During a visit to Ireland, we viisted the Kilmainham Gaol Prison, a prison with a very dark past. murderers, thieves, poor pepole, but is best known for housing and executing some of the ring leaders of the Easter Uprising for Irish Independence in 1916. The image is of the Exercise / Punishment, or the Execution Yard.
Type of Critique Requested
Aesthetic: Feedback on the overall visual appeal of the image, including its color, lighting, cropping, and composition.
Conceptual: Feedback on the message and story conveyed by the image.
Emotional: Feedback on the emotional impact and artistic value of the image.
Technical: Feedback on the technical aspects of the image, such as exposure, color, focus and reproduction of colors and details, post-processing, and print quality.
Specific Feedback and Self-Critique
I trailed the tour group to get a better felling for the spaces in the prison. Along with the cell space, this area was of particular interest to me. The overcast day seemd very appropriate. B&W was the only way to go and I purposely left it dark with shadows to convey the executions which took place here.
Gary, you captured the dark mood very well - the shadows could even be a bit darker, perhaps. My only other suggestion would be to crop out that drainpipe on the left as it is too modern (the others in the bg are not prominent). Then, to keep the ratio, crop some from the bottom. I hope you enjoyed your trip to Ireland.
What a great, highly emotional image!
The story (stories) associated with this image are powerful in a sad way but powerful nonetheless.
Your choice of using a 14 focal length worked very well and of course B&W was likely the only way to go.
Lovely tonal ranges too!
As for the drain pipes that @Mike_Friel mentioned, cast iron pipes were around even in the late 17th century, by the early 20th century, cast iron pipes were very common (Just a small bit of trivia), but that’s not why I commented on this image.
I commented because I found this to be a high impact, highly emotional image.
It must have been considerably more emotional to be there in person.
I am just beginning to see images in grayscale, although, for me, it still only works on certain images.
Strong solid shapes like the rock walls and floor in this image, and strong emotional scenes such as this are more appealing in grayscale for me. I’m not sure if it’s emotional or merely visual, or maybe a combination of both? Still trying to figure that out at this stage.
images that I see in person in color are more difficult to convert to grayscale unless I’m not emotionally attached to the scene in any way. Does that make sense?
I guess I’ll know I’m there when I start shooting with the intention to convert to grayscale.
And I have a long way to go in learning how to properly process in grayscale, I have very little experience in that area but I’m working on it, slow but sure
Thanks, Gary
Edit:
I meant to add how this image has a nice painterly feel to it, in my mind.
Mervin,
Good thoughts. I have some other dark / moody scenes from the same trip that I should revisit. Also, speaking of grayscale / B&W, I’m thinking of shooting B&W only for a week, or two. Maybe not the best time here in Colorado or the right location. Maybe a trip to UT, NM, or AZ before spring blooms, something to think about.
I love this image!! The wide angle lens aimed off center gives a beautifully dynamic view of a very interesting structure. I think the tonalities are very pleasing.
My only thought is to wonder about correcting the keystoning that comes from the lens being aimed slightly up. That would make the vertical lines along the edges of the frame in the structure be vertical in the image. (Must be an easier way to say that…) Easy to do with distortion by pulling out the top 2 corners. That often then needs a vertical stretch to make it look un-squished.
Gary, this is a terrific B&W scene. Very emotional with the story too. You’ve gotten several good suggestions so I won’t repeat them. Nicely seen and wonderful that you stayed behind to get a shot with no people. Perfection.
Based on the comments, I edited the image, warping the left side of the image, removing the drain pipe and staightening the wall. But for some reason, I can’t upload the revised image. Guess you will have to take my word, thanks for all the critique comments.
Hi Gary, if you go up to your original post and select the pencil at the bottom, you should be able to edit your post and add the reworked image. Generally, I add a rework to the very top and label it as rework, then label the original so we know what’s changed. When you do this, we can easily look at each image and quickly go back and forth to see what’s changed.
