Hello all. I would appreciate your expert opinion here. I like both these shots, and I'm going to print them both, but if you had to pick just one to show someone, which one would it be? Would it be:
1. The wide view
or
2. The close view
Disliking them both is not an option.
Thanks in advance for your input.
Austin
And despite what it looks like on your computer, they are both very sharp.
The wide view helps to identify exactly what the subject is and where it is located.
The trees and the swing set in the background confuse the close view. Is it supposed to resemble an octopus?
I prefer the close view, the background in the wide view is to distracting.
Roger
Well there you go to differing opinions. Didn't see Gem's post btw.
Roger
In the wide view, the fence creates too much of a visual barrier for me to appreciate the form of the ride itself. And it tells me too quickly what I am looking at...it immediately zaps the mystery right out of the image. And the trees in the background interfer more with the shape of the ride.
But the closer view does not do a whole lot for me either, I'm afraid. Perhaps a little closer, much lower camera position, looking up, and with a wider lens would take the image farther. (the top of the arms of the ride would interact with the top of the trees). But since was this not an option (just read that part), ignore me if you wish!
I think it depends on the purpose for which you made the photograph and why you'd be showing it to someone else. If you're just trying to document what the amusement park ride (I assume that's what it is) looks like as a matter of historical or other interest I'd show the first one. But if it's the design and structure of the thing that interests you and that might interest the viewer I'd show the second one.
Actually if it was me I'd probably crop the second one and emphasize just a portion of the octopus, trying to make it a little like an abstract or an industrial design study rather than a documentation of what it looks like because that's what might interest me about it. But maybe that isn't what interests you.
Brian Ellis
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you do criticize them you'll be
a mile away and you'll have their shoes.
Wow, that was fast! Thanks for the input. At the risk of influencing the poll though, I feel like I need to jump in and defend my spider ("The Spider").
I actually like the trees, because the I think the four(ish) trunks echoes the spider's four arms quite nicely. Honestly, I like the fence too, as it sort of implies that the creature is "caged." But then, maybe that's just me... Obviously, I had trouble deciding what to do with the subject, hence the two versions.
But anyway, keep it coming, I can take it! (sniff...)
I agree with the comments that suggest simplifying the composition.
“You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
― Alexander Den Heijer, Nothing You Don't Already Know
Hey Austin, it looks more like an octopus than a spider. The lights (I assume they are lights) look like suckers.
I still believe that the wider view better expresses what you were attempting to show.
Oddly enough, I find the distractions in the wider view to be worse than those in the more detailed view. The closer view adds a bit of mystique and draws the viewer deeper into the image. It is more artistic while the wider image is more documentary. Just my humble, worthless and possibly biased opinion.
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