Another critique thread

[BRuhling]

Gentlemen,

I just returned from a business trip to Manhattan. I found time to squeeze off a shot from my hotel room window this morning, and I'd love your comments/critique/thoughts:

 

[AllenG]

You are leaning a touch to the right.
A little bit of perspective control and it's there. Otherwise I love everything about this image.

 

[Relentless]

I see just a smidgen of lens distortion. Only visible really because of the straight lines on the buildings.
The low-key shot works really well and the framing is spot on. Other than that there doesn't seem to be a particular line of interest; in that the whole picture looks roughly the same. It's not a negative; but this might be a case where a small amount color dodge vingette or stylistic border treatment would make the whole thing really pop by directing the eye away from or to the edges, depending on which treatment you choose.

Keep shooting, be happy!

 

[lister]

Hi Bill,
I like the framing but wonder if the shot wouldn't have benefited from more of a vertical aspect of the buildings in the background or possibly the white space in the top right hand corner. I think the apartments in the foreground look dwarfed (which I think is a great aspect of the shot) but it almost feels as though the shot is a little too tight on these buildings, thus losing some scale.

I definitely like the tone and definition of the shot either way, great work!

Cheers.

 

[BRuhling]

I fixed the distortion and slight lean in LR. I tried to play with a frame, but it eats too much into the composition IMHO...

 

[Relentless]

That looks less disorienting

I'm sure if you printed it out and put a nice matte or frame around it, you'd end up with a very nice decorative piece.

 

[lister]

Not to hijack your thread Bill but can someone point out where the lens distortion is in the first image? Not sure exactly where it is (it's what creates a concave/convex distortion yes?). Just looking for pointers in my own shots.

Cheers.

 

[Relentless]

Lens distortion is normally a barrel distortion. Google barrel distortion under image search and you'll see many fine examples.
Most post processing applications can automatically correct the distortion cause by specific lenses, but every lens can be slightly different. Super zoom lenses can also cause varying degrees of distortion, making it more troublesome. It can be very subtle and go unnoticed without a second opinion.

 

[BRuhling]

In this case, I took the picture with a 24-70 f/2.8 set at 24mm. The distortion is most visible in the outer edges where you get a bit of a roundness to things. The extreme right edge to my eye now that I look more critically at it seems to bow in a bit... The corrected image gives a feel of a crisp, straight edge. It's subtle, but noticeable when you focus on it.

Thank you for all the opinions, guys. I'm thinking of printing this one because I do like the way it feels. I'm thinking the black and white on a silver metallic paper could give a really nice effect...

 

[Relentless]

I'd be very interested in a photo of the resulting print. I've always been curious about the silver papers.

 

[Antares600]

You are leaning a touch to the right.
A little bit of perspective control and it's there. Otherwise I love everything about this image.

Let's not get too critical, this is an excellent photo overall.

Was the hotel window open or closed? Because if that is taken through glass you did an incredible job not showing it.

 

[BRuhling]

Let's not get too critical, this is an excellent photo overall.

Was the hotel window open or closed? Because if that is taken through glass you did an incredible job not showing it.

Thanks. I tried to open the window, but couldn't make it happen. I was forced to shoot through the glass...

 

[blary54]

Looks a little crooked.

 

[BRuhling]

Ninja, I did use SilverFX for the processing... Thanks for the compliment!

 

[celestino]

Bill, overall, i think you did a fantastic job with the shot!