Hi Kathy, My camera setting was f/4.5 at 1/6 second with an ISO 3200. This was at Williamsburg, Va. and I had to worry about jostling by the crowd around me.
I love the setting, the blurred action of the blacksmith’s arm and bellows lever and the sparks. But unlike Ben, I find the vise in front distracting and I think the picture needs to be straightened.
Consider a tighter crop… there are lots of distractions along the edges of the frame. The vice is, to me, a minor stumbling block to “entering” the frame. It could be cropped out without changing the story. Lastly, I agree about the straightening… I would roate to make the edge of the hearth plumb.
I agree with Frank. A closer crop would get rid of distractions and focus in on what draws the eye in the first place—the dramatic sparks and the gesture. I concede that it did take me a minute to get oriented. My first thought before I looked beyond the fiery color, the bricks and the apron was to wonder whether I was looking at a pizza oven.
I thank everybody for their comments. They are why I joined the club. To learn if what others see, is what that I think I saw and did I capture that moment in time. I have to concentrate more on what it is that prompts me to take the shot in the first place.
Very dramatic. The vise in the foreground adds depth and contributes to the sense of verticalness in the composition.
Wow! Look at those sparks fly. What was your shudder speed?
Hi Kathy, My camera setting was f/4.5 at 1/6 second with an ISO 3200. This was at Williamsburg, Va. and I had to worry about jostling by the crowd around me.
I love the setting, the blurred action of the blacksmith’s arm and bellows lever and the sparks. But unlike Ben, I find the vise in front distracting and I think the picture needs to be straightened.
Consider a tighter crop… there are lots of distractions along the edges of the frame. The vice is, to me, a minor stumbling block to “entering” the frame. It could be cropped out without changing the story. Lastly, I agree about the straightening… I would roate to make the edge of the hearth plumb.
I agree with Frank. A closer crop would get rid of distractions and focus in on what draws the eye in the first place—the dramatic sparks and the gesture. I concede that it did take me a minute to get oriented. My first thought before I looked beyond the fiery color, the bricks and the apron was to wonder whether I was looking at a pizza oven.
I thank everybody for their comments. They are why I joined the club. To learn if what others see, is what that I think I saw and did I capture that moment in time. I have to concentrate more on what it is that prompts me to take the shot in the first place.