This is a crop of one of many shots from our trip to the local water park today. I was thinking of this challenge when I took several pictures of this group of tubes waiting for riders on the lazy river (a closed loop of water kept moving by pumps). In fact, one of my outtakes was titled "Waiting for a Rider" and showed people at the top of the frame coasting by while the tubes had to wait in line.
Then I noticed the angle of the handles and the counterpoint of the angle of the sun reflections and I thought they gave an interesting visual aspect to it.
And then I wondered what it'd look like in B&W. That did what I'd hoped - it took the impact away from the color and toward the angles and shapes I wanted people to see.
I don't think this is a fantastic photo, but it has some visual interest. I predict a 5.5 and comments like "not enough contrast" or "too dark aside from the blown highlights." :)
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I really like this photo. Lighting, contrast, focus, and depth of field are all well done. I like the reflections and could see where a starburst filter could have added a "magical" touch to the photo. As is the eye bounces from reflection to reflection. The reflections are well ordered so it is a pleasing journey as opposed to a distracting one.
If you could have staged the piece, the orientation of the handles could have been arrainged so as to provide more of a pattern, and captured the handles in the last two tubes at the top; but I doubt the water park would have been overly thrilled with that process.
I think your decison to go with black and white was a good one. Color here likely would have taken away from the total picture.
I don't see the picture as too dark. Given the subject material, and the reflections, I think any lighter would have really blown things out, and lost the detail of the clear tubes. Any darker, would have been too dark.
Given that no part holds the eye, and yet the eye is guided around the piece by the reflections, as opposed to distracted or confused, I believe you have met the challenge well. Good job!
Took me a second to figure out what I was looking at here, I like that moment of mystery as I first glance at the good frame filling composition. I'm not sure what color these are, but unless the color was absolutely hideous, it might of been better to keep this in color.
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