The Skylight

[Dwayne Oakes]

Thanks for taking a look !

Take care,

Dwayne Oakes

 

[Rachel Foster]

This photo strikes me as having tremendous potential but something seems to need tweaking. I'm wondering if the foreground path is too strong of a presence. Is it just me, or does anyone else have similar reaction?

 

[Ken Tanaka]

I like this very much, Dwayne, pretty much as-is. I think you nailed this scene in a pictorialist style. I noted Rachel's remark and think I see what she may be reacting to. The foreground might need a smidge of gradient to lessen its graphic impact and to suggest a rear depth. I took the liberty to apply this effect to your image using a simple gradient layer in Photoshop to illustrate this point.

I see from your galleries that you apparently enjoy experimenting with applying painterly effects to your images, somewhat reminiscent of the pictorialist movement. I encourage you to continue experimenting. I don't know how much of a photographic history buff you are but you're walking in the footprints of some very big names. If you're not familiar with photography's pictorialist movement (turn of the last century) you might be interested in looking backwards for inspiration.

I found a terrific little You-Tube video on pictorialsm. (Of course, everything has to be on video these days.)

Of course Wikipedia has a concise overview.

Also, Tashen has recently published a set of images from Alfred Steiglitz's landmark "Camera Works" magazine...for only $10! I can tell you (as an owner of a copy) that the reproductions are quite good and that seeing all of these images would have been nearly impossible before this publication.

Thanks for sharing this, Dwayne. I hope you don't mind my sample edit for illustration purposes.

 

[Dwayne Oakes]

I like this very much, Dwayne, pretty much as-is. I think you nailed this scene in a pictorialist style. I noted Rachel's remark and think I see what she may be reacting to. The foreground might need a smidge of gradient to lessen its graphic impact and to suggest a rear depth. I took the liberty to apply this effect to your image using a simple gradient layer in Photoshop to illustrate this point.

I see from your galleries that you apparently enjoy experimenting with applying painterly effects to your images, somewhat reminiscent of the pictorialist movement. I encourage you to continue experimenting. I don't know how much of a photographic history buff you are but you're walking in the footprints of some very big names. If you're not familiar with photography's pictorialist movement (turn of the last century) you might be interested in looking backwards for inspiration.

I found a terrific little You-Tube video on pictorialsm. (Of course, everything has to be on video these days.)

Of course Wikipedia has a concise overview.

Also, Tashen has recently published a set of images from Alfred Steiglitz's landmark "Camera Works" magazine...for only $10! I can tell you (as an owner of a copy) that the reproductions are quite good and that seeing all of these images would have been nearly impossible before this publication.

Thanks for sharing this, Dwayne. I hope you don't mind my sample edit for illustration purposes.

No problem at all on the tweak Ken. Thank you very much for the comments and great
info on here !

Take care,

Dwayne Oakes