I also have a photo with "the smoke stack thingy" as a main element. Just go to //community.webshots.com/user/tolyanchik
I just did not want to present it here.
*Critique Club*
I see your statement against eloise, and at the risk of beint "not useful" I have to agree with her in a way. There is a lot in this shot, and it's very cluttered and busy. I do realize that this is representative of where you live, however, it doesn't make for a pleasing photo.
You mention the scaffolding, however, there is a large tree in front of the scaffolding. This tree creates a different pattern over the scaffold making it all blend into one big mush.
You mention the flag, but it is only peeking out from behind a branch, and is not a subject in the photo that stands out to me as important at all becuse of it being hidden. It is not 'standing proud'. It's concealed.
You mention the traffic, but it's so far away and tiny, that we don't get much detail out of that either.
The sky is bright and appears a little bright as it's putting a foggy blue cast over the building. This could be smog, or smoke also, but whatever causes it, the sky looks a bit blown out.
Now, you also mention that smoke stack thingy. I think that this is the most interesting part of the photo. Because it's right there, out in the open, and large enough to get detail out of, and also what I see to be the sharpest focus, THIS is what my eye is drawn to. My only disapointment with this is that you cut it in half. You didn't include the rest of it, and cut the sign in half leaving me wonder "what the heck is 'raise' suposed to mean.
I've never been here, but I'm quite sure this represents the busy, crowded life of New York very well. It's just not really pleasing to the eye.
I wonder how this would have been had you put more emphasis on one thing. You wouldn't have gotten ALL things in the shot, but you could have put enough of a creative spin on it to really make it punch. This is almost snapshotty.
This is my true honest opinion, and I hope you don't take offense.
~Heather~
TO ELOISE: you say, "It's not about the building with the scaffold, or the cars, or the guy waiting to cross. It's not about anything, and therefore there's no one thing the eye is drawn to." Actually, it is all about these things, because all these things make up New York. It took me ~3 hours to find a corner like this, with a steam, scafolding, American flag, and then another ~1 hour until the traffic was in position as you see it, a pedestrian wanting to cross the street...
5. Fits the theme well enough, and there are no blatant 'you suck!' flaws to it, but neither does it really grab me for any reason at all. For reasons of composition, cropping, or subject choice, it's just a photo, and doesn't do especially much for me, aesthetically.
It's not about the traffic light. It's not about the plume of steam (though that could have been a really cool shot). It's not about the building with the scaffold, or the cars, or the guy waiting to cross. It's not about anything, and therefore there's no one thing the eye is drawn to.
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