Friday Photo Critique #71

Friday Photo Critique #71

on Feb 11th 2011 with 30 comments

Friday Photo Critique is our weekly community project, where we publish a photograph submitted by one of our wonderful readers, then ask you all to offer constructive feedback on the image. It’s a great way to learn more about photography, express your viewpoint, and have your own image critiqued!

Quick Ground Rules

  1. Play nice! We’ve deliberately chosen photographs that aren’t perfect, so please be constructive with any criticism.
  2. Feel free to offer any type of advice – composition, lighting, post-processing etc.
  3. You can also link to photographs that you feel offer a great example of this type of image shot exceptionally well.

Without further ado, here is this week’s candidate for Friday Photo Critique!

The Photograph

Photo Critique

Photo Details & Inspiration

  • FUJIFILM FinePix F60fd
  • Aperture: f/2.8
  • Shutter Speed: 1/8
  • ISO: 800
  • No flash

I was in journey in Paris with my school when I took this photograph. It represents the best the Eiffel Tower among the countless photographs that I took. We see the iron become gold.

Photographer: Erwann Masson

Please let us know what you think in the comments – how would you have approached the scene or taken the photo differently? A massive thank you to everyone who commented last week.

The most constructive and helpful comments will be featured on the site. Interested in submitting your own photo? You can do so here!

David Appleyard is davidappleyard on Themeforest
 
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David Appleyard is a designer and writer based in the UK. He manages Tuts+, along with having founded several design websites including Design Shack and PixelsDaily.  

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  • http://rychi.cz rychi

    I think, there is too aggresive noise reduction. I also think that composition can be more creative…

  • Yunna

    Too trivial, too banal, like thousands postcards from Paris. However, my daughter says it’s sweet…

  • http://blazeeboy.blogspot.com Blaze Boy

    I think you can shoot a more isometric photo,
    it’ll be nice to get to left to make the 3 legs in the photo has equal horizontal spaces in your photo

  • http://www.andrislinz.ch Andris

    I would have chosen some different camera settings. Maybe an aperture of like f16 and a shutterspeed of like 2-4 seconds. So you could lower the ISO-settings to like 100. If you did it with these settings you needed a tripod for sure. But I guess the image would have been sharper, the water would have looked like painted and so on.

  • http://wet-photo.blogspot.com/ WET

    Additionally to Andris’ critique, as far as I know and understood, it’s prohibited to photograph the Eiffel Tower (and its lights) by night …
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower#Image_copyright_claims

    And like rychi said: the noise reduction is way too aggressive. I don’t know if you can change that setting in the FinePix F50fd. It almost looks like you used one of Photoshop’s “artistic” filters and ruined the photo.

    Conclusion:
    As a photograph, the image should have been deleted.
    As a snapshot & memory it’s okay :-)

  • http://www.andrislinz.ch Andris

    @WET: Pretty interessting. I didn’t know that it’s possible to protect an image of a public building by copyright. At least it’s allowed to make a panorama of Paris with the enlighted tower.

  • http://erwann-masson.fr.nf/ Erwann Masson

    Thanks for all your comments ! Indeed, my camera isnt a very good camera, and if I had wanted to make a great photo, a tripod was necessary, but on a boat, everything moves :)…
    Dont hesitate to watch my portfolio, maybe other photos could interest you !

  • d.

    I like the general concept of the photo, but I find the semi-blurry foreground kind of distracting. I might have played with the settings a little bit and gone for a longer exposure to make the boat and water a little more abstracted. If I did not know better, I would say that the red tint on the sky was odd, but thats pretty much what it actually looks like there on a cloudy evening! Depending on what youre going for, you might want to play with the coloration to remove the red cast in the sky.

    @WET, that is an interesting issue, thanks for the linked article. We would probably need a lawyer to sort it out for sure, but based on the article, it sounds as if the issue is with the publication and/or sale of the photographs, not with the initial capture of the image. I could be wrong, but I was actually in Paris about six weeks ago (and took my fair share of tourist photos of the Eiffel Tower), and I saw no instances of the SNTE or the police (and there were lots of police around there!) attempting to stop the thousands of people with cameras from taking pictures. I also did not see any signs to that effect (though my French is elementary, so if they were there I may have missed them). So I think taking personal photos for a vacation album are still ok … but, I suppose if I am wrong, I will just have to live with the knowledge that I have taken some unauthorized photos! :)

  • Kurt

    Its a picture of the eiffel tower.

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewcoughlin/ Matthew Coughlin

    Before I sit here and say what I would have done, let me say this; I don’t know what the photographer’s intentions were and I don’t know the situation they were in when the photograph was taken. It is hard to critique somebody sometimes because you don’t know all of the detail behind the scenes.

    Ok, if it were feasible, I would have moved to the right to give separation between the foreground/background legs in the middle. Next I would have gone with a smaller aperture and a longer shutter speed to capture more depth of field. I do like the composition and colors in this image.

    • http://erwann-masson.fr.nf/ Erwann Masson

      Thank you ! Indeed, move to the right would have been a good thing.

  • http://www.caseymacphoto.com Casey Mac

    It looks like every other picture that Ive seen of the Eiffel Tower. Nothing special.

    The colors are nice, but it seems slightly out of focus and I would like to see more depth of field. I wouldve tried lowering the ISO to 100 or 200 and used a tripod. It works great as a snapshot to remember the trip by, but nothing more.

  • Pavel

    Ok. The composition is not bad. I disagree that its boring, because that argument can be used with any image of a national monument. If your intent is to capture the entire monument or building, you have limited options unless you have access to a helicopter. Yes, you can get creative, but here its obvious the intent was to capture the entire structure. If you want couple spars, then the subject is a couple spars and for that pick any old rusty bridge. At least this is not the classic photo of the tower with the victory arch in the foreground – THAT would be boring since its been so overdone. So I think this is unique enough and quite intimate – a very personal, off the beaten path, view of the iconic Paris monument. My primary concern would be keeping the peak of the tower straight, but that can be fixed in PS. The biggest issue is softness or blur. When you dont have a tripod, lean you camera against a lamp post, or rest it against something, just to stabilize it in at least one axis (most critical is vertical imho). Also, ease up on noise reduction post processing, a little grain doesnt hurt anyone, and protects some details. With noise, the worst are color artifacts, but moderate grain is acceptable in difficult conditions (luma noise). Otherwise, a nice picture, and keep on shooting.

  • Joe

    I must say, I dont feel like this particular feature is a very good idea. Some people out there might give valuable constructive criticism, but I think most will just rag on people.

  • Brian Asta

    i think that a higher shutter speed should have been used because at the bottom of the picture it is blurry, a higher ISO like 1600 wold have ben a little better. A good thing is that you had the flash turned off because if it was on it would have washed out the bright areas. Other than that this is a magnificent picture

    • http://erwann-masson.fr.nf/ Erwann Masson

      Wow, thanks a lot !

  • Kate Schnur

    I think its a great picture! I love the way the spotlight shoots straight up from the tower. I also like the way the little lights at the bottom look like stars. Im a little distracted by the blur of the water at the bottom. And I dont think you can have too many pictures of the Eiffel Tower. Good work.

    • http://erwann-masson.fr.nf/ Erwann Masson

      Thanks a lot !

  • claude

    Focus focus focus…
    Basic of better photography

  • http://phillipjacobs.com Phillip Jacobs

    I really like the photo. I think the motion at the bottom is great and I like the the warmth of it. It also like the lights on the ground because it is a contrast to tower.

    It could be better but I don’t think were supposed to be seeing perfect photos here. However, I like it even with the few little problems that’s been pointed out.

    Congratulations!

    • http://erwann-masson.fr.nf/ Erwann Masson

      Thank you, I’m really happy that my photograph pleases at some people !

  • Peti Morgan

    I get that the gold is a key component to the picture, but I feel that this image would be better black and white. The crop doesn’t add anything to the image either – I don’t feel there’s enough space to frame the image well. I agree that a longer exposure may have added some beauty and interest to the image. Overall there was a great photo op but it wasn’t used to the best of it’s potential. I’m laughing at the ludicrous thought of photography being banned of the Eiffel tower at night!

    • http://erwann-masson.fr.nf/ Erwann Masson

      Yes, it’s pretty weird that we can’t post photographs of Eiffel Tower at night… Thank you for your comment ! The big issue is the exposure indeed, but like I was on a boat, the result would have been blur.

  • Nicole

    It’s a beautiful subject, and I feel that you could have made more of the opportunity. For example, you could have gotten down to a lower angle, making the tower look more imposing. However, this would have cut off the lake, which I think is one of the stronger elements of the photograph.

    The easiest way to make this photo more interesting would be to move it into the left-hand third of the frame. This would have created a more interesting composition, as well as eliminated the distracting (well, quasi-distracting) trees in the background.

    In terms of your settings, I agree with most of the other comments. You should have raised the ISO, which would have forced you to use a tripod, but I think that the end result would have been worth the hassle.

    I actually disagree with one of the other commenters: I think that you made the right decision in using a lower aperture– I like the stars that it creates from the lights.

  • http://www.ryanhoile.com Ryan

    Most of the technical issues with this image stem from it being taken on a boat as it passed by the tower. There’s no doubt you’ve captured the alluring spectacle of the tower. Its a magnificent structure no doubt. But if your intention is to get a great capture of any architectural subject you really need to be able to take some time with the process. Zooming past on a boat is never going to be optimal. On land you could have used a tripod, tried a couple of compositions, backed up enough to frame it with some space… etc

    So considering the situation in which you took it, its not a bad image at all. Despite all that legal mumbo jumbo, this image is yours to print and hang on your wall to remind you of your trip. Isn’t that the most important thing after all? :)

    • http://erwann-masson.fr.nf/ Erwann Masson

      Yes, look at this photo reminds me beautiful memories :) !

  • Alby

    I wonder if a tripod may have helped…

  • jack

    The guy was on a boat. How could he use a tripod and a long exposure? How could he have got a lower angle, jumped into the seine?

    Good pic mate.

  • http://www.trulyusefulcompany.com Julie

    It’s not the tower you can’t photograph due to copyright, it’s the lights. The tower is in public domain but the lights were added as a special feature for the tower’s 100th anniversary. It’s very controversial but those in charge claim it’s so they can control the quality the image. if you wanted to sell the photo you would have to get the proper permissions.

    The photo is very pleasing and I like the effect. I would prefer it sharper with less emphasis on the lights in the foreground as it detracts from the gold tower.

  • http://erwann-masson.fr.nf/ Erwann Masson

    Thanks you all !