[C&C] Cork

Thoie

Looking through potentials for the book, but it's been a wogious year (photography-wise) for me. I'm embarrassed to say this, but this is about the best of a bad lot, and I feel it's just "Meh".

I can't figure out if there's too much going on, or not enough - I flip flop between the two. Anyone have any recommendations of a way to save it, or should it make its merry way to the bin?

Fenster

It's busy and boring, I'm sorry.

Thoie

Fenster wrote: »

It's busy and boring, I'm sorry.

No need to be sorry - you just phrased my "too much/too little" thoughts better than I did

gerk86

kind of feels subjectless. composition isint really there and everyone seems to have their back turned to you.

maybe if you cropped from the blonde girl w/ sunglasses in the bottom left across to just past the backpack gang

AnCatDubh

Thoie wrote: »

king through potentials for the book, but it's been a wogious year (photography-wise) for me. I'm embarrassed to say this, but this is about the best of a bad lot, and I feel it's just "Meh".

So, perfect opportunity to challenge yourself. Head back to this street at the weekend and be determined to get a street shot for the book (i'm assuming that this is what you are hoping for?) Make time to settle yourself. Watch what's happening - people's behaviour, patterns that emerge, the constant parts of the scene (buildings, etc..). Think about these and how you might photograph them.

With the above in mind - two suggestions then of entirely differing contrasts;

a) head in for day break. It isn't too early these days so should be reasonably sociable hours and capture the street in an empty state. Perhaps the sun rises on the street. Pay attention to what you see in the viewfinder. Try to find something in it to tell a story. Watch out for the 'first' lonely soul of the morning (apart from yourself) and try to capture the isolation of the character within the scene.

b) head back when its just as busy as your shot. try lower your perspective. drop to your knees perhaps (when safe to do so) - try get the lower perspective on it. This may be legs only or a set of legs if you find the right pair :pac: Can't remember who but someone had posted a shot recently on the "crawling the streets" thread. You might get some inspiration from there.

As alternates to (a) and (b) - still use a and b as your base but try to isolate part / parts of the scene. Thus you will simplify your composition and de-clutter the frame. Go for a little detail somewhere on the street - something left over from the night before. A part of the street furniture. The stop button on a pedestrian crossing. A street lamp with something interesting in the distance which you can throw into the bokeh region and raise a curiosity through the photograph.

Eh, otherwise you could go find a nice flower to photograph - nothing wrong with that either

Thoie

Thanks all for the suggestions, and AnCatDubh, I'll give those a go at some stage, but it won't be for some time

I can always arrange a flower delivery though.

Chorcai

Try a night shot maybe around 8pm when its just getting dark ?

Dodgykeeper

To be brutally honest if that is the best picture you took in a whole year of photography then you would be better off heading on over to adverts and selling the cam, I would forget about the photobook for now until you have more time!

Thoie

Dodgykeeper wrote: »

To be brutally honest if that is the best picture you took in a whole year of photography then you would be better off heading on over to adverts and selling the cam, I would forget about the photobook for now until you have more time!

Or, y'know, we could go for the less drastic measure of keeping the cameras and hope that circumstances will change in the future.

trishw78

Keep the camera for the moment.

Try some of the above suggestions I think that having people cut off at the waist adds to the shot not looking great. It's a little on the 'flat' side, there's nothing quirky or interesting happening and the street is a little over crowded, maybe if you tried it early saturday morning when the street cleaners are out cleaning up from the night before.

smelltheglove

Dodgykeeper wrote: »

To be brutally honest if that is the best picture you took in a whole year of photography then you would be better off heading on over to adverts and selling the cam, I would forget about the photobook for now until you have more time!

Lol @ dodgy, no dont sell the cam, set yourself a task, look through other photographers pictures for inspiration, decide on what you want to achieve, i.e. I always wanted a sunset picture so I went out a few weeks ago and got some, you may see a street picture you want to interpret into your own style or as you say a flower shot, there are endless opportunities. You may even want to do a portrait session so check out some studio photographers websites for inspiration, failing that just do as I did once, go out with the camera and shoot, you will find something that interests you somewhere that will open up your artistic side again!

For me this photo is just a photo, not trying to dismiss it but I wouldnt look back and see anything special about it to be honest.

Illkillya

Looking through potentials for the book, but it's been a wogious year (photography-wise) for me. I'm embarrassed to say this, but this is about the best of a bad lot, and I feel it's just "Meh".

I can't figure out if there's too much going on, or not enough - I flip flop between the two. Anyone have any recommendations of a way to save it, or should it make its merry way to the bin?

It's blurry and unclear, I can't even read what it says above Est 1955. This could be the shot, or it could be the way you compressed it as JPEG. If it is the latter, I am viewing at 1024x768 and a shot like this should have much clearer detail. If you are doing "Save as" in JPG, make sure to use the highest quality.

Also, it is not vivid, a bit hazy. The sky does not look good, especially in places such as the top of O2 store.

You are trying to capture the whole scene, but I walk past the GPO every day and it is really very ordinary to me. Like one poster says, coming at it from a different perspective would help (e.g., down low, or from an upstairs window).

I took a photo in this exact same spot before because there was a nicely coloured sky at sunset. My reasoning was, the sky looks great and it adds a different hue to this entire street. I had to rest my camera on one of those pillars for stability to allow for slower shutter speed without blurring. Still, I discarded the picture because I just don't really like the scene. Even though some of the buildings on that part of OP St are nice, Butlers, GPO, the Hi-B, etc., there is no character to it, hard to explain, I think it is because of the way they are angled.

Turning to the left slightly, you get that nice sign post in front of the cool building of the GPO, and the bored girl in sunglasses. Turning slightly to the right, you get the cool shop front at the corner of Winthrop Street. Looking straight down the street, there is nothing but an uninteresting mess really. I don't know if you're trying to highlight the mix of ethnicities in there or what, but there is really nothing in this photo that I like. It might be easier to focus on one concept to begin with.