Blog Archives
Door handle
Pretty simple pic of close up and close crop of the door handle to Frankie & Benny’s Italian restaurant in Nottingham. Various adjustments as usual in Lightroom.
Wow. That blue oxidation on the brass bits is a bit loud isn’t it but I quite like the way each handle gets worse as you look down. They could use some Brasso on them.
Couple?
Simple picture of girl, handing out leaflets, chatting to guy in the street in Nottingham. This is a close crop of the original picture. My first try had the couple plus another person strolling in from the left, all full-length. It was a nice shot, but, as I was adjusting it, I focussed in to check detail and noticed that the two talking was a more interesting picture. Still needs better adjustment. I’ve decided to do a Photoshop challenge after the poem-a-day one is finished: setting myself to learn a bit more each day or couple of days and post the results.
The changes I made were to try and add eye movement. Main one was to brighten the girl and darken the guy more. I wanted to ensure she was the key focus and that the eye then looked for what she was doing. Not sure if this was successful or whether I should have evened out the tones more. Ah well, not a saleable image anyway; will leave it like this.
Faces
Today’s photograph is also from the set I took in Nottingham two days ago. I was in Clumber Street, near the Victoria Centre looking down the street. For those who don’t know Nottingham, this is a pedestrianised street that seems to be permanently heaving with people moving between the city centre and the Victoria Centre. The shot is a very close crop.
It is not an especially good photograph, technically speaking, and there is little to be done to it in the way of adjustment to make it more compelling. But I like the way your eye is drawn to the bald white guy in the centre foreground. It even works having the back of someone’s head in the immediate foreground as it stops you seeing anything distracting there.
You then see the slightly unfocussed, pensive looking woman behind the bald guy and then notice the woman in sunglasses on the middle left who seems to be looking directly at the camera. Then, is the bald guy also looking at the camera? No. His eyes are not quite directed at the lens; he isn’t really seeing anything specific, I think. The large unfocussed guy front right never seems to hold your attention, nor the shiny bald head of the black guy centre right, even with his bright purple shirt (I vignetted the shot a little to kill the attraction of that purple).
My final thought was, how did I get such dramatic motion shake on the guy in the left middle with the dark shirt when all he is doing is looking at his mobile phone? What was he doing?
So, not a great shot but it held my interest for some time. That is why I’ve added it here.
