Boardwalk

[midgett]

Took this on the beach. It felt like it lent itself well to a square format, and high contrast B&W. Opinions?

[Marko]

I like the shot but I find the crop on the left edge too abrupt, it could use a bit more breathing room imo.

[scorpio_e]

I like the conversion and the composition. The left edge does not bother me. It would be interesting to see it uncropped.

[kat]

I would of like to have seen a bit more on the left..just a bit of the land. Conversion is really nice. :)

[Iguanasan]

What they said ;) Nice capture but I, too, vote for a little more room on the left.

[Mad Aussie]

My first impression was I'd like to see just little more rail on that left side and I see that seems to be a common feeling.
I like the square format. That seems to work well.
Not sold on the B&W for this. I think the sky is lacking so some colour there may have been helpful. The sea also is lifeless in this case without some colour. If it had more texture perhaps the B&W would appeal more.
I like the perspective used though which really forces our eye 'walk' down the boardwalk to the sea.

[Gem]

Would like to see a bit more on the left for me too =) And I agree with MA about the sky lacking; it almost looks like someone just painted grey there. I like it otherwise, though.

[Chantelle]

If you could take this shot again, maybe try to get down on a lower angle and cut a bit of that dull sky out, seems too lifeless to me. May be more interesting looking along the boardwalk lower... :) Hope that helps.

[midgett]

Ok, I re-cropped, leaving more on the left this time. I had originally cropped it like that because I wasn't sure about the stairs leading out of the frame on the left side. I tried to bring in a little more of the clouds, it was a pretty clear day and what there was of clouds was wispy and barely noticeable. However this is as far as I could get it without introducing terrible luminance noise.

[Chantelle]

Not sure which image I would perfer, but I still stand by what I said about the sky. You can't see much of those clouds so it doesn't make it more interesting in my opinion.

[centerlightpop]

Hi there! I'm a new member but I thought I'd jump right in - I hope that's alright.

I wanted to suggest an alternative. In my opinion, the reason most people are suggesting that you edit the crop is because the railing is currently "clipping" the edge of the photo, which tends to look a bit tense. Similar to having someone's fingertips or elbow grazing the edge of a portrait, for example.

It doesn't sound like you're thrilled with the recrop you posted - I would try the opposite and crop it a bit more so that you can't see the railing at all. It will likely result in a very different feeling (because the viewer won't know how wide the boardwalk really is), but it might be nice. Worth a shot, anyway!

I would tend to agree that the b&w isn't popping as much as it could. Could this be tweaked at all by playing with levels or the channel mixer? Alternatively, you could just crop out a little more of the sky, and then it wouldn't demand so much attention :)

[Chantelle]

Welcome to the best photography forums around! :D
Of course it's alright to jump right in, good critque there too, I did not think about that at all, I agree if would create a different feeling and could look more effective.

[centerlightpop]

Thanks for the welcome :)

[svenny]

To be honest I didn't even notice the stairs in the picture, until I read the sentence about the stairs :) The boardwalk led my eye away from that edge.

[midgett]

Hi there! I'm a new member but I thought I'd jump right in - I hope that's alright.

I wanted to suggest an alternative. In my opinion, the reason most people are suggesting that you edit the crop is because the railing is currently "clipping" the edge of the photo, which tends to look a bit tense. Similar to having someone's fingertips or elbow grazing the edge of a portrait, for example.

It doesn't sound like you're thrilled with the recrop you posted - I would try the opposite and crop it a bit more so that you can't see the railing at all. It will likely result in a very different feeling (because the viewer won't know how wide the boardwalk really is), but it might be nice. Worth a shot, anyway!

I would tend to agree that the b&w isn't popping as much as it could. Could this be tweaked at all by playing with levels or the channel mixer? Alternatively, you could just crop out a little more of the sky, and then it wouldn't demand so much attention :)

That is a crop concept I hadn't thought about, I like it and I will see what it looks like. I have not play with the channel mixer, but I have tried levels and curves, along with the color sliders. There just isn't anything there to bring out I guess. I think I will trying cropping down the sky, and making the image more pano instead of square, to see what that looks like also. Great suggestions!

[centerlightpop]

That is a crop concept I hadn't thought about, I like it and I will see what it looks like. I have not play with the channel mixer, but I have tried levels and curves, along with the color sliders. There just isn't anything there to bring out I guess. I think I will trying cropping down the sky, and making the image more pano instead of square, to see what that looks like also. Great suggestions!

Oh, I definitely recommend giving it a go with the channel mixer. You might be surprised what you can bring out without blowing out highlights or blackening your lowlights.

This link gives a really good example (scroll down the page a bit until you see four starfish pictures on top of one another).

http://www.earthboundlight.com/phototips/black-and-white-photoshop.html

[centerlightpop]

To be honest I didn't even notice the stairs in the picture, until I read the sentence about the stairs :) The boardwalk led my eye away from that edge.

I agree with this - the stairs don't bother me at all in the recrop :)

[kat]

Nice info site centerlightpop (hmm...were going to have to get you a shorter nick :) )

I didn't know about this!! Another site added to my favs!