Andrea, an online student of mine, asked me to talk a little about her photo of a carousel next to lake Geneva, Switzerland.
The first thing I can tell you is to bracket!!! This image is a little too underexposed. Since the sky is overcast and not especially pretty, why not have it lighter? By making it brighter, you lighten up everything else from the bright spot in the middle of the frame on the horizon to the flowers, to the lights and horses on the carousel. To me, it’s a better trade than having the sky dark and foreboding.
Speaking of the small bright spot in the middle of the frame, If I had been standing there with you as I usually do in my workshops, I would have had you place the person on the bike about ten feet behind him…why? So that his silhouette would have ‘popped’ out more. By doing that, the viewer would have gone straight to it, even before enjoying the carousel.
I really like how you’ve created a path that goes around the carousel. It will lead the viewer right around the corner and as he takes his imaginary walk, he’ll wonder what’s around the bend. This is about the Psychology of Gestalt and when we can get the viewer to take an active role in out imagery, by giving him lots of ways to enter and leave the frame, and discovering new things as he does it (like the bicycle for example), the longer he’ll stick around…and isn’t that what we want him to do? In my online class with the BPSOP, and my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, we spend time working with the different concepts in the Theory of Gestalt as it applies to photography.
I like the warmth of the carousel and the coldness of everything else, but one thing I would change is to take a step back so all of the horse’s head is in the photo. If you knew about my “Fifteen Point Protection Plan” and were using it, you would have seen that and decided if you would like the head where the viewer could see it.
Thanks for the submission. I hope this helps.
Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/barabanjoe. Check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime.
JoeB
