212kelvin Loc: San Francisco

these are great considerations. I took some of these just because they were there. As is obvious, I didn't give any thought to composition. That's because I had no idea on how to compose them. I like the subject, and some of the scenes I have not shown here, are interesting. I probably should not shoot when I am not giving composition any thought. Although some of my best ideas come from those photos. I thought I would not post these, but decided I would because I wanted to gauge opinions and get some ideas. I need feedback like yours because it helps me understand composition a little better. I have never taken a class, nor have I had any training or mentoring, I just picked up a camera about 10 years ago and started shooting.

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

Now that's the way to make suggestions for improvement. I especially like #3, so I was thinking about how I would shoot that one if I had been there. The shadows and the unusual shape of the chair are the most interesting design elements, so I might have cropped the vehicles and storefronts out, and put the chair itself in a more important position. the diagonal made by the crosswalk, chair, and utility cover is the most important line in the photo. Maybe I would have pointed down a little more, or used a wider lens to get the cover fully into the frame, at the expense of cutting off some of the crosswalk? Hard to tell if you're not there, but I think this is the strongest of the images. I love photos with after dark shadows cast by streetlights and this is an excellent example.

Andy

Stephan G

You might garner quite a bit by looking into Elements of Staging in Theater. There are several sources from which I picked up ideas for stagecraft and applied them to photography. The two terms that will aid you, I think, are Motion and Story-telling, especially using props.

You are showing that you do look beyond the "model". I found that as long as I return objects to their original spots, no one has said anything.

Remember, you are the story teller of what you see.

212kelvin Loc: San Francisco

thanks, that's a great idea. I shoot intuitively and am a realist so I don't like changing the scene, even if I'd put it back later. I don't stage my photos I like them to be as found. But theatrical elements might actually be useful to choose my location when shooting. Thanks for the tip.

garygrafic Loc: South Florida

I'm sorry my starting comment was so strong, I grew up with tough, no nonsense peers. I'm glad you re-read my comment and realized that I totally approve of what you've
done, I just got the feeling that when you saw the chairs the idea hit you 'shoot thrown out chairs', and you just felt recording them was enough. More than likely I'm way off base, Keep going, I can visualize a very amusing, charming set of photos. Post 'em right?

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

Well done, sir.... something we don't see all that often on these forums. I salute you.

Andy

212kelvin Loc: San Francisco

Thank you for this post. It is very refreshing. I'm glad I did re-read your post because it was well worth the effort. Thanks for your candidness. I grew up on the south coast of Massachusetts, so I can definitely relate to you directness as well.

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

Another creative approach Kelvin!

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

Would you mind if I shared a couple of our abandoned chairs here? Don’t want to disrupt your thread, but I think see similar visions.

Andy

Hennes8 Loc: Fairfax, VA

To me this was an interesting subject and I enjoyed the shot all criticism aside. Something other than the “standard” subjects adds to the experience. All that counts is if you enjoyed them.

repleo Loc: Boston

I like these.

I like chairs - not necessarily abandoned - and I am putting a 'mini theme' together and will post when I get a few more.

I have spent a lot of time looking at these and trying to think what I would have done differently. This is not a criticism of your work, but rather a learning exercise for me.

#1. I would try to capture more of the sun lit chair at the back. There seems to be a nice translucent quality to what we can see of it.
#2. I think I would explore using the umbrella stand more. Perhaps a composition contrasting the 'normality' of the of the right chair and the stand together in the 'abnormality' setting of a busy street.
#3 Is wonderful as is. The only thing I can think of would be maybe some color correction and shift to the right to pick of the full shadow of the chair and maybe emphasis the shadows a bit.
#4 Is out of focus, but that is OK. I would put the chair dead center on the left thirds. It is close, but off enough to bother me.
#5 Maybe shorter depth of field to put more emphasis on the chair. The shot seems to wander up the street.

Just my thoughts.

Take it as a compliment that so many folks have provided detailed feedback even if you feel some of it is negative. If these were just another bunch of bird or flower shots nobody would have bothered.

PS: If you want abandoned chairs, come to Boston after a snow storm. South Boston is notorious for putting out chairs as space savers for their hard dug out parking spaces.

212kelvin Loc: San Francisco

no, I don't mind at all

212kelvin Loc: San Francisco

thank you for the thoughtful reply. I enjoyed reading your take on these. And you are right if they were just flowers or birds, no one would have taken the time. I guess I stimulated something with these. I have other topics which might prove to be just as stimulating. Stay tuned...

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

So, better late than never, here's one of our "Abandoned (or sometimes maybe not?) Chairs". Feel free to critique - I've been playing around with a number of effects in LR and wouldn't mind constructive feedback.


I'm posting some additional examples in the gallery.


Andy

212kelvin Loc: San Francisco

I prefer color myself, but I think the black and white works here. It appears to be a formerly abandoned chair that has not found a perm. home as of yet. i would have liked to see more of the surroundings and maybe have the chair at eye level as if you were sitting in one next to it.

That's my take on it. I think it is easier to critique someone else's work because one doesn't have an attachment to it. Sort of like the chair, it's there because one doesn't have an attachment to it.

Thanks for sharing with me. I'm glad to see I stirred some creativity..