The Tunnel>

-- Travis koh (teckyy@hotmail.com), March 30, 2002

Answers

-- Travis koh (teckyy@hotmail.com), March 30, 2002.

Indian Temple at night

-- Travis koh (teckyy@hotmail.com), March 30, 2002.

keep on trying. not there yet. maybe after some careful thought next time before releasing the shutter.

dirk

-- dirk (rogge@asmp.org), March 30, 2002.

Hi, Travis:

Good shots. I like the quality of light in both your photos and the exposure was accurate too.

I think that the composition could be improved with simple resources, so as to increase the graphical appeal of the images. In the case of The Tunnel the presence of the ships right on the horizon line makes them look as being aimed at by the Tunnel adding a distracting and possibly not intended meaning to the photo. And the horizon line right at the middle of the vertical lenght of the viewfinder makes the whole composition look too static. Might I suggest that if you called it The Tunnel your main interest was the tunnel itself so that a composition more adequate to guide the viewer's attention to it had been more helpful. I was trying something and cutting the image horizontally a little above the stone certainly centers the attention on the tube and though it doesn't make for a really succesful photo because it wasn't the approach thought of at the beginning it could show what I mean in terms of composition. Now, if you cut the photo say one ship height below the horizon, a new photo appears that takes the clouds to great advantage and show the ships' little size as compared with the dimensions of Mother Nature.

Regarding the Indian Temple I also think that selecting one or some few meaningful elements amongst them all would have helped to convey the meaning of the tittle, but perhaps a longer lens would have been in need.

Excuse the lenght, Travis. Keep posting, please.

Regards

-Iván

-- Iván Barrientos M (ingenieria@simltda.tie.cl), March 30, 2002.

I'd suggest in all the pictures you've shown that you failed to find a point of interest and then make it clear what that point is. You have a hash of things of roughly equal size and importance, and without the titles I wouldn't even know what you were looking at.

-- Michael Darnton (mdarnton@hotmail.com), March 30, 2002.

there is much in the last post. whenever i have found it necessary to title a photo for exhibition, it has always been to compensate for defects in the compostion in the image. a strong image should not need a title, and as i said in respect of one of your shots, titles constrain the viewing experience in a very fundamental way. not that you are a beginner -- it is obvious from your work that you have good technical skill and an experienced eye -- but i often find that beginner's take their best shots with long focus lenses. the equipment forces them to home in on the crucial part of a scene, avoiding the extraneous. using a wide angle requires considerable talent. it takes in much more obviously, and to bring together lots of elements in a way that produces a powerful overall image, and one that follwos the basic rules of graphic composition (no dead zones, maintaining good movement, drawing the eye innto the image, etc.), is a difficult task. this is what makes so many of HCB's images so wonderful. the view is farly wide with many discrete elements, but all work together with a unity of purpose.

-- roger michel (michel@tcn.org), March 30, 2002.

About...

Photo 1: Nice shot, with possibly wrong framing (too much room up top), but I think it's stil OK, as you aren't distracted by her legs and her face stand out.

Photo 2: Great composition. Some shots are only made for B&W, and this one wouldn't work in colour unless there was a strong combination of contrasting colours. The B&W also emphasizes the pattern.

Photo 3: Don't really like it on it's own. Some pictures need a series to hold up. Technically it is fine, but doesn't say much on its own.

-- Kristian (leicashot@hotmail.com), March 31, 2002.