Crucifix Critique

[ColumbusKilled]

VERY shrunken from what I would like it to be, but here it is.

Nikon N80, 28-200mm lens at 135(?). AF so I wont swear to any of the setting other than positively F5.6, and as it was snowing, most likely something in the 500 second range for shutter speed.

Let me know what you think.

[mtbbrian]

Welcome to PR.com.

This particular photograph is very busy, in particularly the background. The combination of the trees and wires make it very busy.

For a better photograph, I would suggest shooting the cross straight on, so that a lot of the clutter is avoided. You might, if you can, shoot it with better light too. As this is photograph is, it also very flat, better light would make the textures of the granite "pop".

I look forward to seeing more of your photographs!

Brian

[ColumbusKilled]

I shot it at this angle because without the trees in the background, i felt that the granite would be washed out against a sky, I was shooting without any kind of filter here. Unfortunately those power lines run all across the back of the crucifix, and to shoot any lower would have had an iron fence behind the cross.

When I have access to more of my photos I will post more. Im not terribly happy with the exposure of this negative, I feel that Tmax negs tend to be more underexposed in Ilford developer. Though I do like the nearly infrared effect that the trees have because they are covered in moisture.

[Lthlwpn1979]

My fix would be:

Move the camera left and down if possible.
Do a verticle shot to eliminate the left powerlines (clutter).
Shoot with the sun behind you with a clear or light cloudy sky in front.
Use a #25 or #29 red filter to seperate statue from sky.
Use infrared film if possible.

Too bad there is so much clutter around the statue, it's a great subject. It's like a beautiful church I know of in downtown Des Moines surrounded by a bunch of ugly office buildings. Just keep shooting, and if you can't get the results you want there is plenty of material in the world to photograph.

[mtb'n ski]

perhaps a verticle format would help, or perhaps moving a bit closer and droping the apature a bit to bring in the DOF tighter