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Smoke Stack Haze
Smoke Stack Haze
aaronwave


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Industrial (Basic Editing III)
Camera: Sony DSC-F717
Location: West Point, VA
Date: Nov 23, 2005
Aperture: 2.2
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/100
Galleries: Sky, Landscape
Date Uploaded: Nov 26, 2005

While traveling to see my family in Va for Thanksgiving, I drove pasted this paper factory in West Point, VA. The shot was taken while sitting in traffic from my car. It was a gloomy day at dusk and this scene has a very industrial feel.
Post Production:
GrayScale
Crop
Levels
Curves
Brightness/Contrast
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Statistics
Place: 64 out of 223
Avg (all users): 5.6264
Avg (commenters): 6.4000
Avg (participants): 5.4205
Avg (non-participants): 5.7288
Views since voting: 813
Views during voting: 326
Votes: 265
Comments: 6
Favorites: 0


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AuthorThread
12/09/2005 04:36:01 PM
Greetings from the Critique Club!

What a great find! I love reading the Photographer's comments to each photo, especially this one. Nowadays I refuse to drive whenever I'm going out of town, because I'm always staring out the window looking for potential photos!

The first thing that comes to mind in this photo is composition. In all honesty, the sky here is not very interesting. Much of it is blown out to a bright white, and the clouds aren't all that special, either. Given that, the fact that the sky takes up nearly 2/3 of the photos really hurts it, in my opinion. The most interesting parts of the photo are the steam coming from the smokestacks and the factory itself. If you could have zoomed in more on those (which may or may not have been possible, depending on your camera and lens), I think it would have been a much more interesting photo.

Also, the image seems slightly tilted. The sliver of ground (or water?) in the bottom left corner is a little distracting. If you had included more of the ground, whatever it is, I think it would have added more to the context and perspective of the photo. I personally would have composed the frame with the top edge just above the smoke coming from the tallest smokestack, and the bottom right edge maybe a quart to a half of an inch below the edge of the factory.

I really like your use of black and white in this shot. Considering the conditions, I can't imagine the original color was all that interesting, and I think the grayscale really brings out the steam coming from the smokestacks. I think some selective dodging and burning could have brought out even more of the detail in the shot.

I hope these comments have been helpful. Good luck!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
12/04/2005 10:08:11 PM
i really like how the smokes look solid coming out of the chimneys.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
12/01/2005 05:27:37 PM
I think this would have benn better if shot wider or framed lower using the river bank as a horizontal line.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/30/2005 06:42:33 PM
looks great!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/30/2005 03:49:13 PM
nice shot but the sky's a bit blown and I think more detail could be brought out of the shadows
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/30/2005 03:00:04 PM
nice shot. i like the smoke in the backround
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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