Jordan Produce

[GB1]

El Paso, Texas. Big time cropping on this one, sure to upset some with the clipped text. Just experimenting :idea:

GB

[llewpics]

I want to like this photo really bad - but I am struggling with the subject of the photo. I am not sure that a storefront by itself draws enough attention. I actually really like the payphone as they seem to be rare these days ...but if that was the subject a different angle may have worked better.

[GB1]

Yep LLEW, I see what you mean. No one object stands out as the subject, though there are multiple supporting objects of interest, like the telephone, signs/banners, door, etc. If there was someone in the photo then that may have added an interesting twist... Don't know!

El Paso has some neat old time architecture and hole-in-the-wall joints, but it seems that timing it right may require staking out a position w/ your camera (much like sitting in a deer stand all day) and snapping away most of the day. If that doesn't get you arrested as a psycho (sigh...)

G

[jetrim]

I'd actually like to see this one cropped in 300% more.

[Greg McCary]

GB this one would be better with softer light and a human element. But as is I wish you could have panned slightly more right with more space for the mail box and excluding the writing on the left. I seems a bit soft too. I agree just another element and you would have a nice street shot.

[GB1]

Great idea Jet! I didn't notice that crop even after playing with it for ten plus minutes.

Greg, agree on the lighting, but you take what you can get. A problem with vacation photography is that if there's 100 subjects to shoot, you can't shoot them all at sunrise or sunset in three days. There's really nothing over there on the right, but I will post the full image when I get home tonight. I already cropped this shot about 30+ %.

You think it's soft? I was actually pretty happy how sharp it was. I just got a Photoshop World magazine in the mail and its cover shot looks razor sharp. Matter of fact most all photos in magazines look that sharp. Is there something about offset printing that makes an image look sharper...??? a trick they're apply? Hm.

G

[Anbesol]

Sometimes that 'sharpness' can be achieved only by upgrading your equipment, lol. You can only produce a certain level of sharpness dictated by your lens and size of image plane, and no amount of talent can work around that. I know my 100mm f/2.8 is the sharpest lens in my bag, and the 400mm f/5.6 is the softest. No matter what I do, I can never achieve the same level of sharpness from my 400mm that I can from my 100mm. The only "trick" about it, is maximizing the equipment that you do have.

As far as the image goes, I like Jets crop idea. On the original, the left wall cuts off half of the words, killing that side of the image. Same thing as the top, though to a lesser extent.

[gahspidy]

I def like the whole thing the way it is, although Jims crop suggestion would be strong and an entirley different shot. You already said this was a big crop so i doubt that could work here. Love the colors and the signs and writing. All I can say for this is the image is not quite sharp and that hurts somewhat.
Some aggresive sharpening should help. I think it has a lot going for it.

[GB1]

Sometimes that 'sharpness' can be achieved only by upgrading your equipment, lol. You can only produce a certain level of sharpness dictated by your lens and size of image plane, and no amount of talent can work around that. I know my 100mm f/2.8 is the sharpest lens in my bag, and the 400mm f/5.6 is the softest. No matter what I do, I can never achieve the same level of sharpness from my 400mm that I can from my 100mm. The only "trick" about it, is maximizing the equipment that you do have.

As far as the image goes, I like Jets crop idea. On the original, the left wall cuts off half of the words, killing that side of the image. Same thing as the top, though to a lesser extent.

Anbesol - I agree that lens quality is a big part of it. But after looking at some many many magazines over the years, I can't believe that every one of those photographers has super-high quality (and expensive) lenses. That's just impossible. There just seems to be something more to it; what, I do not know I need to figure this one out because I'm really curious ..

Not sure I agree that clipping the text kills it. Conventionally that is true, but it can create more mystery w/ the text clipped, assuming it isn't important that the viewer read it as part of the image. One of those 'break the rules' after you know them things maybe.

Thanks for the info
G

[GB1]

Thanks Gary. It was a bit image.. Here is what I had. Also, here's Jet's crop though I took a little more off the bottom as that hides the not-so-great angle / vanishing point issue. It is really soft now

G

[draymorton]

The first is awesome as is. Love the colors and processing. Who gives a crap about the clipped text? Really...