[Angela]

I originally uploaded this picture to put in the Fortnightly Assignment - "Texture", even though I wasn't 100% sure about it. It conveys what I want it to ie "texture" but the more I look at it the more I feel that something (actually, probably a lot!) about it isn't right but I can't my finger on what it is. Thoughts? And please feel free to be brutal and honest - I won't learn otherwise!

[Dabhand16]

Hi Angela. First, please accept a poke in the eye for pinching my idea

Second, I've already looked at your image, and for me it's a combination of the angle you've shot at, and the depth of field.

You've got the top course pretty much level, with the lower courses falling away. It might work better if the centre course was level with the top and bottom courses forming a vanishing point, if you see what I mean.

Second is the depth of field. All rules are there to be broken, but I think that if the whole picture was in focus it might be better. The only real way to see is to try it both ways and see what works best.

To increase your DoF, you will have to stop down and use a slower shutter speed. You may even have to also focus on a different part of the picture as well as stopping down, depending on the way the DoF manifests itself. This might mean having to use a tripod to hold the camera steady. I don't know if your Pentax has a DoF preview facility, but if it does, it is always worth having a look with this sort of picture.

My idea for texture was going to be shot at 90 degrees to the wall (rather than your angle) and using light to give the relief to the bricks. Also, no DoF problems

[Dabhand16]

Further to my last post, I've now seen bricks 2, and I like this a lot more. Interestingly, the centre course is now the level one, but the DoF is still not there. Try this one again with a deeper Dof to see what difference this makes. At this point, I think you can bin the first one.

Well done.

[Angela]

Many thanks Graham.

The Pentax does have a DoF previewer so I will give it another whirl tomorrow....assuming it stops flippin' raining!

Oh and apologies for nicking your idea!

[Dave]

Originally Posted by Angela

Oh and apologies for nicking your idea!

Or is it Graham to apologise for copying if you posted 1st

[Markulous]

Personally, shouts landscape at me, with the strong horizontals - which is why I preferred the replacement with its vertical

[Dave]

Bet you couldn't see this one coming from me



Sometimes you just need to remove the colour to see the real texture

Just another option to consider

As for the crop it's quite a hard one to get right. In this example I've tried to use the strong diagonals to lead the eye to end ending point using the thirds equation

[Markulous]

LOL! Whereas this shouts:

[Angela]

Ooh Dave, that looks great! Mono just didn't work with the limited facilities I had (hopefully Photoshop will arrive this week) but that really has an edge to it! Thank you!