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[nachbarnebenan]

Hi Nachbarnebenan. I really only like Astral on the bench. The colours remind me of an old sepia photo and  the scuffed, dusty walls and marred timber of the slats add to the “old feel” This could just as as easy have been shot in 1930 – 1960 on any railway station anywhere in the world.

Thank You. The mood is purely by chance and not intentional. It's a combination of the different lights from the terrariums, the outside light through the roof and the flash.

I would have preferred a slightly further away shot to show the left side of the bench and the right bottom cast iron legs. As it is,  it seems like a  wrong or rather a misjudgement of what was  in the viewfinder. I tried some crops but they did not work. The subject is a cat on a bench and both, the bench and the cat, have equal importance.  I hope that makes sense.

You are right, it is slightly cropped at the sides. But I couldn't easily avoid that. I set myself the goal of only using the prime and giving its focal length and 1.6 crop factor and me being backed up on the terrarium of the mole rats there wasn't much of a choice.


I uploaded the raw files of these shots here: http://www.files.to/get/836576/77mngvcqjy

[nachbarnebenan]

This is my newest batch. There's a serious lack of good occasions lately…


This is at the abandoned part of the Plagwitz train station. Ten years ago I would've stood right on the tracks. Single shot.


What's left of the old waiting hall. Single shot. I like the way the light comes in trough the broken roof.


I'm not sure why I didn't thought of this earlier. This is one of the small Ganesha figurines inside the elephant temple at the zoo. Single shot.


This is a lucky shot, taken at the "House, Garden & Hobby" trade fair. A little bit underexposed.


This was taken at the trade fair, too. One out of 20 shots, all others had motion blur in them. It's somewhat underexposed as doesn't have the right white balance, but the lighting was really difficult.

Raw files are here: http://duckload.com/download/382621/challenge1822.tar (98MB)

[GIMPel]

This is my newest batch. There's a serious lack of good occasions lately…
[...]

Even I always enjoy gymnastic girls and leotards ;-)
the best photograph you posted here was that old waiting hall
(picture   5380643 ).

The lightning and colors... amazing... something like that I try to get since some months...

Which time of the day did you shot it, to get such a good lightning?
Was it cloudy that day?


P.S.: I thought that composition chalenge has ended... it seems to be a never ending story...

Just to mention: When I first entered this forum, about one year ago, I asked, why we should work on the pictures and if it wouldn't be better to make a photograph in such  a good way that working on it will not be necessary.
The answers were: you ALWAYS need to work on the pictures...

As I can see in this challenge, the mind might have changed, or my questions one year ago were not interpreted as I meant it...

[nachbarnebenan]

The lightning and colors... amazing... something like that I try to get since some months...

Thanks.

Which time of the day did you shot it, to get such a good lightning?
Was it cloudy that day?

The first two shots were taken about 20 minutes from each other at noon (the building slightly in the middle is the old waiting hall). It was totally overcast, the sky was just white wherever you looked, no contrast.

Btw, this is not very far from where I got the sunrise, maybe 500 meters.

[monoceros84]

Just to mention: When I first entered this forum, about one year ago, I asked, why we should work on the pictures and if it wouldn't be better to make a photograph in such  a good way that working on it will not be necessary.
The answers were: you ALWAYS need to work on the pictures...

As I can see in this challenge, the mind might have changed, or my questions one year ago were not interpreted as I meant it...

At least my mind has not changed at all. But we should not discuss this here in the challenge thread. Please get back to your old thread or start a new one.

[Rolf]

There is no deadline, - we have no winner, no criteria, no price, just contributions.

All the images could have been improved with GIMP, I think. And I would do it usually. But this is a good exercise, a bit like making slides.

[wbool63]

Nachbarnebenan, I really like the old Waiting Hall. As Rolf said all images can be improved.
I wonder what is hidden in the darkness and darker parts.  Have you "gimped" this photo to see if you can improve it?
As an aside , I notice the graffiti is in English, is that common?

[nachbarnebenan]

Nachbarnebenan, I really like the old Waiting Hall. As Rolf said all images can be improved.
I wonder what is hidden in the darkness and darker parts.  Have you "gimped" this photo to see if you can improve it?

You could look into the rawfile trying to discover something. But there's really not that much hidden there. Just thrown away junk, dirt, broken walls and other abandoned stuff. I've taken quite a lot of shots in there, as I wasn't sure which one would turn out ok. If you want, I can send you a whole bunch of them.

As an aside , I notice the graffiti is in English, is that common?

I guess german spelling and grammar is too hard for those who do these graffitis.

[monoceros84]

As an aside , I notice the graffiti is in English, is that common?

I guess german spelling and grammar is too hard for those who do these graffitis.

*lol* I think it's rather that English is somehow fresh, fashionable, alternative. German is not hip, has not that many rhymes, ... Most German songwriters use English so artists do as well.

[mramshaw]

This is my newest batch. There's a serious lack of good occasions lately…

You don't just need good conditions, your mind has to be in the right place too!

Sorry for the very slow reply, I had nothing much useful to say plus Penphoe has me
rattled about liking central subjects. Even so, I like the Ganesha and the Gymnasts.

There is lot of symmetry in both, which is why I think the central placement works. The
Ganesha looks like it is standing between one thing and another - or maybe pointing.
And the background of the gymnasts seems to frame the lines of their apparatus.

[mramshaw]

One out of 20 shots, all others had motion blur in them.

As I recently found out, sometimes motion blur is okay. If it adds movement or makes
the picture more dynamic, these can be good.

[monoceros84]

One out of 20 shots, all others had motion blur in them.

As I recently found out, sometimes motion blur is okay. If it adds movement or makes
the picture more dynamic, these can be good.

But in most cases that's only true to the environment. A blurred background of a car, shivering leaf of a tree etc. But when the subject is blurred we most likely don't like the image

[nachbarnebenan]

All five shots this time were planned and taken with a tripod.

Edit: Here are the raw files: http://www.gigasize.com/get.php?d=lzg9xjron4d


One of the oldest waterfalls in the zoo. This is part of the flamingo area. Single shot. It didn't turn out quite as I'd like since the waterfall was almost turned off.



This came to my mind when I read about the Chile earthquake and thought about Philippe and his family. It's part of the wooden fence of a house which was seriously damaged by the storm. The house is made of bricks and mortar, yet the fence made out of wood and rope without glue or a single nail stood up to the storm. Single shot.



  
A view of the renovated interior of the old congress center near the zoo. This is a 13s long exposure and I had to repeat it ~10 times since always someone walked through the scene or nearby, causing camera shake.



This is one of the many old small marinas which now reenter service as the rivers in the city resurface. This one was used quite a lot before the war, since there is an adjacent restaurant. Single shot. Unlike former times, it's no longer possible to get a direct frontal view because there are now buildings on the other shore.



One of the old water towers around the city. This one now houses gsm antennas and transmitters for wireless internet. One out of ~10 almost similar shots.

[mramshaw]

All five shots this time were planned and taken with a tripod.

I think the first, second and fourth are kind of blah. I will give you license to process them
to black & white (perhaps tinted) if you like, as I think the composition will be a lot easier
to judge then. One thing I recently learned from other people's pictures is that poor colour
can be traded for contrast in B&W which makes for more interesting pictures. If you were
drawn to these subjects in terms of wanting to make pictures of them, try to figure out
what you thought was interesting about them and then emphasize it. Usually you do this
by how you frame the subject but for a lot of things the subject is the entire picture so
then placing emphasis gets harder.

It's nice that you are planning your shots, I know this always makes my head hurt but
generally seems to be worth it as the shots are always better.

[nachbarnebenan]

I think the first, second and fourth are kind of blah.

And these are the ones that took the most effort to shoot, especially the first and fourth…
But like they say, back to the drawing board… ehm camera.


_{ps: Don't worry, I know very well I need critique to improve. But maybe I like the photos better because I know the story behind them.}