So during the summer, the place where I work had a photo contest sponsored by the Public Affairs Office. They were looking for images to use on the website depicting the campus, etc... It was fun with lots of participation at all levels.
Among my entries were the images below - I'm interested in your thoughts. Up front, my goal was not to submit "postcards" but rather something a little different yet meeting the PR needs.
One of the four received an honorable mention but out of the money so I am really, truly, still an amateur
Kaden K. wrote:
Beautiful. I like #3 and #4 lines a whole lot.
+1 These are really nice! What university do you work at?? I've worked at 3 different campuses. Just about any campus has great places to shoot.
My only suggestions would be...#1, rotate slightly so that the edge of the fountain is horizontal and not slanted. This would straighten the light pole as well.
On the others I assume these were on a tripod -- so you may try to re-shoot a little later in the day. Right when the sun is over the horizon. It would really bring out the colors in the sky and show the lighting around campus.
Hi Bob,
Nice images, all of them, all sharing graceful "flowing" lines.
First is the most creative, so I am going to assume that was your their top pick. I does seem slightly slanted.
Of the others, last is my fav,with nice use of "curves" and the hint of a recent sunset.
Scott
Thanks Kaden, derthax, and Scott for the kind comments.
The location: Augusta State University, Augusta, Georgia.; originally an arsenal so there are historical buildings on campus as well as recent construction. I often look at specific locations just "knowing" there is a picture there but not quite able to formulate it.
These were all taken within 1/2hr of each other - ~6:30am one hot, sultry morning. #'s 3 & 4 view from opposite sides of an amphitheater, in #4 I failed to RTM so didn't know how to bracket, which I should have done to get the HDR effect I was after...if you enlarge it, the image is infested with noise.
#3 was the HM.
#'s 2-4 taken with 12-24mm f2.8 Tokina, #1 with an 80-200mm f2.8 Nikkor, all on tripod.
Lessons learned: buy a cable release, shoot again later in the day for variety, patience, patience, patience, and don't post entries early when publicly accessible - potentially copycats abound.
#2 has conflicting movement (not always a bad thing), but it doesnt work for me. #3, all the energy leads to a very underwhelming building, and the blue paw print only detracts for me. but i *really* like #4
I agree - in fact there was another, similar to #3 wo the paw print - a suggestion was made that it would be better with the "print", for "branding" purposes I suppose. Go Figure
I'm not sure I understand what you mean by conflicting movement in #2? The 'S' curve of the brickwork versus the singular arc of the columns? A good point that I've never considered...
