What do you think of this photo?

[Orrex]

A little background:

First, I know nothing of photography, other than having a basic sense of which side of the camera you point at the thing you're photographing.

Second, my two sons really like water towers, so when I find one that they haven't seen, I try to snap a pic of it for them.


I grabbed this one today around 2:00 in eastern Ohio, and I really like the way it came out. This particular tower was painted within the last year, so that explains the bright blue, and I like the contrast against the greens and browns of the landscape.

But what really interests me, in part because I didn't notice them when I took the picture, is the way that the fenceposts are sort of skewed out of vertical.

I'm not saying that it's photo for the ages, of course, but since I basically leaned out the window of my car and snapped a few pics, I was surprised at how this one turned out.

Thanks for looking, and by all means feel free to share your own water tower pics!

[Shell Beau]

1. I think it is a nice pic!!

I am no photographer myself, but I like it. And it looks like a lot of what I see in MS.

[Orrex]

3. Thanks!

One of my secret hobbies is spotting water towers in movies and then trying to find them on GoogleMaps (Streetview, if possible) or on Bing. I did this with a tower in Des Moines that was shown in one of Michael Moore's films, for instance. For some reason I was less successful in finding the one that they show in Monsters vs. Aliens...

Maybe I'll do a quick scan of MS to see what I can find!

[Shell Beau]

5. They are ALL over the place here.

But I guess that is true everywhere.

Monsters vs. Aliens? Funny you mention that because I have only seen it 17,000,000,000,000 times!!!! My LDK watches the Shrek movies and Monsters vs. Aliens. She is picky with her movies. Shark Tales? No. Happy Feet? No. Finding Nemo? No. Can't wait for the fourth Shrek this summer! I am a little burned out on the Shreks and Monsters!

[Orrex]

6. I'm not a Shrek fan, but I really liked M vs. A

Probably because Reese Witherspoon is totally obsessed with me.

[Shell Beau]

7. I have to say after watching Shrek even more than Monsters, that I am

a fan now. But I did think Monsters vs. Aliens was cute. Still find it hard to believe that is Keifer Sutherland's voice. And I am quite sure it could be worse than having Reese Witherspoon obsessed with you. She is obsessed with me too! ;)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. My dear Orrex!

This is very nice!

I especially like the contrast of the bright blue tower with the just-leafing out trees...

We don't have any pretty fields like that near me, alas...

Thanks for sharing!

:hi:

[Orrex]

4. Thanks, CP!

Honestly, I just got lucky with the light. The sky was mostly clear, but there were enough clouds to keep the sun from being too severe a spotlight.

This tower was right next to some guy's house and yard, and he had about a dozen goats grazing nearby. I was worried about spooking him or them, but I took my snaps and was out of there before anyone got gruff!

[Kali]

8. wull, I don't know nuthin bout fancy art pichers

but my guess is the fence is torn up because deer or cattle tore it up or this end of it is an unreinforced gate and the wire tension is pulling those last few posts back

the yellow plastic insulators tell me it was electric and may have been turned off, in which case something bay have torn it down and yanked a few posts out can't see the wires so can't quite tell

[Orrex]

9. You're such a romantic!

Looking at the full-sized image, I suspect that you're right about the wires, especially considering that the neighboring property has a bunch of goats living on it!

[lizziegrace]

10. The Gaffney Peachoid

I didn't take this photo, but I lived a few miles from the exit.

[elshiva]

12. It's a unique landmark, alright.

I here locals call it something like "the big butt" or some such thing. I'm not a Georgian, though. The orange and yellow color scheme, is gorgeous, though. :)

[Orrex]

13. That's awesome!

I don't know that Pennsylvania or Ohio has any non-standard towers like that! It's entirely possible that we do ahve them, of course, but I haven't seen them!

[elshiva]

11. Thank you. Water Towers are awesome.

Good photograph. Such a great natural backdrop for a sky blue water tower.

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/500/32728459/Bryan+Ferry+ferry.jpg

[Orrex]

14. Thanks for the kind words, and water towers are indeed awesome!

Once you start looking, it's amazing how many you'll find. My small town of <30K has at least five of the tower-on-strut or tower-on-column type, plus quite a few towers that are more like tall vertical tanks.

I wonder if there's any kind of registry available. One tower that I snapped today was on the grounds of an Ohio-based water company, and the guy I talked to knew of about six other towers semi-nearby that I hadn't even seen yet!

[proteus_lives]

15. I like water towers.

They seem peaceful to me, not sure why.

[Iggo]

16. Run for your lives! The Martians are coming!

:o

[bif]

17. Here's one for you. One of the best ever!!

It's in Ypsilanti, MI. It's affectionately known as "The Big Dick."

[Orrex]

24. Monumental!

I've never seen one made of brick or concrete. Do you know how tall that one is?

[bif]

25. about 60 or 70 feet tall.

[YankeyMCC]

18. Bradford Washburn

said (so I've heard) that he believed the secret to capturing good photos was to point the camera and keep trying, take as many shots as you can and some are bound to be something interesting.

I don't know how many photos you take on average but statistics are funny things sometimes you just hit the data point on the first try.

And he added that you don't just need the impulse/instinct that there might be a good picture there, and the persistence to try, you also need the ability to figure out when you have caught something interesting.

Looks to me like you did just that, thanks for sharing it.

[Orrex]

23. I have a friend who's a professional photographer, and he's expressed a similar philosophy

He's totally put off by hyper-reverence of photography as an artform, though he certainly respects it and is (frankly) quite good at it.

He once said something like "I point the camera and take a picture, and if it doesn't work I do it again. And again."

[edbermac]

19. I belong to a camera club.

Every month they critique slides/prints/digital images. I think they'd say that the sky is a bit washed out. The top left corner of the tower blends into clouds.

They really nitpick! But I like it. You have the tower off to the right, an amateur would frame it dead center.

[Orrex]

21. The washed-out observation is right on the money

On the full-sized image it's better, but still not perfect. Honestly, I wouldn't even have noticed if you hadn't commented on it--and thus I learn!


I took a couple of vertical shots with the tower more dead center, because my older son kind of likes them that way. But for the horizontal shot, it just seemed "better" to have it off to the side, and it let me catch the wire fence.


Thanks for your comments!

[Tuesday Afternoon]

20. I think you should post it in the photography forum.

:hi:

[Orrex]

22. Uh... Really?

That would be like someone who can't even grow dandelions posting in the Gardening group, wouldn't it?


But thank you all the same!

[bobmorr1]

26. water tower list-strange and different

http://www.ohiobarns.com/othersites/watertowers/wt/ty-object.html

[Orrex]

27. Great list--thanks!

I'd have replied sooner, but I missed your post!

[caitxrawks]

28. nice composition :)

For a point-and-shoot type picture! My spur of the moment ones always turn out blurry, lmao.

[Orrex]

29. I have a Nikon CoolPix 5600

If you use the flash, you have to wait about 45 minutes while it recharges between photos, and they'll still probably be blurry. But for outdoor shots, it's pretty quick and reliable.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

30. That's high quality photography for just leaning out the window and taking a few pictures

You must have a talent for finding the right angle and focus to take a picture because it's very well done

[Orrex]

31. Thank you very much!

Honestly, I give most of the credit to the ambient lighting and the camera!