Assignment 5: Tutor Feedback

Once again Alan has provided positive and constructive feedback.  Overall the set has met with approval and I am pleased with the response.  He makes very clear, however, that now that the course is seen as a component of an Honours Degree syllabus the standard will rise and that he needs to be more critical.  There is also comment about the format for final presentation, I will print and send the images to the examiners.

From the feedback, I do not feel any need to change any of the images, however, there is a very clear concern about the level of blue in several of the images.

To answer this, I need first to comment that the images in this assignment have only been processed in Lightroom, and that the only colour control that I have used has been setting the white balance and increasing the Vibrance of the images. For this assignment I deliberately went for a higher degree of saturation in the images as I wanted to emphasize the dramatic colour of the Munich subway system.  In fact my photo's do not do it justice, in person the colour is far more intense as it completely fills the vision of the visitor.  Blue is one of the signature colours of Bavaria and I wonder if this influenced the system designer.  In image PAP5-1 the blue background is created by the deliberate use of blue light shining on the concrete walls of the subway.  In other places large areas of Blue paint contrast with yellows and oranges.

The only image in which I find the Blue somewhat artificial when thinking back upon the locations or comparing my images with those of other photographers is the final image in the set showing the Christmas market.  This scene was shot around twilight, mixing the fading skylight with tungsten, strip, and modern low energy light sources, a complete nightmare for white balance.  I elected to grab a white point from the snow covered roof of the gothic Rathaus in the background, and then fiddle with the controls to ensure the sky was slightly blue.  In retrospect it might have been better to shoot this in full night and completely lose the blue from the scene.

The other major comment Alan has made is to do with the lack of people in the system.  This was my choice and reflected the hours of day when I was shooting.  I took time of work to complete this when I knew there would be fewer people in the system.  Why?  Two reasons, first of all what I was doing was not strictly allowed and I did not want to shoot when many people and the corresponding authorities might question my activities.  Secondly I wanted to highlight the clean striking geometry of the system, which was better with fewer inhabitants.  I needed some people to provide a sense of place and scale, but not too many. I do have shots with more people, but these were rejected on edit as aesthetically I found the less populated shots to have more impact.