staircase

There is nothing much to say about this one other than the colours draw my attention at the first place.

please criticise

Seb

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Originally Posted by Seb

There is nothing much to say about this one other than the colours draw my attention at the first place.

please criticise

Seb

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You've captured good symmetry in the photo. It displays almost a brooding aspect with the viewer wondering where or from the stairs lead. With the framing you've chosen, though it becomes something more than just a "stair shot". It makes a window of the stairs. This photo has that completed feel.

Minor picky points, the shape of the reflected lights in the windows (may be that iris problem we all run into on occaision) isn't my favorite, and (I'm really being critical here because I've been doing things at work with this issue) there's a minor perspective issue with the window cross pieces from top to bottom in their width. If they were all the same 'thickness' or just a little closer, your framing would match perfectly.

All in all I really like this. Then again I shoot a lot buildings and architecture features regularly.

-CDP

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Seb

There is nothing much to say about this one other than the colours draw my attention at the first place.

please criticise

Seb

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Well Seb you do yourself an injustice because there is, to my mind anyway, a lot more here than just the colours. What we don't see is what draws me to this: the atmosphere is an uncomfortable one, there is mystery and some intimidation, eerieness and that kind of stuff. Somethings happening or has happened inside the building.
On top of all this is what you see and you did a great job with exposure etc. Great composition and I would happily have this on my wall etc.
Bloody great picture.
Tom

Not much to criticise here, Seb.
I'd like to see the full resolution version of this one, I like it !

It took ages before I noticed the curves on the back wall, indicating it's perhaps in a semi-circular alcove to accomodate the width of the landings at each stair level.
The colours, yes they're great aren't they?

You can't do much about the reflected lights, cloning them out would be very time consuming.
The varying apparent thickness of the glazing bars, shows their depth as the angle of view on each changes as you go higher from your pov. Nothing much you can do about it, it's optics !

It might just be me, but I feel it's slightly off vertical on my monitor.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Seb

There is nothing much to say about this one other than the colours draw my attention at the first place.

please criticise

Seb

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Thank you guys for commenting. I did not expected that the picture would generate this reaction, sincerly.

DRG: The reflection in the window annoy me too. I still don't have a polarizer for my primary lense. I will eventually reshot this scene next spring/summer when I get a circular polarizer.
There is perspective here. I corrected it as much as I could in post processing but I can't totally get rid of it. My intent when I shot these last summer (I have few different shot of these stairs) was to capture the entire stairs from the bottom to the top but this is pretty much impossible due to the surrounding of these stairs (there are trees and lamp posts which force me to get really close form the stairs to get a clean shot...). Perhaps with an ultra wide angle (which I don't own) and even then it would be tricky. I have thought about this composition few days ago and tried to achieve it with few tweaks. I need to get back there to get the scene right.

Overbeyond: The whole area where I shot this is very moody and mysterious at night, mostly due to the remarkable lightning that the city chose for the buildings/structures (they did a superb job as far as I am concerned). You may want to give a look at "the Overpass" in my gallery which was shot in the same part of the city.

SmartWombat: The shot may be slightly off vertical due to my perspective correction attempt as I explained here. The back wall do is semi-circular as you mentioned. While I really mean to reshot this scene later this year, I will temporary put a larger version of the shot in my gallery.

Then again, thanks everyone for taking the time to comment.

Seb

Seb, a very good shot , indeed. Colors, lighting, and comp all very pleasing. Also, the reflection of light up at the top adds interest for me. I like it as it is. Lens distortions are hard to get away from with straight lines as you have, but you've done well at getting it right. I personally rather not have it too perfect and polished. Great one, Seb

Seb,
I can't critique this, but my impression is that of several photo put together in an abstract. It makes me look very close. the door and lighted vegetation seem to pull it together.
was someone on the first landing,RE the blurred yellow area on the right? I like the mood of the overall color.
My critique "GREAT SHOT"!
I keep coming back to this one.
Mark.
EDIT
I looked at it again after posting and see that the shadows from spotlights running 45-60degrees towards the center, thin lines against thick stairs also make it work.
Mark.

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Originally Posted by mdmc

Seb,
I can't critique this, but my impression is that of several photo put together in an abstract. It makes me look very close. the door and lighted vegetation seem to pull it together.
was someone on the first landing,RE the blurred yellow area on the right? I like the mood of the overall color.
My critique "GREAT SHOT"!
I keep coming back to this one.
Mark.
EDIT
I looked at it again after posting and see that the shadows from spotlights running 45-60degrees towards the center, thin lines against thick stairs also make it work.
Mark.

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Hello Mark,

Thank you for commenting, I appreciate it. To answer to your question, nobody was landing in the stairs. In fact, there was strictly nobody arround me other than two girls passing by at some point who really wondered what was the point for me to shoot empty stairs lol...

The blurred yellow area you are talking about must be the reflection of the tiny lamp post in front of the vegetation. I didn't had a polarizer to cut reflections on the glass.

regards

Seb

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Originally Posted by gahspidy

Seb, a very good shot , indeed. Colors, lighting, and comp all very pleasing. Also, the reflection of light up at the top adds interest for me. I like it as it is. Lens distortions are hard to get away from with straight lines as you have, but you've done well at getting it right. I personally rather not have it too perfect and polished. Great one, Seb

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Hello Gary, thanks for commenting. About the distortion, I am not sure how bad it will be when I go back there. The thing with this one is that I deliberately shot it at angle in a vain attempt to capture the whole stairs from the bottom to the top (hence strong perspective which I tried to correct later on as I changed my mind about the composition).

Then again, this is totally unrelated to the following topic but I have been reading quite a lot about NY recently (I have bought the Lonely Planet NYC guide, it's superbly made) and I might have found valuable spots for shooting. Also, I didn't knew about The International Center of Photography.... I am soooo going there!!

regards

Seb