Photofocus

Original Photo

Today’s image from our Scott’s Critiques Pool on Flickr is from the flagship Apple store in New York. The structure itself is so interesting that it makes for a compelling image. But there are several things that the photographer could do to improve this image.

My biggest problem with the photo is the converging lines caused by the keystone effect you see when you point your camera up at a tall structure. There are sophisticated cameras and lenses that correct for this distortion – but when you don’t have access to them, you can correct in post. Here, I solved two problems at once by cropping and straightening the photo to get rid of the distortion and to focus the viewer on the main object of interest – the cube itself.

Scott's Critique

To make the photo more interesting, I brought it into Aperture and added some definition and sent it to Tiffen DFX2′s cool Three-Strip Plugin to give the image pop.

When you work with tall structures, try to get yourself mid-structure height and keep the camera back perfectly parallel to the object to avoid the keystone effect. When that’s not possible, try using a view camera with tilts or a perspective correction lens. When all else fails, do it in post.

As always, there’s no right or wrong here – just opinions. Several of the critiques in the group were also interesting. Check it out. We post a new image in the group for everyone to critique each Monday.

Thanks.

Amazon
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This post sponsored by the Digital SLR Store