Critique me....

N

[nCn]Preacher

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Nov 16, 2000
Messages
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My absolute favorite building in town...
Hearst_Tower.jpg


Here is the first shot with a photoshopped sky...

Hearst_Tower2.jpg


Another angle
Hearst_Tower_Top.jpg


Local cathedral. I thought the old stone against the modern buildings was a cool juxtaposition.
Cathedral_1_0406.jpg

Cathedral_2_0406.jpg


Spring is here...
SpringFlowers_0406.jpg
 
Ooh, I'm a huge fan of architecture, especially modern-architecture. :cool:

All the pictures are nice and vivid, which is always a plus (especially on the flowers).

The photoshopped background for the second image gets rid of the awful white glare in the first one. However, there's some pixelation around the building. I'm hardly a photoshop expert, but I'm sure there's something you can do to make the pixellation seem less harsh.

Besides those small things, I really like them, especially the third picture from the top. Keep up the good work! :cool:
 
I like the first one...definately makes it a huge towering beast. You might be able to use the blown sky as a layermask of some sort when combining the two frames together, and do a little bit of Graussian blur to the mask or something to smooth it out a bit when combining the sky-exposed image.

Wider images like this make me long for an EF 35mm f/1.4 so I have a compliment to my 85mm f/1.8 which is too long for this sort of stuff (although the 35mm might still be too long, I'd get used to it). Nice images. Keep taking pictures, the weather looks nice :)
 
Thanks for the feedback folks. This is the first time I have tried taking pictures for something that wasn't an "event" if you know what I mean.

Fun stuff though, and I can see why people enjoy doing it. It is like hunting, strangely enough, but you are looking for unique visual phenomenon.

I took this one yesterday as well.

Church_800.jpg
[/img]
 
Now that one looks like it's a minature model or something. The Photoshop background isn't too bad, it does help add to the minature-like quality I think, along with the angle you have. I'm still miffed that I can't get much higher than 5ft in most places in town, only being able to scale up 40 feet at the highschool, but there isn't much interesting and it really isn't high enough for surrounding buildings...but back to your picture. The detail and sharpness is amazing. Keep it up :)
 
first thing i thought when i saw that building was that it was a model too.. i like the pics, keep them coming :)
 
Wow nice pics, they are all really crisp and focused well. I like the angle of the pictures you take, nice work.


And Tim Axe, why can't you go higher then 5 feet in your town, what happens if you climb up on a 6 foot ladder? Do you like hit an invisible ceiling? :confused:
 
Tim_axe said:
Now that one looks like it's a minature model or something. The Photoshop background isn't too bad, it does help add to the minature-like quality I think, along with the angle you have. I'm still miffed that I can't get much higher than 5ft in most places in town, only being able to scale up 40 feet at the highschool, but there isn't much interesting and it really isn't high enough for surrounding buildings...but back to your picture. The detail and sharpness is amazing. Keep it up :)
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I thought the parking lot in the back, the junk on the adjacent rooftop and other clutter detracted from the subject. A little blur in the background and it really sharpened up the picture. I didn't try for the miniature look, but I thought it was cool enough to keep.
 
I like the 7th street station pictures, though I think the blue like reflecting from the windows detracts, somewhat (well, for something natural anyway).

Damn, you have some nice architecture there. :)
 
lorcani said:
I like the 7th street station pictures, though I think the blue like reflecting from the windows detracts, somewhat (well, for something natural anyway).

Damn, you have some nice architecture there. :)
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Agreed, I would be taking pictures left and right (I assume you are doing the same) if I lived where you do. :eek:
 
I like the 7th street station pictures, but I really think the chopped church looks like crap.

If you're going to chop, chop well, or don't chop at all. Post the original.
 
mwarps said:
I like the 7th street station pictures, but I really think the chopped church looks like crap.

If you're going to chop, chop well, or don't chop at all. Post the original.
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Aren't you a pleasant chap? :rolleyes:

Here you go, Mr. Manners, as requested.

Church_Original.jpg
 
[nCn]Preacher said:
Aren't you a pleasant chap? :rolleyes:

Here you go, Mr. Manners, as requested.

*Daß church*
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You asked to be critiqued. When I looked at the image at first, I saw a *bad* chop of what looked like a stolen image. If you wanted "constructive criticism and a nice warm fuzzy feeling," you're on the wrong forum.

It's a fine image on its own, it needs no chopping. It shows a thing of beauty, and it is quite a lovely church, in a non-so-lovely setting. Chopping out the backround decreases the value of the image, and removes all context.
 
mwarps said:
You asked to be critiqued. When I looked at the image at first, I saw a *bad* chop of what looked like a stolen image. If you wanted "constructive criticism and a nice warm fuzzy feeling," you're on the wrong forum.

It's a fine image on its own, it needs no chopping. It shows a thing of beauty, and it is quite a lovely church, in a non-so-lovely setting. Chopping out the backround decreases the value of the image, and removes all context.
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I do want criticism. Usually, a request for criticism is construed as a request for constructive criticism, not somebody whose idea of helping is
mwarps said:
but I really think the chopped church looks like crap.
If you're going to chop, chop well, or don't chop at all. Post the original.
Click to expand...

As for your idea that I am on the wrong forum for constructive criticism, I think you should rethink that idea. I have been here for a long time and this is not Something Awful or GenMay. This has always been a place where you could expect an honest opinion without having to deal with the prepubescent idiocy so rampant on many boards.

Your most recent comment was constructive (thanks) and at least explained why it "looks like crap..." although where you got the idea it was a stolen image is beyond me.
 
I personally think the 'chopped church pic is much better. It focuses on the church, without the background blurring, the church is not as big a focal point as the chopped.
 
jayjaya29 said:
I personally think the 'chopped church pic is much better. It focuses on the church, without the background blurring, the church is not as big a focal point as the chopped.
Click to expand...

To the trained eye, it looks too fake.

There is simply no way an image will look like that.
 
Seems like it'd be pretty hard or impossible to get a depth of field like that in real life given the scale of the building, but I like the effect.
 
fugu said:
Seems like it'd be pretty hard or impossible to get a depth of field like that in real life given the scale of the building, but I like the effect.
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First thing I thought of when I saw the chopped church pic, was those little villages from Mr. Roger's show a long time ago. It was a good effect though, but almost too unreal to be believable.
 
Well that could be the picture that is desired, when I first saw the pic I knew that it was fake and chopped in some way, but I am saying that I like how it looks.
 
I don't think there's anything wrong with modifying photos. After the first couple replies to the church picture, and I was asking "what, you mean it's not a model?" But I do like the effect regardless.
 
Great pictures. Save the photoshop though, makes things look fake. I am seeing a big rise in its use to after process pictures and I am not a fan of it.
 
[nCn]Preacher said:
I do want criticism. Usually, a request for criticism is construed as a request for constructive criticism, not somebody whose idea of helping is


As for your idea that I am on the wrong forum for constructive criticism, I think you should rethink that idea. I have been here for a long time and this is not Something Awful or GenMay. This has always been a place where you could expect an honest opinion without having to deal with the prepubescent idiocy so rampant on many boards.

Your most recent comment was constructive (thanks) and at least explained why it "looks like crap..." although where you got the idea it was a stolen image is beyond me.
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That was me with no coffee (had just gotten up, yes sleep odd hours)..

As for it being a stolen image it just looked SO strange that I couldn't imagine anyone doing that to a picture they'd taken themselves.
 
Staples said:
Great pictures. Save the photoshop though, makes things look fake. I am seeing a big rise in its use to after process pictures and I am not a fan of it.
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I'd consider some amout of photoshop (levels, white balancing, sharpening) an essential part of the process. The trick is doing just enough to give the extra punch to the image, but not so much that its really noticeable.
 
mwarps said:
As for it being a stolen image it just looked SO strange that I couldn't imagine anyone doing that to a picture they'd taken themselves.
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No worries.

There is no way I would rip off someone else's stuff, not my style. That is why I was curious...
 
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