C&C requested

[kallisti]

Here are 4 versions of a similar composition. You may or may not like the subject--that's life. But I'm looking for comments relating to the different versions. They range from darker to lighter. Three of them have been posted before. But just curious which of the 4 do anything for you, do they work as a series for you, and how would you have shot them differently.

 

[Blue Velvet]

From top to bottom, 1, 3 and 4 make a nice triptych; they each have an element of drama about them. For some reason, they remind me of old-skool Ilford 400.

 

[VirtualRain]

I like them all except for the wires crossing through the middle of the frame. However, I notice you isolated the truck and car between the wires which is a nice touch given the constraints.

My favorite is probably #3.

 

[chrismacguy]

I really like the 1st and 3rd together... the 2nd looks a little out of place, I think its because the subject is entirely clear (no darkness, no snow, no real drama as mentioned above).

 

[Patriks7]

All four are interesting shots.

In the first one, the light in the upper right corner is a bit distracting. I think the whole shot would improve if you could edit it to not be that strong, since that attracted my eye the most and I'm pretty sure that wasn't the intention.

The second one seems a bit plain and I think could be a lot better if you edit out at least a couple of the wires. They are just a bit distracting.

The third and fourth work well, since like the poster above said, you did a good job of framing the car and the truck between the wires.

My favorite from the set would be the first one IF the light in the corner wouldn't be so strong. It just has this dramatic feel to it.

Overall, I like the set and if you could do the changes to one and two, then it would be even better (I'm no master with Photoshop or photo editing, so I don't know how feasible it is).

 

[Keleko]

I'm going to look at each one outside of the others around it.

For me #1 is too dark. I think that's one that would actually look better in color and not black and white. If your lights are anything like mine, they give off a sepia type color to everything. I'd find that more interesting than B&W.

#2 just doesn't have enough snow in it yet to be interesting for me. There's also very little action here. There's no cars and little snow falling.

#3 is similar to #2, though the falling snow livens things up more. The car is not that interesting, though, because it's just a car.

#4 is my favorite. Lots of snow coverage covering up all the lines on the buildings. It also changes the wires from "in the way" to some interesting curved lines that provide a contrast to the straight lines of the buildings. The snow plow is a more interesting vehicle because it only happens when there is snow, and it provides some action to the picture.

 

[kallisti]

Thanks for all the feedback, it is greatly appreciated.

The scenes were all shot from my living room window. I was able to rest the camera on a window sill which served as a "ghetto" tripod. This limited my composition somewhat, but it made it easier to shoot a similar composition in very different circumstances. It also allowed me the option to use longish exposures without too much camera shake.

The night shot was taken at f/16 with a 1 sec exposure. I wanted to stop down to get a little starburst effect on the lights from the small aperture. I converted it to B&W because the color version was way too orange, even playing with the WB in Aperture. Here is the original:

While it's dark overall in B&W, I thought the tonal variations were enough to justify it in B&W. I could be wrong though. The color version just did nothing for me.

The second shot is pretty boring. I passed over it initially and didn't really look at it until I started thinking about making a series going from dark to light. I agree with everyone that it's pretty "meh."

I personally like the third pic because the falling snow adds some natural "grain" to the image. I like it juxtaposed to the first pic because they are almost tonal opposites: dark overall with a light road compared to lighter overall with a dark road.

The final is my personal favorite. It captures the "blizzard" mood that was present yesterday.

The wires are annoying distractions (though less so in number 3 where they aren't as obvious and in number 4 where the snow on them makes them more interesting). They stick out like a sore thumb in number 1 though. I also agree that the light in the upper right of number 1 is also pretty distracting. It's the only place in the shot where you can see the blur of the snow falling though. The light is more of a negative than a positive for the image, as pointed out in the comments.

Thanks again. Greatly appreciate you all taking the time to comment

 

[Keleko]

The night shot was taken at f/16 with a 1 sec exposure. I wanted to stop down to get a little starburst effect on the lights from the small aperture. I converted it to B&W because the color version was way too orange, even playing with the WB in Aperture. Here is the original:

While it's dark overall in B&W, I thought the tonal variations were enough to justify it in B&W. I could be wrong though. The color version just did nothing for me.

To me (at least) I think the orange color is more interesting than B&W here. That's just the way it looks! The glow is enhanced by the snow on the ground reflecting it, too. With the B&W version I think you lose too much of that.

 

[kresh]

Hey is that a snow plow in #4? Must not be in NYC then

In all seriousness, #3 is my preference.

 

[burningbright]

I like 1 and 4 best!

I like the atmosphere of 1, plus the way the three sets of lights form an implied triangle in contrast to the explicit horizontal, vertical and oblique lines. Personally, I like those lights, although the top right hand one is too strong relative to the others. I prefer it B&W as having the lights seeming the same colour strengthens this sense of a triangle, and also the streetside lights on the original look too separated for this effect to work well.

I think 2 is boring because my eye just gets led up the road and gets stuck at the end of it. I think it needs either a vehicle/person on the road to provide some kind of 'pausing point' for the eye or at least a dark patch at the end combined with a nearby light patch (as on 1) to drag the eye away from the end of the road.

3 has a vehicle on the road to provide such a pausing point, but I don't find the car itself interesting, and since the car's headlights are the only source of artificial light in the scene my eyes just get stuck on it. If some rooms were lit up as brightly as the headlights it may have countered that problem.

4 I like due to the interest of the vehicle, its framing between the wires and its very dark windscreen. If it weren't for that strategic patch of black then I think one half of the photo would be too uniformly white and the other too uniformly dark to work in B&W.

4 beats out 1 for me, but I like them both!