DSLR Photography Forum

This post isn't all that interesting, but it was a nice afternoon today so I went over to an old abandoned pre-fab cement factory near my house to get some fresh air and take some shots for practice.

Pic #1 - Cement factory with afternoon sun shining through trees


I took a couple of infra-red shots at the start. One of them was mildly interesting because a Magpie was sitting on the fence but flew away about 1/2 way through the 20 second exposure, leading to a ghosted effect.

Pic #2 - Magpie Ghost


I tried a little experiment to remove the "hot spot" that is characteristic of infra-red shots taken with a 300D and 350D where a central portion of the image is noticably lighter than the rest of the image. After taking some infra-red shots, I would then take another infra-red shot of some empty sky at the same aperture... this basically gives a blank shot with the hotspot as the ONLY thing in it. This 2nd hotspot image can then be inverted and "subtracted" from the detailed image to reverse its effect. I've done this in the shot below:

Pic #3 - Infra-Red Banksia Against Factory


Although I took a couple of infra-red shots, I was mainly concentrating on texture, lighting and colour with non-IR shots. Below are some of the least boring examples... but unfortunately I didn't stumble across anything that really got me excited... so I'm not quite sure why I'm posting these. I guess to ask "Can you tell what I was trying to achieve?" and "Did I achieve it?"

Pic #4 - Moss on Concrete


Pic #5 - Sun on Corrugated Iron


Pic #6 - Sun on Steel Girder


Pic #7 - Old Power Cables


Pic #8 - Banksia Silhoette


Pic #9 - Grass


Pic #10 - Grass Rimmed by Sun

I'm sorry my Friend. I started looking at your photos for critique and as I scrolled down the page lost interest. There are waaay too many at once. Can you please limit to 3 at a time ?

There is some great stuff here. The demi-exposure of the magpie in #2 adds a great element of mystery as does the textural opposiiton of the barbed wire and living tree.

I also like #3 very much because of the composiiton and richness of tone and color.

#7 is the type of tight detail that I like to shoot - transforming an ordinary object into an abstract. For this one, I would suggest some sharpening or some slight simplification plus sharpening.

The photos of the weeds with their backlit highlights are very nice. I think the meandering around the old factory has potential. The first one is just too mundane. There is no special photogenic quality to it. I don't care for the infra reds.

Another great series Kombi - I'm becoming a fan of your photo-outings..

My favourites are #1 - captures the factory and is very nicely lit. #4 is a fantastic closeup of the moss and concrete, and #9 of the grass has wonderful colour, and the background texture is so unique!

And overall, good job on the rich, saturated colour. Well done mate!

Kombi, for mine its #2 and #9

#2 the gost maggie is fantastic

#9 I like the effect you got on the grass well done..........minor distraction the blow out bottom right.

cheers

Hey guys,
Thanks for all your comments. This one seems like a bit of a mixed bag as far as opinions and favourites go.

It seems like almost everyone prefers different pics for different reasons.
For me, one of the reasons I included all of them was because to me they rate similarly (but not necessarily all that highly).

Peto, it was your comment which was really quite useful that got me thinking. I agree that I posted too many to have each one critiqued, but they each add something to providing an overall atmosphere to the scene at the time.
I included all of them is because I think they don't do much by themselves. Alone they are just fragments, but together they start to paint the picture of an old factory on a lazy late afternoon (well, that's what I hoped for).

But I didn't explicitly state those things in my original post, and after reading your reply I began thinking of a more suitable way of achieving the effect I was after in a more suitable way.
Below are a couple of composites that attempt to bring together the feeling I was after in a single image. I'm not 100% happy with them (I think they are a little clunky), but I think they more clearly communicate my "message" and will hopefully address your concerns too.

Toad, I love the couple of shots of that power cable conduit on the rusty steel... but unfortunately they came out *very* soft. I have done a little sharpening on that image already, but it is useless beyond this simple web resolution I guess I'll have to go back and shoot it again

Don, I love just wandering around places like this. Even if I never use the photos for anything, its fun exploring and imagining the stories behind a place like that. I can imagine it might also be the kind of place you'd enjoy.
I can see your point about the infra-red shots. I think infra-red can produce some stunning results when used appropriately, but unfortunately these are not some of them It was just practice, but I thought the magpie made the shot a little interesting. I also think most of the other photos were a bit mundane by themselves, hence the stuff I wrote in response to Peto above.

Jules, thanks for the encouragement. It was getting too dark to shoot handheld with a polariser, so #1 needed some persuading with RAW editing to put some contrast back into the washed-out sky. The moss was such a gorgeous colour against the bleached concrete that it was begging to be shot, and the bokeh of the EF 50mm f/1.8 lens is quite unique when used with textures like grass in #9.

And Russt, I had a little chuckle when you mentioned the distraction in the bottom right of #9... as I think that little splash of colour is one of the things that makes that photo and I cropped around it to leave it in, along with some sky. hehe..
But I guess it just shows different people have different tastes.

So guys.. what do you think about using the textures in a composite such as this kind of thing below? Does it "work"? Can you think of some improvements or alternatives?

Thanks.

Now that's very interesting.

I think in some instances, (such as this), the multiple frames work really well.

Kombi, I think the composites work well. It adds more of a story to your shots. The banksia looks better IMO in colour. I hear what your saying about different perspective because composite #2 works for me, yet the shots on their own were not my picks!!

In all very interesting

Cheers

PS I had a little chuckle too when I saw comp #1

Mate, your 2nd composite is pure genius. Just like what you'd see in a wedding album...