Composition Critique Requested

[retina_restoration]

For me, the choice of hard, early afternoon lighting kills the real potential of this image. I would have wait till close to (or just moments after) sunset to explore any potential lighting combination that might blend daylight and artificial lighting, possibly including electronic flash. There is a much more emotive opportunity here to explore, and (for me) lighting is 75% of what will make or break this scene.

 

[Vaughn]

...And @Vaughn's suggestion would make the photo completely about the colours.

How about:

View attachment 424518

Cool! While my crop had a lot to do about color, gas stations themselves are often a lot about color -- it is their identifier...this blue for Chevron, a yellow-orange for Shell, the red Texaco star, etc. The reason I cropped down all the way to the top of the gas pump is to include the top of the orange sign and the power pole to connect the abstracted part of the station to Place...without creating a specific Place, but one that represents the general concept of a gas stations in all places.

Edit to add an image and this:

An interesting option would be to crop a little lower to the top of the For Sale sign. This would leave the black top of the pumps in the image to visually reinforce the gas station aspect. But I still like the the image without the pumps. I'm biased, of course. To simplify is a good thing. But so is embracing the chaos.

The clouds are perfect...a reason to crop to the top of the For Sale sign would be to include the clouds on the horizon -- to give the visual effect of surrounding the canopy with clouds.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I'd be tempted to go full William Eggleston.
View attachment 424489
Unfortunately, the yellow in that realtor's sign nearly kills that!

I like it. reminds me of Velvia 50. Who's the current photo blog guy on the web who reviews equipment? He always highly saturates his photos.

 

[pentaxuser]

I was only pointing out a technical issue; the photo is tilted. The OP likes gas stations. That's his taste. Personally, I like redheads.

Yes I was not criticising what you or the others have suggested. It was just that when I first saw the picture I had felt that no real improvement was possible and what I saw in your picture just confirmed that

I remain confused as to what a "critique" consists of but feel that it's impact on the viewer matters greatly and expressed my opinion on its effect on me. If "critiques" do not include such a thing then I'll refrain from making any more

pentaxuser

 

[djdister]

Two things jump out at me about your image:

1. The lighting/time of day doesn't work for me. That blue roof edge against blue skies just doesn't give the roof the right contrast. Either shooting at a different time of day (as has been suggested), or shooting on a cloudy day and contrast the roof edge with gray clouds rather than a blue sky.

2. It seems you had the camera at a fairly low angle - was that to emphasize the roof? I would try shooting from a higher angle too.

 

[TomR55]

Hmm. I hadn't thought of using a shift lens. I happen to have one. I'll have to experiment with it.


I don't have tighter, but I do have further away (rough, straightened edit). I like that this gives more breathing room, but the dead branches along the sidewalk are distracting to me. I do like the leading line of grass in the pavement crack going towards the station though.

View attachment 424478

I don't know what you're trying to say with the image ... but, I think that the foreground, especially the patterns in the obviously weathered pavement make the image more "interesting," ... to my eyes (only?). "Landscape" is a verb as well as a noun ... and this particular image might be about that?

 

[Rayt]

What is your main subject? Overall the scene works better in its entirety as background for the main subject that is missing.

 

[Vaughn]

Vertically plumbed (straightened - it was tilted to the right) and cropped. Maybe you can remove the orange sign or shoot it so it is not hidden behind the pole.View attachment 424475

I believe the image may have been level and you tilted it to the left trying to correct a perspective issue. Six of one, half-dozen of something else...I'll take three pairs. Interestingly, your manipulation makes the canopy hang over the viewer a little bit more than the original (to my eye)....if exaggerated, it would work well for a night/full moon image, inserting glowing facial features in that empty space on top of the pumps!

 

[Milpool]

My reading of the original post was that the gas station was the subject (and that the lighting added to OPs interest in photographing it). Some of the proposals seem to be more about turning the photograph into something a little more interesting to people who are not interested in this type of photograph to begin with. I guess that’s ok but would it still interest the photographer?

 

[Vaughn]

The OP did write: "The blue is what attracted me as well." I could see that in the photo and suggested pushing the composition further in that direction. The usefullness of the other POVs depends on the person asking for those POVs being open to them. All suggestions are just points of departure for the OP to think about...why limit the possible jumping off places?

One thing to consider compositionally, is that giving the viewer less can make the possibilities of the viewer getting more.

Another thing, is that the answers are not just for the OP...but for the forum as a whole or individually to consider for as long as the information remains stored and accessable.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I believe the image may have been level and you tilted it to the left trying to correct a perspective issue. Six of one, half-dozen of something else...I'll take three pairs. Interestingly, your manipulation makes the canopy hang over the viewer a little bit more than the original (to my eye)....if exaggerated, it would work well for a night/full moon image, inserting glowing facial features in that empty space on top of the pumps!

You're right. I didn't correct for perspective and may have also overshot a little.

In any case, many shots have these, especially if a wide-angle lens was used. You have to use perspective as well as level controls.

 

[djdister]

I think it has more drama as a black and white...

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I would visit it (if possible), at different times of the day, and in different types of weather... I would also work in black and white...

 

[RalphLambrecht]

The light on this abandoned gas station caught my eye, but I feel like there's room for improvement in the composition and would love some critique.

One area I struggled with here was how to position the background clutter. This felt like the best composition for the station (my subject), but not necessarily the background.

For example:
- I would have liked to have more space between the orange sign and the pump
- I may have been able to position the orange sign behind the support post differently, but I opted to just split it symmetrically instead.
- I could have attempted to use more DoF via a longer lens or full-frame sensor to blur out the background more. This was 18mm (real focal length), F4.5 @ 1/4000 on Micro 4/3.

Of course I could digitally remove the sign altogether but that wouldn't challenge the composition muscles.

View attachment 424466

I like it pretty much the way it is but if I had a choice, I'd move the blue roof more to the left and up as it is an object reaching into the picture from the left to the right. For me, the 'for sale' sign could go.

 

[Korbel]

I like the picture, but I might have approached it little bit different. Im not sure if it was mentioned already, because I didnt read through all the comments.

- I would either pick a long lens to correct the verticals, or shot it wide and then crop it. Or make the verticals fall significantly more to make it clear it is intentional

- I think there is very little color separation between the blue background and blue gas station. Probably changing the composition completely to have the trees in the background would help. This would maybe even tell some story, or at least add a conceptual contrast between nature and the stuff which destroys it

- Also finding some interesting element for the foreground would help, or at least put the camera down to reduce it. Im thinking about spilling some oil on the ground and taking the picture from ground with it

This being said from my couch, I wish I had so much time to think about my photos in the field ;D

 

[snusmumriken]

Don’t be put off by those who don’t
‘get it’. I see very good reasons to have taken this shot. They may not, of course, be the same reasons that motivated you!

The way I see it, this is - yes - a mundane gas station, brutally unadorned. And yet this monstrously ugly straight-lined thing manages to echo the beautiful blue sky and soft white clouds. Those colours are obligingly spiced by the contrasting orange of the sign and distant rooftop, and the light green sign too - those accents seem essential to me.

I am not upset by the irregular quadrilateral that your viewpoint has turned the canopy into. If anything, I would have wanted to move a step or too closer, to lose some foreground and make the canopy even more assertively angular. I would also have framed it so that the whole pump/canopy group was subtly to the left, less obviously plum centre. You can afford to lose quite a lot of the green vegetation on the left, which does nothing for the theme (as I read it).

In subjects like this, I generally find the words on signage distracting. My mind keeps trying to read them. I even worry about viewers who don’t understand English. In this case, the ‘For sale’ signage is arguably part of the story - but you may think otherwise.

I hope you manage to repeat the shot more to your liking; but if not, hey, it was another nice idea that so very nearly worked.

PS - the almost abstract upside-down crop by @Don_ih appeals to me too.

 

[snusmumriken]

If you just want to make a subtle change, you could crop it like this, ie, lose some of the foreground and LHS, shifting the pumps and canopy a touch left. Your original below for comparison.

 

[quigs]

Thank you all for the feedback here. It's really got me thinking more about how to capture a more interesting photo of the elements that caught my attention when driving by.

If the sign is important to you, why is it in the background? I did not notice it at all initially....

It's not, I may have communicated poorly here that I wished it was gone entirely, but that's interesting that you didn't notice it at all. Perhaps splitting it in half hid it well enough for some people?

Perhaps reading through them will help you focusing your interest, which is what eventually makes a shot, or destroys it. My impression (but I might be wrong) is that you are trying to include too many things in your picture, probably far too many for it to be able to say anything at all.

They absolutely helped, thank you. I wanted to capture the entire station and the blue, but I was at a loss for what to do with all the other things in the background that I don't want--but felt forced to include. Since I can't change physics and property laws it seems to me like I should come back at a different time of day and angle and try to reduce the subject to a more specific essence (whatever that ends up being).

Are the gas hoses locked on the pump? If not, take one and lay it on the ground infront of the pump. Sometimes you can to do things to make the shot more interesting.

They were not from what I could tell, that's a really good idea and would help convey the decay if I concentrated on a tighter shot with less clutter in the background. Thanks!

But waiting for the lighting to become more diffuse - say, when the sun is covered by a cloud - would reduce the intensity of the shadows but wouldn't change the "different shades of blue" relationship.

I did not think about that relationship between the sky and the midground. That's quite helpful advice!

From what I've seen, @cliveh is the only one that made that photo about something - namely the collection of angles and rectangles that become more acute as you move up the photo. And @Vaughn's suggestion would make the photo completely about the colours.

Oh wow. Flipping the image upside down really captures the angles and rectangles. One thing I liked about this station was how rectangular it was but I couldn't put that into words until now. The more modern stations have a lot of rounded edges. I'll be experimenting more with this concept. Thanks!

 

[quigs]

I see very good reasons to have taken this shot. They may not, of course, be the same reasons that motivated you!

It think we're very much aligned in our interests here. Half the struggle for me with this shot was composing it, the other was finding the words to describe why I composed it, and I think you nailed it. Thanks for the feedback! Particularly:

And yet this monstrously ugly straight-lined thing manages to echo the beautiful blue sky and soft white clouds. Those colours are obligingly spiced by the contrasting orange of the sign and distant rooftop, and the light green sign too - those accents seem essential to me.

I love how you phrased this. It captures my original intention: Ugly meets beauty, meets contrasting colors.

If anything, I would have wanted to move a step or too closer, to lose some foreground and make the canopy even more assertively angular.

As I commented earlier (but with different words) "assertively angular" is a major component of the intention behind my original composition.

In this case, the ‘For sale’ signage is arguably part of the story - but you may think otherwise.

Agreed. Without the sign it's just an abandoned gas station. With the sign it shows that someone still cares about the property to some degree.

 

[quigs]

I remain confused as to what a "critique" consists of but feel that it's impact on the viewer matters greatly and expressed my opinion on its effect on me. If "critiques" do not include such a thing then I'll refrain from making any more

@pentaxuser FWIW, I found both your critiques to be helpful and blunt (which is fine with me). Your future critique on other work, should you choose to share it, will be appreciated.

It seems you had the camera at a fairly low angle - was that to emphasize the roof? I would try shooting from a higher angle too.

Yes, it was to emphasize the roof. I'll play around with angles and focal lengths in round 2.

I think that the foreground, especially the patterns in the obviously weathered pavement make the image more "interesting,"

Now that I've had more time behind me, the second image with more pavement in the foreground should have been the image I chose to present. I feel like it adds more to the story and justifies the choice to include clutter in the background a little more. But I think there's a lot I could do to have both the cracks in the foreground and less background clutter.

I think it has more drama as a black and white...

I was more interested in the shades of blue, but this edit is rather interesting.

I think there is very little color separation between the blue background and blue gas station

Yes, that was intentional. But I'm not sure if that works.

Also finding some interesting element for the foreground would help, or at least put the camera down to reduce it. Im thinking about spilling some oil on the ground and taking the picture from ground with it

This is the second "manipulate the scene" feedback I have received. Maybe I'll bring a jug of water and some biodegradable soap to emulate oil slicks as I don't want to pollute. My city's river has enough industrial waste in the river already.

This being said from my couch, I wish I had so much time to think about my photos in the field

Couch-sight is 20/20 as they say!

 

[Don_ih]

A year ago there was a whole building here that got torn down. But they left this station here. Why?

Incidentally, the building removal may have been the most expedient way to deal with it (and the potential for people breaking into it - liability, for example, if someone got hurt). The gas pumps, however, are just the top end of a system that's much more difficult to deal with. There are large tanks underground that are expensive to remove. If everything can pass an inspection, someone could knock together a shed and start selling gas there again. But if those tanks are no good, the site will be a money pit.

 

[Vaughn]

I have a feeling that if they remove the pumps, the tanks would have to go, too. $$$

 

[MattKing]

In many areas, buying a gas station site means buying a potentially monstrous remediation bill for all the inherent environmental problems that come with old tanks that are likely to leak gas and diesel into the ground around.

 

[Rayt]

In many areas, buying a gas station site means buying a potentially monstrous remediation bill for all the inherent environmental problems that come with old tanks that are likely to leak gas and diesel into the ground around.

I didn’t know that. This explains why there are so many abandoned gas stations still standing throughout the desert Southwest when other buildings are being used. Tucumcari NM is a goldmine for slow decay large format photography if you are into the subject matter.

 

[Don_ih]

A gas station where I live needed the tanks pulled and a massive amount of the ground carted away due to contamination. It was a full year before it reopened.