Roadside Attractions: The Street Fountain

[CLKunst]

Comments and critique are always welcome and appreciated. Suggestions cheerfully explored.

[gahspidy]

CLKunst, i like this. The bright highlights and the dark shadows and silhouettes make a strong visual and lend to an intrigueing mood. I think cropping out the umbrellas on top and getting a somewhat square shaped picture looks good, but the top can stay as well. I really like the strong contrast here and the positions of the two children near the fountain.

[CLKunst]

Thanks so much for commenting Gary, I'm always glad to have your opinion. I was also on the fence about cutting or keeping the umbrellas and agree that it would have been acceptable either way. I decided I liked the height that they offered to the frame as well the forms of the umbrellas in the shadows.

[McMadCow]

This is a cool shot, CL, but I can't help but think you've found a really interesting scene framed smack dab in the middle of a mundane one.
The fountain and the silhouettes are very well done. Nice choice of exposure and contrast, and it's a nice moment. Unfortunately, I'm really torn about seeing all that other stuff- the umbrellas and the tables- behind it. I see that Gary commented on that as well... I just don't think it fits. Maybe a tighter crop or a longer lens would have eliminated those objects.
These thoughts on your framing are purely personal preference, mind you. Your treatment of the main subject is impeccable.
Thanks for sharing!

[CLKunst]

McMC You have hit the nail on the head, even if it you find it distracting. An interesting scene framed by a mundane one. Yes, that is what I am usually looking for. I think life works a lot like that too, interesting bits framed by the day to day.

This scene happened about 200 ft away from me in Aspen, CO.
The focal length was 210 mm : 1/350 : f9.5

[McMadCow]

Holy smokes. So you were also dealing with some pretty restrictive circumstances to manage to snag that shot. In that case, I'd say you did pretty well given what you were working with. Nice job.

[Frog]

I love it. Am torn about the umbrellas too. They do give it some perspective and the foreground is so powerful they are barely noticed.
That being said when I just scroll up to where they are no longer visible, I like it better.

[CLKunst]

Awww.......heck! I did say 'suggestions cheerfully explored', didn't I? I hereby yield to public consent.

Square crop losing the umbrellas.

And now I like it better that way too! I should know better than to argue with objective eyes. I just printed the previous version out at home and even on my crummy little house printer it looks pretty good.

[Coastal Flyer]

CL:

This is one of those photos that I learn so much from and by the comments from our friends onboard. I scroll down to the photo before reading comments so as not to be influenced before viewing the image. While I really liked the subject and thought you captured a great moment, my first reaction was, "opps she missed the exposier; over done." The water, the foreground all over exposed and the detail is gone. But, then, I see the comments from others and learn that the images of the kids are great as the result of the over exposier. So, this has been a learning experience and I thank you for posting the image. Seriously. Did you do that intentionall? I do have another question though: was your perspective intentional to capture the word HOT in the background? Nice touch.

Thanks again.

CF

[readingr]

Cindy,

Don't know why I didn't comment on this but I would have echoed what everyone else said.

The new crop is excellent and as Coastal said the HOT makes it for me.

One more thing I would do is clone out the folded umbrella sticking out of the fountain.

Roger

[CLKunst]

Hi Roger & CF! Thanks for your comments I always appreciate your input.

Roger~ You're right about the umbrella top and I will clone it out before I make a new print.
I like the HOT too but I can't remember if I saw it at the time, this was shot in August.

CF~ You are right that there are blown highlights in the water and immediately under the kids feet, also a water area. From the distance I was at these kids were already silhouettes to me, and the play between them and the fountain is what attracted me to the scene. I took a few shots leading up to this one to get the exposure for the whole scene and then I waited for the big burst from the fountain to come. I knew because of the strong sunlight that the highlights in the water would blow out and the kids would be silhouettes (although they aren't entirely there is some detail to their clothing when viewed at 100%). I wanted to use this effect to make the water act like a curtain or backdrop to screen most of the scene behind it. After this last one their parents got a hold of them and it was all over. I've attached one of my lead-in shots as a reference.

[Rocket_Scientist]

Beautiful shots. I liked the first post, and was not torn about the umbrellas, though I think I might have cropped a little above them, and I really like the bright, over-exposed water in contrast to the children. I thought the umbrellas, as well as other odds & ends, helped answer (visually) the question "Where is this?", not that I recognized the scene, but the context helps. If you are going for "An interesting scene framed by a mundane one", removing too much of the mundane seems to change the subject, although, the "new" subject may be just as worthwhile. And the zoom in on the cropped version is most effective.

[CLKunst]

Thank you for your critique RS! And welcome to the Critique Forum. Since I try to put most of my images to work in a variety of different outlets I think it is always worthwhile to visually explore the suggestions of others. Digital affords me the ability to slice and re-slice these without the cost of reprinting so I like to take full advantage of all these objective eyes and see it from all the angles. For the print series I will probably use the full context version but I like the latest crop edit so much I might use that as a touch key for my website.

I took a stab at your suggested crop as well.
Thanks for your time.

Regards,