The boatshed

[boyboy]

Hi all, been around on CS as a lurker and started posting later on, but seldom do I post my pictures. Anyway that's not important.

This will be my first posting in Critique Corner, and I would like honest feedback. Harsh or negative feedback is welcome too.

Where: This shot was taken at Lake Wendouree, Ballarat, Victoria state, Australia.

What: This is a picture of a boatshed by what was a man-made lake. The water levels dropped because of the prolonged drought in the area. This lake was formerly used for water activities such as rowing and even sailing. IIRC, Olympic rowers trained there.

Why: I took this shot to show the boatshed out of its element. Or perhaps I should say, its element had been removed. I also see it as nature claiming back what was not meant to be, as the lake was artificial.

What I think: The main weakness I see is that there are no boats in the picture. Also, it may not be apparent to the avg Singaporean that this is a boatshed. It wouldn't be to me. But this building has something to do with water, with its elevated platform. The empty land behind the boatshed also hints at what was there.

This was one of the photos I took to try to depict the dried out lake. I have cliched ones like the cracked lake bed but we've all seen those pix before

I personally like this photo because of the mood. I shot it on 35mm colour film but converted it to b/w as I felt the mood was more suitable. Colour is also irrelevant. The original picture was also somewhat muted as it was just past sunset, and the sky was cloudy. definitely not a stunning photo by any means. Besides B/W (orange filter and a lil tweaking) in PS, I also recovered some highlights to make the clouds a bit more defined. The power of negative film.. hee hee..

 

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

Multiple aspects of the image can be enhanced.

1) If the lens is not wide enuff, change angle... if the angle & lens cannot be changed, then shoot other aspect.

2) b&w does not necessary bring out the feel, a desaturated picture may work better to bring out the lack of water as a b&w pic does not show the greens and the blues.

3) For this pic, its lacking in 1 thing extremely important... the dried out lake. if could be better if you could take it from another angle to encompass the barren field, instead we're shown a grassland.

4) This hut may look like any other hut... seriously, the only thing that differentiate it is not shown, the pier. It could have been better if you just move to the right and take the shot with it, else the picture does not explain much.

 

[boyboy]

thanx for the quick thread approval and feedback. i shall post another pic up here. didn't like it as much but i believe it tells the story much better. still, in terms of the look, i prefer the boatshed

not sure if this works better. i think the best would be aerial view but other than that, i'm still wondering how to capture in one shot, the situation at hand. haizzz.

btw, the lake bed is now partly grassland. some of it is parched and cracked but there are other parts which aren't bone dry yet (no longer a swamp anymore though. it was swampy just a yr or two ago)

btw, regarding UWA, is it ever acceptable to use it to get the whole picture in? it was quite wide liao at 16mm on 35mm film. but i tried to go nearer to the boatshed

 

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

thanx for the quick thread approval and feedback. i shall post another pic up here. didn't like it as much but i believe it tells the story much better. still, in terms of the look, i prefer the boatshed

not sure if this works better. i think the best would be aerial view but other than that, i'm still wondering how to capture in one shot, the situation at hand. haizzz.

btw, the lake bed is now partly grassland. some of it is parched and cracked but there are other parts which aren't bone dry yet (no longer a swamp anymore though. it was swampy just a yr or two ago)

btw, regarding UWA, is it ever acceptable to use it to get the whole picture in? it was quite wide liao at 16mm on 35mm film. but i tried to go nearer to the boatshed

16mm on 35 = fisheye or ultra wide angle already.

you just have to take a few steps back in composition. its too tight imho.