Bad cropping examples

When you move away from taking just snapshops to actually trying to produce quality photographs that you'd be proud to frame, you're moving into the realms of artists. And just any art, tastes are all subjective. What may work for you in a photo might not for others. Or vice versa.

These are a few old photographs I took awhile ago. I decided to be heavy-handed in cropping them, to give a few example of what's too much.

Original. The composition isn't bad. It's not quite divided up in thirds, but that couldn't be helped, considering the enormity of the subject in the photo. In this photo, the ground accounts for one third, and ideally the monument would the other third and the "empty space" - sky, in this case, would be the last third. But architects did not take photography into consideration when designing this monument.

Cropped. Now, it's more evenly divided into thirds. But cropping it didn't improve the picture, although it did help emphasize just how talllll this monument is. I prefer the original over this.

Original. Same subject, but a bit further away.
This is another example of too-severe cropping, which resulted in loss of interest in the photo. If I cropped it so there were still a bit of the trees along the sides, that would be more interesting - the trees also serve to help guide your eyes toward the center, where I want the focus to be.

Another monument...It's a not bad-shot, but because this photo is nearly monochromatic - sometimes a good thing, sometimes not - I found that my eyes kept skipping all over the place, even despite knowing it's empty space.
Cropped it severely. The monument now dominates the space, which is fitting because, well, it's a damn big monument. But sometimes having a bit empty space to serve as a sort of neutral buffer for the eyes is good. I think a cropping job that's a smidge less severe than this (below) would be better.

What do ya'all think? Agree? Disagree? Speak up!

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In between

dealing with this nutty cold, winter rain, family issues (all is well now!), roommates (all is well now!), landlord issues, prepping for my big news (more on that later), blah blah, I haven't had much downtime.

Things, in general, are going well.

Next week is the inauguration, and it's really interesting to see the changes that D.C. is going through just for one day. Frankly, I think it's a bit of an overreaction. D.C. pulled in about 5 thousand cops from other counties/towns/wherever for extra manpower. It also pulled the National Guards from wherever, and I believe we have some extra Coast Guards too, for the Potomac River. Roads are being or have already been shut. Bridges are being shut this weekend. I think this will create a major bottleneck at the remaining bridges that are open. Various other entrances to the city are also being closed or restricted.

I don't remember hearing about the city going to this extreme four or eight years ago. Do you? But then again, I didn't pay much attention the last time.

We just got notice at work that: My office building must be vacant by 2 P.M. Monday (we're off Tuesday), and that those of us who do come in Monday, myself included, may need to show work ID to get in because our street is close to the parade route.

The city is also under State of Emergency, which allows it to tap the Federal funds instead of paying for all this by itself. As far as I know, Prez. Bush did not declare a suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus...boiled down, a suspension of this writ means the police can arrest you, whether legally or not...however, I would not be surprised to hear about arrests being made over frivolous or trumped-up (aka false) charges. It's extreme, but i think it'll depend on how well-behaved the sheep are and how touchy the cops are.

What am I doing? I'm staying home, unless it seems like it's not super crowded. If that's the case, I might head over and snap a few pictures.

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Chinatown

Went to Chinatown in DC for dinner last night. Very cool area, it was my first time going at nighttime. I'd like to go back with my camera, but I'm a bit leery of doing so. There were quite a few unsavory characters hanging out on the streets and I can't afford to lose my camera. Maybe I can convince a muscular friend to go with me.

Taken with my cell phone

Doesn't this look like a stage set from Blade Runner?

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More pictures

I went wandering around DC with a friend Saturday. We didn't hit all of the sites we planned on, but still saw plenty. Most of you have seen typical touristy stuff, so I'll restrain from posting those.

Happy accident. I was trying to photograph a truck on the highway while on the metro train. I rather liked how this one came out, blur and all.

The letter Q is for...

Self portrait

A gorgeous church arch.

Some government door.

General Lee's house...an architectural feature

I love the marble. I want it.

An army of orange people invades...

Much later in day...my friend had this for his dinner.
Twas very tempting, but I'm glad to say I didn't indulge.
Much.

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"Blue Period"

Finally got around to loading a few pictures. A few good friends and I went to the tidal basin in DC to visit the cherry blossoms. I totally forgot to fix the light balance from the last time I was shooting. Oops. Some of them are quite striking, though. Gotta love the happy accidents.

Look! Look! I think I stumbled onto something here.
Blue-toned pictures convert to sepia very nicely.

Little darker than I'd like, but can be fixed in photoshop, if I ever get it.
This isn't a spectacular picture, but I liked how the flowers just POPS out at you.
I can't decide if I like this or hate it.

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Why is it...

At an empty intersection, people will continue to stand at the corner while they wait for the crossing sign light to change?

People will gladly enter an expensive facility for free, but balk at shelling out two bucks for a map of the grounds? Don't throw a fit over two frigging bucks! If you want a map that bad, dig in the trash. The incident in question took place at the DC zoo. The aforementioned $2 goes toward a fund for care of the animals.

Sheesh. Stupid people.

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Practice pictures

One of my goals is to practice taking picture with my new camera, a spiffy pentax dslr. And eventually, to sell my pictures. Yesterday, I went into DC to the usual sightseeing spots, the capitol, monuments, etc, and walked around shooting the sights. It was so bright out that most of my pictures were overexposed (note to self -- read up on how to avoid that). However, I did get a few shots that were pretty stunning, if I might say so, despite the overexposure.

And I got some pleasure out of telling my friends I was "out shooting" and eliciting responses like, "Huh? Are you serious?" It probably didn't help that I kept stringing them along with comments like, "The cops don't seem to care that I'm shooting at the crowds."

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