by Walczak Photo » Fri Mar 14, 2008 9:32 am
Hey Folks,
I just want to take a moment and toss my $.02 worth on all three of these shots... I spent most of the day at the vets yesterday as one of my dogs had gotten sick and then was up with her for most of the night (she's ok now), so after yesterday, I just feel like sitting here and typing for a bit while I veg. As always these are strictly my opinions.
Robin...
I like the subject matter in that shot, but I think I would have gone with a bit of a different composition...maybe tried adding a little more sky to it like in Luca's shot. I think having the barn a little smaller in the shot would have actually given it a little more perspective. It's kind of a smaller barn and I'm not really sure it needs to fill most of the frame as much as just basically give the over all composition an anchor point. With the lighting there and that tree on the other side, I may have even tried a different angle...maybe shot it from the other side (without knowing what the other side looked like though, it's hard to say). You probably could have walked around a little and played with that one a bit.
Luca...
That is a lovely shot...beautiful framing and composition. The one thing I think that would have really put this over the top though would have been better lighting. I can see the "long shadows" which indicates this was either shot in the morning or the evening...which ever it was, I might have tried to reverse it (i.e. if it was a morning shot, try an evening shot instead with the light coming from the other direction or vice-versa). I think better lighting would have made this a really outstanding shot. For that matter, I might even take this one into Photoshop, isolate the barn and bring the shadows up a little so that the front of the barn stands out a little more in the shot. The lighting on the mountains is really nice, but the front of the barn is nearly a silhouette and I think it would look better if the barn was a little brighter.
Pokie...
I love it. As a Photoshop artist myself I've done one or two shots like this here and there. I'm usually very selective about which shots I choose and I've seen a lot of folks do this sort of thing where it just didn't work. I think this one though is simply wonderful...it really reminds me of a Bob Ross painting (and I really loved his work...the guy was really amazing)! Personally I think I might have made the barn and the trees in the background just a little brighter...maybe brought up the yellows just a tad in the trees for a little more definition, but it works very well as it. On the other hand, that's also a bit subjective and if I were going to frame this one, it would depend a bit on where I was going to hang it...if it was going to hang in a very well lit area such as near a window or something or if it had an accent light aimed at it on the wall, it would work just as it is. Nicely done.
Also in regards to your barn and Luca's looking different...I think it's just the shape of the barn. Yours has that "A frame" style to it while Luca's has more of a classic half-octagonal look to it (in other words, if you finished the octagon, the shape of the barn would look like a stop sign where your's would look more like a diamond or a square...barring the extensions of course). I think that's one of the nice things about barns and why they make such nice subjects for photography is that they come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, textures, etc.. Even two barns that really look the same usually aren't as each one has it's own "history" if you will.
Alrighty...again just my humble $.02 worth...please keep the change!
Peace,
Jim
I sometimes kind of shut down when it gets really cold. But, this snowy day invited me out and I had fun taking photos in and around my yard.
