Playing in the Rain

[PKMax]

Taken in the rain with Park roundabout in the background.

Just wondered what people thought, I was trying to show that it was raining, and using the brolly to frame it a little. and it's more of an "abstract" idea of showing that it's raining, but I don't care kinda thing.

I showed it my mate, who instantly hated it lol, he said he hated it because he felt that the out of focus area was drawing his attention more than the brolly.. which was kinda the idea, so it worked, but it didn't lol.

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[tomorrowstreasures]

I LOVE this shot!!!!!!!!!!!!! the ONLY thing i would do different is to have the child in front of the thing that he/she is on instead of behind it.

[PKMax]

Thanks TT :)

and that's a good point, I'd not thought about having him (my son) at the front of it. would have made a lot more sense heh.

I thought I'd covered it all when doing this one, there's always something else :)

[Marko]

Love the creativity here :highfive:

For me I might darken the bottom third of the photo a bit. In fact I did my own test and IMO it makes the image stronger.
Hope that helps
M

[PKMax]

looking again I think your right there :)

the bottom part of the photo is quite bright and would distract a little, I'll have a play with that when I get home, Cheers :)

Hopefully it rains this weekend then heh, will probably pop back out and retry this photo.

[JoeMezz]

Taken in the rain with Park roundabout in the background.

Just wondered what people thought, I was trying to show that it was raining, and using the brolly to frame it a little. and it's more of an "abstract" idea of showing that it's raining, but I don't care kinda thing.

I showed it my mate, who instantly hated it lol, he said he hated it because he felt that the out of focus area was drawing his attention more than the brolly.. which was kinda the idea, so it worked, but it didn't lol.





I like it a lot. I love playing with DOF .. I think it's very powerful. Yes - - darken the bottom to give some balance... overall .. nice work I think.

[kiley9806]

if you do get the chance to go back & reshoot a similar one, you may try including more of the umbrella... i wasnt sure what i was looking at for a minute at 1st.
nice & original though!

[PKMax]

Cheers for the comments all :)

I'll be hoping for a rainy weekend heh, been doing that a lot recently for some reason lol.

[Ben H]

I was trying to show that it was raining, and using the brolly to frame it a little.

If that's what you were trying to do, then imo it fails, for me. Here's why:

- You want the focus of the picture to be the umbrella. However, the strongest part of the image compositional is the out of focus roundabout, so you are drawn to this first - this has nothing to do with rain/water etc.

- The roundabout is also very bright, which draws the eye more than the umbrella, which is much darker.

- The colours are very saturated and bright - this is more indicative of a sunny day, not a rainy one - hence moving away ever further from your intentions.

- The point of the image is very small compared to the defocused parts of the image, hence making it easier to miss. As this part of the image has *all* of the intention (umbrella, wet drops, and the run off drop) the intention is not being effectively communicated. If the idea was to frame the subject with the umbrella, rather than the point of the image, then the subject matter, and blur of the subject doesn't work for me. Perhaps find a different subject (eg a couple huddling under an umbrella together, or a guy looking bedraggled in a rain coat etc), and increase the depth of field.

So - for me, I'd want to bring down the colour saturation of the background elements, and also reduce brightness. Possibly also increasing the lens blur to further illustrate the playground isn't the point of the image. I'd be wanting to make much more of the umbrella and drop in the foreground, both by drawing the focus to it, and probably by reframing to get it to take up more of the image. I'd also try it in B/W if you haven't already - or perhaps even a composite where the umbrella is in colour and everything else is B/W or very desaturated.

In essence - for your intention, I think there needs to be more wet umbrella, and less sunny kids playground, but whatever means you have at your disposal to acomplish that. And I love water/rain type shots, and the geometricity of the umbrella...

Hope that feedback is usefull...

[tomorrowstreasures]

The charm of this photo is the discovery held with in... the composition leads you into the photo, the umbrella is offers more detail, and more curiosity. The colors are perfect in the fact that they assimilate youth and playfulness. the umbrella color offers a bit of adult supervision (child's safety) + the rain factor - with it's color - darker. I think too much of the umbrella being exposed would change the mood and slant it more towards adult than child.... I know what I am trying to say, but not so sure if it is making any sense. I think if you over think it, you would not maintain the simplicity of child hood.

[PKMax]

Thanks TT for the very nice analysis :)

and Thanks Ben H for the feedback, I feel like I've been told off heh.
PK, See me after class.. lol.


will take it all on board for the next time it's raining heh.

I quite like it as it is myself (with some tweaks to improve), but understand that this isn't going to work for some people.

[Ben H]

and Thanks Ben H for the feedback, I feel like I've been told off heh.

Ah, that wasn't my intention at all! It's just me reading into my views of that image - those views are in no way more or less important than anyone elses. If anything, sometimes it's nice to get views that are contrary to your own, even if it gets you thinking.

And really, feedback is part of what makes this forum hopefully useful - while posts like "Nice!" are reassuring that what one is doing isn't completely worthless, it really doesn't help in furthering progess.

Perhaps I should have expressed myself a little more tactfully... :o ;)

[Fredric]

Though the image probably would gain from being a bit darker in the lower part I don't feel that it's critical. And I agree with what Ben says about the image's ability to portray its main message (i.e. that it's raining), but I do think that the image works in its own right compositionally as it stands.

For me, an image like this scores points on not being too direct. It invites you to unlock its meaning, like TT points out. The image also has no shortages of lines pointing to the droplet, that in itself becomes a main character. It, and the other drops that you soon pick up on, discretely points out that it's raining.

Also, I quite like that your son is on the other side of the roundabout, it contributes to the sense of "abstractness" and of a hidden message. The bright roundabout IMO adds to the feeling of playfulness, as well of it being slippery and wet.

I get the feeling that the child couldn't care less of the fact that it's raining. Meanwhile I, the onlooker, is quite content in being shielded from the rain. It gives me time to study the scene.

I'm not too crazy about the fence though. My eyes keeps wandering back and forth in its direction. Perhaps it's because all of it's out of focus, which is indeed what makes rest of the image work. Although one might try to blur the fence even more in order to do away with the striped effect.

I'd be interested to see if the image would gain from having the different hues be more in tune with each other. E.g. the oval under the roundabout could be more alike the grass' hue; the yellow thingy could benefit from the same treatment, still being yellow, but more in tune with the grass. It might not work though. Just a thought.

I like this kind of image and the creativity behind it. I hope you don't mind me downloading the image into my local inspiration folder.

Keep up the good work!