wish to shoot in landscape style... you could try going closer to the benches.

in terms of HDR, sorry i haven't tried or thought about trying that out

 

[aHxi-o]

thanks for your comments.

i did a portrait shot too, which included the tree... but I felt that the top of the pic was a bit too 'heavy', and decided to do a landscape to balance out the 'heaviness'.
will try moving closer with 18mm the next time I bring my cam to the reservoir... yup!

 

[imwint3r]

the "i'm waiting for you" element is missing because of the lack of human touch.. a lonesome or lonely person there would have definitely added that speck of magic

 

[yuanzai]

I don't really see much of the HDR effect but I suppose the shadow from the tree was much harsher in real life. The exposure seems a little awkward too with the ultra bright trees in the background and somewhat gloomy dark shadows in the foreground. Composition wise I guess its pretty much ok except the reservoir is a lil distracting and the bench is pretty overshadowed.

I like the blue in the right side of the sky tho.. haha=]

 

[night86mare]

Please help with the following:
1. How well was the theme portrayed?
2. What do you think of the composition of the picture?
3. What do you think of the post-processing, particularly in terms of saturation and brightness?

it is not a bad frame, but still lacks that little bit more punch. also, i do not like the processing you have done here. the greens are glowing, the blues are glowing, and in short this looks like a computer game, although which computer game has a scene with two benches at a reservoir.. i have no idea. maybe some national education game.

1. if you wish to portray loneliness, do you think bright chirpy colors (even lesser than what you have here) at all, would work?

2. very left heavy composition. thankfully for you there is a nice cloud flying to the right so that adds a bit of balance. prefer a more squarish crop, maybe 4x3, and a more "straight-on" angle to the benches, this will also serve to lengthen them as a more significant element.

3. see above.

 

[aHxi-o]

Thanks for all your comments.

Yes, i should have
- added some human touch by having a lone person
- not used bright colours
to further bring out the theme. =)

And i'll improve on the cropping as well.

And "national educational game" sounds funny! Hahhs....:sweatsm:

 

[patricktay]

HI axHi-O,

Please see below for my responses:

1. How well was the theme portrayed?

I feel that the theme is fine, although personally, I will interpret the shot as "a chill-out session in the evening"

2. What do you think of the composition of the picture?

The composition is fine. However, if you are able to provide a paranomic view of the sea (i.e. more of the sea) at the right of the image will be good. It will be good to stand further to the left and tilt your camera slightly to the right to capture more of the sea while allowing the two benches to still be visible in the shot.

3. What do you think of the post-processing, particularly in terms of saturation and brightness?

As I am a photographer who is not into the technicalities of photography but focuses more on the composition, I have no comments.

 

[aHxi-o]

HI axHi-O,

Please see below for my responses:

1. How well was the theme portrayed?

I feel that the theme is fine, although personally, I will interpret the shot as "a chill-out session in the evening"

2. What do you think of the composition of the picture?

The composition is fine. However, if you are able to provide a paranomic view of the sea (i.e. more of the sea) at the right of the image will be good. It will be good to stand further to the left and tilt your camera slightly to the right to capture more of the sea while allowing the two benches to still be visible in the shot.

3. What do you think of the post-processing, particularly in terms of saturation and brightness?

As I am a photographer who is not into the technicalities of photography but focuses more on the composition, I have no comments.

alright! thanks for viewing and commenting. points noted. =)
there seem to be a more- VS less-reservoir angle :think:

 

[aselley]

I would crop the photo so that benches on the left can no longer be seen...so that it is truly alone...and mute the overall brightness down so its less cheery. I am not sure if the title fits...maybe something like "waiting" would be better.

As for HDR I have never tried it, so I don't think I should comment.

 

[Expiredyoghurt]

my 2 cents ...

i think it looks too 'happy' to be portraying 'loneliness' ...

i think we we add some female singer into the fore-ground it'll work as a loe-song album cover ... lolx ...

it looks alright, but doesn't convey loneliness ...

also, i agree with night86mare....

the trees and grass on the left side look radioactive ... :S

 

[LifeInMacro]

Hi aHxi-o,

Thanks for sharing.

Given a chance, this is what I'll do:
1. Shoot during dawn or dusk...the colours will be more interesting, especially for HDR
2. Go closer towards the benches; may leave out other benches in the right background
3. Try to do portrait orientation, leaving out the water
4. Also try to shoot from lower angle.

HDR adjustments is more of personal choice/preference. I see that you have gone for a "natural" looking HDR. But becareful of the "radioactive" grass patches that previous members talked about, unless you are going for the surreal HDR look.

Stay cool.

 

[velasco]

guess what , i actually like this shot!

 

[aHxi-o]

Thanks for all 2 cents. This piggy bank is gg to worth more liao!

I would crop the photo so that benches on the left can no longer be seen...so that it is truly alone...and mute the overall brightness down so its less cheery. I am not sure if the title fits...maybe something like "waiting" would be better.

As for HDR I have never tried it, so I don't think I should comment.

Alright. think gotta move a lil to the left and exclude the benches.... and yupp! a more dull image wld have been better (or perhaps the theme was wrong... 'cos I came up with a random theme after the pic... lols!)

my 2 cents ...

i think it looks too 'happy' to be portraying 'loneliness' ...

i think we we add some female singer into the fore-ground it'll work as a loe-song album cover ... lolx ...

it looks alright, but doesn't convey loneliness ...

also, i agree with night86mare....

the trees and grass on the left side look radioactive ... :S

okayy. the brightness was slightly overkill. *nods*
and cool singer idea.

Hi aHxi-o,

Thanks for sharing.

Given a chance, this is what I'll do:
1. Shoot during dawn or dusk...the colours will be more interesting, especially for HDR
2. Go closer towards the benches; may leave out other benches in the right background
3. Try to do portrait orientation, leaving out the water
4. Also try to shoot from lower angle.

HDR adjustments is more of personal choice/preference. I see that you have gone for a "natural" looking HDR. But becareful of the "radioactive" grass patches that previous members talked about, unless you are going for the surreal HDR look.

Stay cool.

1. yup. have been playing around with HDR and realised they are best during dawn and dusk
2. noted
3. i had that pic too... but preferred a landscape
4. will try

yeah. have been experimenting with HDR. my take will be between half-surreal and lifelike. HDR is quite disputable on CS... hahahhs!

thanks loads.

guess what , i actually like this shot!

thanks! =)

 

[Living H2O]

personaly...
i think will be better if you shoot during sun set.
the 'mood' can be very different. and may be b&w ?
than you may not have the messy shadow of the tree.
Btw,
Thanks for posting this,
i am learning from every body critics too

 

[aHxi-o]

personaly...
i think will be better if you shoot during sun set.
the 'mood' can be very different. and may be b&w ?
than you may not have the messy shadow of the tree.
Btw,
Thanks for posting this,
i am learning from every body critics too

thanks for the comments! agree that a dusk/dawn setting will be better.
and I have indeed gained quite a few pointers here!