LEAVE YOUR EGOS BEHIND. YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS SUCK, YOUR TECHNIQUE'S NOT MUCH BETTER AND WE ALL KNOW IT. DON'T PRETEND YOU'RE ANY DIFFERENT TO THE REST OF US. PHOTOGRAPHY IS HIGHLY SUBJECTIVE. DON'T BE SURPRISED IF SOME COMMENTS ARE MEAN SPIRITED, TOTALLY UNHELPFUL OR EVEN GO OFF TOPIC WITH RELIGION OR POLITICS – SUCK IT UP. HOWEVER AMONGST ALL THIS WILL BE A FEW NUGGETS OF WISDOM THAT MAY ALLOW YOU TO GROW AS A PHOTOGRAPHER.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Who Likes Trains?
Canon EOS 350D with Canon 18-200 IS lens
1/400 sec at f11, ISO 200
Taken at 60mm (EFL 96mm)
Ok, no background for this shot. What do you like, not like about it?
The good: I like the colours in the engine. It looks like a diesel engine, and considering the carriages look a bit old also, I'm guessing this is somewhere over seas from a holiday into China or India perhaps?
I like the line leading out to the right of the frame made by the carriages. The smoke drifting away over to the right is nice also as it implies that the train isn't just sitting there, but it has the engine running so its not so static.
The bad: Needs another person in it. Maybe someone on the right on the platform. Or maybe a suite case or bag or something. Pity the sky is a bit grey. Maybe it's pollution?
Wow, There are so many things to like about this shot.
I love the colours in the train. You have an excellent Red-Green colour pair from painters wheel and a Blue-Yellow colour pair from the printers wheel. All the colour is on the engine and the rest of the image is a muted grey. Unlike Craig, I think a grey sky works better here. A more blue sky would start to compete with the engine for attention.
Excellent use of leading lines too. The rail track leading towards the engine from the bottom left corner acts as a great leading line to the subject. Also the smoke coming from the top right corner adds another line for the eye to follow to the subject. Even the carriages behind the train and the roof of the station point in the right direction, helping guide the eye.
If I wanted to improve this image, I might try a slower shutter speed of 1/30s or so. This would allow a little motion blur in the train to show it was moving. Here 1/400s has stopped the train in it's tracks. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be moving or not.
There are two colour wheels often referred to as the painters colour wheel and printers colour wheel. The difference is in the primary colours used.
Perhaps when you were in art class at school you would remember painting. Red, Blue and Yellow are primary colours because we can't mix paints to get these colours. However if we mix red and yellow we can get orange, a secondary colour. Therefore we can represent all colours that can be created from these primary colours on a wheel.
Colour Pairs are two colours from one of these wheels that when mixed together equal grey. Therefore if we take orange and mix it with blue we end up with grey.
The printers colour wheel is more familiar to those who use a computer. Monitors are RGB, Red, Green and Blue. Mixing these colours together and we can get Cyan, Yellow and Magenta, the inks in a printer. Varying the intensity of these colours creates an almost endless range of hues.
If you still don't get it here is a few examples of colour wheels.
That did help me get an understanding of what you were talking about.
The first image in your link led me to : http://www.artyfactory.com/color_theory/color_theory_terms_1.htm
Unfortunately I didn't do art at high school. Well I did year 8, but the most I can remember from that is clay modeling, which is why I have a hard time with composition and colours in photography.
I'll have to try and get that in my memory now (or print one and add it to my bag for reference :)
Hi Geoff,
ReplyDeleteThe good:
I like the colours in the engine. It looks like a diesel engine, and considering the carriages look a bit old also, I'm guessing this is somewhere over seas from a holiday into China or India perhaps?
I like the line leading out to the right of the frame made by the carriages.
The smoke drifting away over to the right is nice also as it implies that the train isn't just sitting there, but it has the engine running so its not so static.
The bad:
Needs another person in it. Maybe someone on the right on the platform. Or maybe a suite case or bag or something.
Pity the sky is a bit grey. Maybe it's pollution?
Cheers!
Geoff,
ReplyDeleteWow, There are so many things to like about this shot.
I love the colours in the train. You have an excellent Red-Green colour pair from painters wheel and a Blue-Yellow colour pair from the printers wheel. All the colour is on the engine and the rest of the image is a muted grey. Unlike Craig, I think a grey sky works better here. A more blue sky would start to compete with the engine for attention.
Excellent use of leading lines too. The rail track leading towards the engine from the bottom left corner acts as a great leading line to the subject. Also the smoke coming from the top right corner adds another line for the eye to follow to the subject. Even the carriages behind the train and the roof of the station point in the right direction, helping guide the eye.
If I wanted to improve this image, I might try a slower shutter speed of 1/30s or so. This would allow a little motion blur in the train to show it was moving. Here 1/400s has stopped the train in it's tracks. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be moving or not.
Brutal Enough?
steve
Hi Steve,
ReplyDeleteWhat is the painters wheel and printers wheel you are talking about?
Can you provide a link or a description please?
You can tell I know nothing about design using colour can't you ?
And now you mention it, I do notice the tracks leading in from the left, and after a bit more thought, you are right about the sky too.
LOL
Regards
Craig.
Craig,
ReplyDeleteThere are two colour wheels often referred to as the painters colour wheel and printers colour wheel. The difference is in the primary colours used.
Perhaps when you were in art class at school you would remember painting. Red, Blue and Yellow are primary colours because we can't mix paints to get these colours. However if we mix red and yellow we can get orange, a secondary colour. Therefore we can represent all colours that can be created from these primary colours on a wheel.
Colour Pairs are two colours from one of these wheels that when mixed together equal grey. Therefore if we take orange and mix it with blue we end up with grey.
The printers colour wheel is more familiar to those who use a computer. Monitors are RGB, Red, Green and Blue. Mixing these colours together and we can get Cyan, Yellow and Magenta, the inks in a printer. Varying the intensity of these colours creates an almost endless range of hues.
If you still don't get it here is a few examples of colour wheels.
Hope that helps clear the confusion.
steve
Thanks Steve,
ReplyDeleteThat did help me get an understanding of what you were talking about.
The first image in your link led me to :
http://www.artyfactory.com/color_theory/color_theory_terms_1.htm
Unfortunately I didn't do art at high school. Well I did year 8, but the most I can remember from that is clay modeling, which is why I have a hard time with composition and colours in photography.
I'll have to try and get that in my memory now (or print one and add it to my bag for reference :)
Cheers!
Craig.