Pikishi on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/pikishi/art/Tick-Tock-258008453Pikishi

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Tick Tock

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Description

Experimenting with B&W.

[Edit] I edited it a little. Thanks alot for the critiques!
Image size
600x600px 209.29 KB
Make
Canon
Model
Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XTi
Shutter Speed
1/80 second
Aperture
F/14.0
Focal Length
90 mm
ISO Speed
800
Date Taken
Sep 9, 2011, 2:34:27 PM
Sensor Size
3mm
© 2011 - 2024 Pikishi
Comments25
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ClefairyKid's avatar
:star::star::star::star: Overall
:star::star::star::star::star-empty: Vision
:star::star::star::star::star: Originality
:star::star::star::star::star-empty: Technique
:star::star::star::star::star-half: Impact

Firstly, this is certainly something a little different conceptually, I love the idea of a combination of shiny metals with black and white hues, it's an effective idea here.

I have to say, I am pleased with the square composition and how each cog is positioned differently, it gives the viewer different perspectives of such a small and detailed subject, although it does feel a little "off" that the one on the left has a little blur to it's left edge, and also that the center area of that cog is quite blurred, perhaps experimenting with the angle of the left cog so it is either more angled or more straight-on to the camera (and experimenting with the central point of focus is too) would bring about some nice changes to the piece.

I like the rustic charm this has, it's a steam punk kind of feel for me at least, with the grainy wood, the black and white nostalgic atmosphere and the grains that I presume you have added with a texture over the top? If naturally taken with those dusts specks, I further encourage that idea, it brings the whole piece together effectively by providing additional detail and nostalgic theme.

An area you might consider modifying (not 100% necessary but I know I for one have done things like this to my photos before and found it effective), is to remove that dark area on the bottom left of the wooden surface, using the heal tool set to "replace" and sampling the areas nearby. This might sound a lot of work to go to for something subtle and small, but for me, it helps to direct the viewer's eye more specifically to the elements I want them to see, in this case, that would be the cogs, then the lighter wood grain texture they rest on, then then the darkness of the background and the brilliant contrast of those wonderful bokeh shapes.

This method of looking at the priorities within your pictures helps you with things like the previously mentioned focus issues, your first focus point, where you want eyes to go to first, should be in the most focus, which you can always increase by duplicating the original layer in photoshop, and going to filter - other - high pass - and set a value between 5 - 10 depending on how much additional focus you want to add. Then set that layer to blend mode hard light or soft light, depending again on how much focus you want to add and then from there, you can also modify the opacity of that layer for differing amounts of that affect. This technique could be used to really bring out the edges of the cogs, if you wanted.

Lastly, I'm no photography expert on the bokeh but I do have a basic understanding of how to create those interesting shapes for the bokeh, and know form personal experience that those shapes can be a little tricky to control and introduce into pictures. Looking at these lovely ones here though, I can see that's something you appear to have achieved quite brilliantly, they are clearly formed, have a nice clean contrast and are nicely and evenly spaced apart, yet still at random and in keeping with the rest of the picture. It's got to be my favourite part of this piece, it's not often you see that kind of shape, lighting and theme combination.

Great job on this piece, it's very unique and thought provoking, and also provides a point for thinking about possible improvements as well.