Photo Critique #105

Photo Critique #105

on Oct 7th 2011 with 15 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

  • Canon Ti1
  • 23mm
  • 1/200
  • f/9
  • ISO 200
  • HDR processed
  • Auto bracketed

I took this photo on a walk through Hamburg, Germany. It was a normal day and this picture stands for the every day rhythm of destroying and building new buildings.

Photographer: Marius Rumpf

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!

Tags: critique
 
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Rollover to read this author's bio or click through to see a full list of posts by this author.

I was raised in the suburbs of Cincinnati, Ohio. After high school, I left for Western Kentucky University where I obtained degrees in photojournalism and cultural anthropology. I am currently employed by CityBeat, an arts and entertainment weekly in Cincinnati. The work I am doing here is very rewarding and I suspect it will continue to be. I am available for freelance work in all areas of photography.  

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  • http://www.bushtography.wordpress.com Bushtography

    This is an interesting image but I think it’s struggling compositionally. The shot is very busy and I don’t think it’s immediately obvious what the intended focus is. Is it on the drilling machine (?) in the center of the image or is that being used to try and frame the image leading focus onto the transit van? I do find my eye being drawn to the left of the image making it feel like the space to the right is a little wasted.

    These issues come from the 150mm focal length and the f/9 aperture. If a wider angle lens wasn’t avaliable, I think a collection of shots would have worked better than this single image, using DOF to focus attention on the different sections we can see here.

    Having said that, I do like the processing. It’s an interesting choice to convert the HDR image into B & W, something that has worked well.

  • http://www.unbrokenhorse.com Sunira

    HDR black and whites are one of my favorite kinds of processing and this piece has done it well. That said, I have no idea what the subject of this photo is. The machinery is so sudden and in your face.. I think its position detracts from the composition.

    Othewise, nice shot, good processing!

  • Txiwire

    It’s according with the 2/3 rule, the sky is very nice with a lot o clouds, Derricks in horizon make an industrial ambient complementing the construction area but I think is too crowded picture,I would avoid the building on the corner replacing it with a close up of the machinery, at last the car is so static perhaps with a slow exposition could bring some movement to the composition.

  • Gary

    I think the HDR is done nicely, especially as I am not usually a big fan of it but I really do not like the way the piece of machinery crosses the middle of the image.

    I think the image would have worked much better if the machinery in the foreground was not there atall, making the image all about the building site.
    Another option is if the machinery was the main subject of the image and taken from an angle that gives the viewer a better indication of what exactly it is, with a wider lens.

    I can also see lots of interesting components of the machinery that would make a good image if photographed closely as a more abstract shot.

  • http://mariusrumpf.de/ Marius Rumpf

    Thank you for your critic, at first I have to correct the focal distance. The photo wasn’t taken at 150mm, it was taken at 23mm with the 18-55mm kit lens.

    I thought about the composition and agree with you. I have some other pictures from that scene here, will try to improve it and then post it here. Actually I don’t have much time at the moment so this can take a few days.

  • Vaibhav Kotak

    I agree with the first comment, the space on the right is a little wasted.

    I think I would’ve put the machine on the far right, maybe even not have all of it in the shot. That and the little wooden bean on the left corner would’ve been great for framing had the van been in the right place. But you might lose the water and the construction machine in the background, which would be the opposite of what you want. Maybe, instead, rotating around the wooden beam would’ve been good, depending on what’s to your right, but you’d probably lose the van.

    It’s a sacrifice situation, but maybe by simplifying the shot and taking more than one picture to convey the feel of the pictures would make them better.

  • sripal

    Forget about all rules of composition and exposure. This photo is awesome. Great work Marius Rumpf

    But for the record the thumbnail crop is way better than the actual comp.

  • sripal

    Forget about all rules and stuff this photo is awesome.

    By the way great work Marius Rumpf

    But for the record the thumbnail crop is way better than the actual. That’s just my opinion.

  • http://www.philcrean.com Phil Crean

    Marius, you have potentially a fantastic shot here…for me the van distracts from the rest and if it was a lighter colour(Tone) or not there at all the shot would be truly awesome.
    Maybe you could try removing it in PS or changing the colour.

    Phil

  • Tor Rasmussen

    Like said before the composition is struggling. If you want the crane in the middle of the shot then the building on the left should be left out of the frame. This would create a better balance in the image. Im not saying the image should be cropped but rather the photographer should have chosen a diffrent angle to shoot it from, thus leabing out the building.That way the image would be more balanced and create a sense of loneliness in wast open space filled with constructon/deconstruction.

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/gigamix/ Blis

    I agree with txiwire, on the horizon and the image is too crowded.
    I would have given more attention to the machinery, recovering from another angle and posizionadolo in order to enhance the sky and the industrial environment and the van would have taken away, then at the end of 2 cranes on the whole are fantastic .. nice photo

  • http://mariusrumpf.de/ Marius Rumpf

    I have just given it a try and made some changes to the picture. I changed the crop and removed the van. The removing is far beyond perfect. It was just a try.
    http://mariusrumpf.de/upload/Construct_Destroy_2.jpg

    You can find a full resolution version here. If you want to give it a try yourself.
    http://mariusrumpf.de/upload/Construct_Destroy_full.jpg

    Thanks again.

  • Ionut Cirja

    Too crowded. Which is the subject? If it is the car, then you didn’t put it in a good “light”, because that big thing near it in the center of the photo disturbs the atmosphere.

    Thanks

  • Dubya

    Overall, I like the “feel” of the image – the B&W and HDR processing provide a certain grit that’s actually reflective of the construction site in the background.

    From a composition standpoint, Bushtography made a good point – the right side lacks weight. I didn’t even notice… until I read Bushto’s comment.

    As for removing the van… why? And did you find it next to impossible to match-up the tire tracks that the van is currently obstructing? I don’t think the result justifies the effort in this case, and it only detracts from the original intent.

    All in all – you’ve done well to squeeze some impact from a fairly mundane subject. Not too many people would look at a typical construction site as a compelling subject… so… kudos!

  • http://lukepetersonphotography.com.au Luke Peterson Photography

    I think you’ve fallen into the trap of using HDR because it ‘makes everything look cool’. Based on some assumptions about this scene, you’re original scene would already
    have had the required dynamic range to be represent with a single shot. The HDR has not done this photo any favours – the large, bright ‘halo’ within the middle of the frame surrounding the crane is a by product of the HDR process and looks very distracting.
    Compositionally, I would have included the top of the crane, and perhaps moved it to the right of the frame.
    The large, out of focus block of wood in the foreground to the left is very distracting. I would have changed my composition slightly to remove this distraction.