Monumental Re-shoot

[PlantedTao]

Well, I went back to the japanese garden and photographed the same monuments with suggestions given from my last post.
Did I succeed or fail? Which ones work and which ones need to find the trash?
Comments and suggestions appreciated.
Cheers.

[PlantedTao]

and one more....

[OldSchool]

Hi PT,

I always have trouble critiquing multiple photos in that I don't know which one I should really focus on. So in short, I think they are all good. The only thing that comes to mind is that the first two don't look quite level, but this may be a lens thing.

Also when I look at gardens, I really love the different hue's of greens (and the blooms). I understand that you mostly work in B&W, but I would sure enjoy anything you may have done in color.

Best regards,
Tim

[PlantedTao]

Thanks Oldschool...I guess what I'm looking for is which picture stands out, do any one of them capture your interest more than the others?

I know, one of these days I'm going to load up the camera with color and go shooting...
Cheers

[Dzerzhinski46]

Have to agree with Old School, it is difficult to critique multiple photos in the same post. I do, however, like how you brought out the texture of the stone, and the water. It might be nice if you could post each separatly. Good shots though.

Dzerzhinski

[OldSchool]

Hey PT,

Well then... My favorite is the third. To me, it is a nice study of a man made geometric form contrasted with a natural form (but molded by man, eh?). This image works very well B&W -- nice exposure and texture. My only comments would be to include all of the pedestal and remove some of the lens distortion.

The others are all pleasing to look at -- maybe a tad dark.

Cheers,
Tim

[PlantedTao]

Oldschool -
What do you mean by lens distortion? I don't see it.
There really shouldn't be any distortion because it is a 50mm lens. The lens is a Viogtlander 50mm Aspherical 1.5

[OldSchool]

Hi PT,

Whoops! I may have miss-typed on that one. I downloaded your image so that I could blow it up. Taking a closer look, the top-cap of that scupture may be a little tilted to the right. I miss-diagnossed that as the type of distortion I get when I cannot backup enough to get the shot I'm after and go to wide-angle (verticle/horizontal lines with a slight bow). But, the pedistal half looks straight up and down. Sorry PT.

I should have 2nd checked this because your images dont' typically suffer from lens effects.
Tim

[Seb]

Well, I went back to the japanese garden and photographed the same monuments with suggestions given from my last post.
Did I succeed or fail? Which ones work and which ones need to find the trash?
Comments and suggestions appreciated.
Cheers.

Though one!

There are several pictures to choose from... I like the first and the second picture (especially the second one where the horizontal framing works especially well). The reflection of the water is interesting but there is a branch coming from nowhere in the upper left corner of both pictures that looks a bit odd (but then, I am picky).

The third one is well composed but I feel that it lacks depth. Everything seems relatively compressed. The trees in the background are especially attractive yet I think that the background should probably be blurried to "clean" the shot and make it less busy.

The fourth and fifth one are both clean and effective. I like them both as they are.

Seb

[gahspidy]

Plantedtao, I like the composition of the horizontal shot ( 2nd) but I feel also that it would be a better scene for color. The 3rd shot ( the monument and the tree) I feel is an excellent b&w subject and I like what I see is great potential . I think if you were to stand over some to the right so as to place the top of the monument away from the trees and out in front of the sky, and to include the whole pedestal it would be much stronger.

[villenadecorte]

PT-
Glad to see you have reshot these. I did like your earlier post of this garden, but I see lots of improvements in your compositions. I think the second one is great, but the branch in front of the sculpture is distracting. The third shot I feel is too vertical, and cropped a bit tight. I agree with Gary here on using a different angle.

[PlantedTao]

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions.
Well, what I got from this critique session is that another re-shoot is order.
I think I'm almost "there" with these photos, but I need to make some minor corrections...stay tuned for more monuments.

Thanks again to everyone for helping improve. Cheers.