Desert View Watchtower, Grand Canyon HDR

[h=2]On my recent trip to the Grand Canyon, I took about 500 pics and kept about 10 of them. This is one I felt was a keeper - it is 3 exposures +/- 2 EV of the tower portion of Desert View Watchtower. It was Memorial day so tons of tourists cluttering the base of the tower and mid-day so this is how I made the best of it. Shot in Raw, HDR was done in Photomatix, processing in Photoshop CS6. Circular polarizer was used if I recall correctly. Exif data below:

I am interested in other's opinions with regard to technical (image quality, exposure, etc) as well as creative aspects.

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Very nice! I think it's technically very well done. Your color scheme/saturation definitely has a velvia-like feel to it. I does feel a little asymmetric being anywhere but the very center but I think this is a personal choice and others can argue that a broken symmetry adds something to the work. The only trouble I have is the storyline, it almost seems like it's missing something, like a kid's head or a bird or a flag or even a strange cloud to balance out the composition. It's as if the image is pulling you somewhere but then leaves you hanging at the last minute.

I would rate this an 11 out of 12 with the point taken away for Story Telling.

Like what Dave said can be accomplished if you still have the picture on a card. Put it back in your camera and add some sparkle to the sun beams so they are the attention grabber Dave was mentioning.

Thanks for the feedback Dave and Ken. I really like this photo not because of the composition but because of the look I accomplished with he HDR effect. I always felt as though it looked "good" but was lacking something.... I guess it left me hanging too but didn't understand why.

BTW, I am as amateur as they come so I had to look up the term "Velvia" - yep - that describes the look I like.

I have looked . . . and looked . . . and looked at your photo. Technically, exposure wise, it's superb, and you did an outstanding job with the HDR processing. One of the best I've seen in a while. The capture of the sliver of sunlight is technically well done.

But, like Dave, I, too, feel that something is missing. I kept looking at it because I was hoping something would grab me. If you look at the tower long enough, though, you can trick yourself into thinking that it's a "cone" and not a vertical tower captured at 18mm.

I'm wondering if the photo would have had more impact if you were lying on the ground and captured it to include part of the ground, and even some people in the frame to give it a sense of perspective. Was 18mm as wide as you could go?

I know you said there were tourists milling about, but another option could have been to do a really long exposure with a very dark ND filter . . . this would have caused the people to be a blur and almost disappear if the exposure is long enough, which would certainly have given it more interest.

I am also wondering what your artistic intent/vision was? If it was to capture a building and do an excellent HDR, then I would say you accomplished it.

Maybe it's the disjointedness that bothers me. Your shooting angle gives the tower a little bit of a sinister feel, yet the bright sun and blue sky are too "happy" to be sinister. This kind of photo would look better with dark, ominous clouds. IMHO it would be more creative.

I would deduct a point for impact and a point for creativity . . . so your photo earned 10 out of possible 12 points.

Very nice work.

Thanks for the insightful feedback, Helene. I wish I had the artistic insights that yourself, Dave and Ken have demonstrated... Can a person "learn" to be creative??? We'll see.

Yes, 18mm is as wide as I can go. I have my eye on the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens but need to get budgetary approval from Accounting (wife). Just got this camera (first DSLR).

Artistic intent was to do HDR but also take a nice pic of the tower (would have preferred the FULL tower) without people. Since there were people I cut it off and went with that. Just for my own personal gratification, I may edit this pic and see how it looks in a more ominous setting - darken clouds & sky.

I don't like photos with unknown people in them - maybe I'm odd that way but to me, I want just the subject in my picture not a bunch of strangers.

I did take a photo of the full tower with the tourists in it - it is HDR as well but only enough to balance exposure: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brad_schumacher/8871014475

You can always ask the people to move.

WyoDuner said:

Thanks for the insightful feedback, Helene. I wish I had the artistic insights that yourself, Dave and Ken have demonstrated... Can a person "learn" to be creative??? We'll see.

Yes, 18mm is as wide as I can go. I have my eye on the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens but need to get budgetary approval from Accounting (wife). Just got this camera (first DSLR).

Artistic intent was to do HDR but also take a nice pic of the tower (would have preferred the FULL tower) without people. Since there were people I cut it off and went with that. Just for my own personal gratification, I may edit this pic and see how it looks in a more ominous setting - darken clouds & sky.

I don't like photos with unknown people in them - maybe I'm odd that way but to me, I want just the subject in my picture not a bunch of strangers.

I did take a photo of the full tower with the tourists in it - it is HDR as well but only enough to balance exposure: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brad_schumacher/8871014475

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You are most welcome. We all learn to be creative by simply doing and trying to think out of the box a little. Now that you got the effect you want with HDR, you can start experimenting.

I have the the Sigma 10-20 and love it.

Actually, Don's suggestion about asking people to move is a good one. Most people are pretty good about not getting in your line of sight when you're pointing the camera. I've even set up a shot, waited until there were as few people as possible, then just simply asked them to wait a couple of seconds.

I looked at your tower photo on Flckr, and here's a thought . . . including the stairs in the tower shot would have added a drama, and carrying it a little further, putting one shoe on the step, coverting the photo to black and white, adding drama to the sky, . . . you can see the train of thought here. The possibilities are endless.LOL

Tracsoft - Don Kuykendall said:

You can always ask the people to move.

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Why didn't I think of that...

WyoDuner said:

Why didn't I think of that...

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Or you can do what I did and remove the people after the fact. Flicker is not very secure. This is your full size photo that I used to photoshop the people out.

Don, Hmm... Just started the Flickr page - didn't realize it was so insecure... Perhaps I should be watermarking at least or maybe not posting full size images... Dang, something else to deal with. Thanks for letting me know about Flickr!!!

On edit: Just went to my Flickr page, selected show original and was able to right-click and download image... Nope - not secure at all.

WyoDuner said:

Don, Hmm... Just started the Flickr page - didn't realize it was so insecure... Perhaps I should be watermarking at least or maybe not posting full size images... Dang, something else to deal with. Thanks for letting me know about Flickr!!!

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​You may want to consider sites other than Flickr . . . and by all means, watermark.

ohkphoto said:

I looked at your tower photo on Flckr, and here's a thought . . . including the stairs in the tower shot would have added a drama, and carrying it a little further, putting one shoe on the step, coverting the photo to black and white, adding drama to the sky, . . . you can see the train of thought here. The possibilities are endless.LOL

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Thinking Rapunzel .......

WyoDuner said:

Don, Hmm... Just started the Flickr page - didn't realize it was so insecure... Perhaps I should be watermarking at least or maybe not posting full size images... Dang, something else to deal with. Thanks for letting me know about Flickr!!!

On edit: Just went to my Flickr page, selected show original and was able to right-click and download image... Nope - not secure at all.

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I

After reading this, I just went and altered the "max size" and "view original" settings on my flickr!
Cheers to Don for flagging up the issue though!

re. the original pic, I really like the colour combo of brick red with the blue, and personally I quite like the symmetrical layout. Great photo

derekthetree said:

I

After reading this, I just went and altered the "max size" and "view original" settings on my flickr!
Cheers to Don for flagging up the issue though!

re. the original pic, I really like the colour combo of brick red with the blue, and personally I quite like the symmetrical layout. Great photo

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All I did was view original size and then right click and save as. Way to easy.

It was nice to have the original large file to edit though. Made it easier to remove the people.

derekthetree said:

I

........
re. the original pic, I really like the colour combo of brick red with the blue, and personally I quite like the symmetrical layout. Great photo

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Thanks Derek, being an Engineer I liking the symmetry too. Rule of thirds??? NAH!!! Rule of HALVES is the way I go.

Helene, I took your comments about sinister tower and happy skies to heart and made the whole image sinister. Thanks again to everybody for your thoughtful critique!!!

WyoDuner said:

Thanks Derek, being an Engineer I liking the symmetry too. Rule of thirds??? NAH!!! Rule of HALVES is the way I go.

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I'm a scientist so must be us left-side-of-the-brainers!
I'm not so sure about the recolour of the sky, less complimentary with the brick red. Light blue suits it more IMO

Well, my left-brain is really wishing it had a little more right-brain going on right now. I used a circular polarizer and that darkens up the sky a good bit but but I also added a good bit of saturation. I'm a deep blue sky type of person.

WyoDuner said:

Helene, I took your comments about sinister tower and happy skies to heart and made the whole image sinister. Thanks again to everybody for your thoughtful critique!!!

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Well, I like it . . . and good for you for trying something different. The bottom line is that it has to fit with YOUR vision. YOU have to like it . . . that's how you develop a personal style . . . try different things, then go with what speaks to you.