Pictures of Moscow

[Al Blanco]

http://d.foto.radikal.ru/0606/477c77159049.jpg


http://d.foto.radikal.ru/0606/5923717810cd.jpg


http://d.foto.radikal.ru/0606/003dc31cd583.jpg

[Al Blanco]

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h27/svenalex/9040_resize.jpg


http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h27/svenalex/9036_resize.jpg


http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h27/svenalex/9038_resize.jpg

[Al Blanco]

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h27/svenalex/011_resize.jpg



http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h27/svenalex/2012_resize.jpg


http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h27/svenalex/010_resize.jpg

[ukanfoff]

i really wanna check out russia one of these days.
i seen a lil bit of the train stations in moscow..
its like wow... compared to any train station..ive ever been on
or star city with its spacecenter and use the old cosmonaut stuff.
or st.petersberg.. too many things to say about spb.

keep the pics commin mate.

[stine]

hey there! nice bunch you have here! my favourite has to be the old broken window with all those power lines. i'm just such a fan of old, torn down things like that. have you worked with photoshop on any of these? cause some of them could use a slightly more contrast and maybe a little cropping. the barbed wire picture e.g. i would cut a little of the lower part... the first photo is a very interesting scene, really makes you think "what's going on there?!", but it's a little far away and the harsh contrasts in the surrounding distract a bit. on the other hand that adds a more "documentary" atmosphere...

great to see what moscow looks like, never been there. do you live there? would love to see more, cheers

stine

[Al Blanco]

Ukanfoff, privet! :)

drop me a line when you are in Moscow : ). Maybe we will take a couple of pictures together!


Stine, thank you so much especially for your comments! Indeed, the photo needs cropping and I learned more from your comments altogether. Actually, I am practically not using the photoshop because I know it very bad : ).
Yes, I live in Moscow.

[Sofia Alexandra]

Ah, Moskva. I visited the city for three days in March 2005, and I'd really like to go back there someday.

[Al Blanco]

You are always welcome, Sofia! :)

http://d.foto.radikal.ru/0607/0f6366c3b0e3.jpg


http://d.foto.radikal.ru/0607/531724ff0931.jpg


http://d.foto.radikal.ru/0607/1b353e5d8a61.jpg

[Al Blanco]

http://d.foto.radikal.ru/0607/d4aa91381b92.jpg


http://d.foto.radikal.ru/0607/1aa724a07cfd.jpg


http://d.foto.radikal.ru/0607/4dee2739d015.jpg

[eazym]

Very nostalgic...Moskva - gorod kisloy hari. Keep 'em coming.

[claudeEGYPT]

To be honest, most, if not all, need color adjustment, trimming or some correction.
Also, composition.. erm.. you know.

[stine]

hey there! nice second bunch! i really like the one with the mural - it's an interesting contrast between the "ideal" city with it's bright colors and the "real world" on the left. the "pipe" (or whatever is it) on the top left is distracting, though. so i would've cropped it.
same with the yard with the car wreck - it has a very nice lightning, but a tighter cropping would be better, i guess.
you have a good eye for fore- and backgrounds - when you read a little about composition, i think your photos have a lot of potential. oh, and that may sound strange, but never underestimate a simple frame. maybe adding that to your photos would be a good starting point. hmmm, hope i could help at least a little... greetings to russia! cheers!

stine

[Al Blanco]

Thank everybody so much! Especially for critics. I love critics. Some not, but I DO. There are often polite compliments but critics is much more useful than any compliments :)
Actually, I got a book on the photoshop and I hope that soon I would be able to follow your advises.

http://d.foto.radikal.ru/0607/c070dc1fd179.jpg


http://d.foto.radikal.ru/0607/fe20d03a2659.jpg


http://d.foto.radikal.ru/0607/e5be2e87691e.jpg

[Al Blanco]

http://d.foto.radikal.ru/0607/dab76cf219ee.jpg


http://d.foto.radikal.ru/0607/fe68dd8d7d0f.jpg


http://d.foto.radikal.ru/0607/208e4389b601.jpg

[samsite999]

intresting as the last set are, TBH there isnt any real focal point. I dont think anything when i see these pictures....... not trying to be harsh

http://d.foto.radikal.ru/0607/e5be2e87691e.jpg

I do like this one though

[Al Blanco]

not trying to be harsh

Sure, sure! I love critics more than anything else! I’ll try to photograph better!


http://d.foto.radikal.ru/0607/a205025c52bd.jpg


http://b.foto.radikal.ru/0606/f8046da54e04.jpg


http://d.foto.radikal.ru/0607/b8f9288c9987.jpg

[samsite999]

now thats better!!! the one with a hammer in the hand is much better it has some real feeling to it. OH!! and your using a Dx6490, my first digital camera, its a great camera, its nearly imposable to get a poor shot with this :)

[Le Gab]

The Dx6490 is a great camera, got my hands once on it and I totally agree with Sam.



Now then, about ur photos:

I'm guessing your aim is to go into Arhitectural photography (judging by the fact that almost all of ur pics are focused on buildings and cityscapes :blahblah: ). I totally understand why, Moscow is a great place to do this. :)

My first crit would be is that atm some of your stuff is missing focal interest. There is simply too much going on in your shots.

1.Geting focal is easy to do using closeups and varring angles.

The second shot in your last post is a good example of interesting aproach. Looking at it i have the feeling that the guy holding the hammer is about to crush the city in front of him. And that, my friend is cool :)




My second crit is about the usage of light and colors.

Take No 1. The sky is white. It should be gray (it was raining, right?). Also the shades of yellow on the buildings are really dull.

The good thing is you can always get better colors. :D

2. Dont be afraid to experiment with your cam's settings

Playing with exposure times, ISO values and white ballance will give you great colors. Just snap the pic and check it on the display. If you dont like it change the settings and try again. There is no rush. :D

I definitelly want to see more of Moscow in your shots. Hope I haven't been to hard, not my intention.

Keep cliking, dude!

[satisfaction]

most of your photos (except a few towards the end) lack a clear focus

[Cypher]

Your pics are a bit average to me... they seem to lack a steady composition and are a bit to busy, they seem a bit over-exposed as well.

They do capture the run down state of modern day russia quite wel.
so a message behind the pics is present.

[Al Blanco]

What if I post some more photos and you say which ones is better in sence of a focal point and focus?

its nearly imposable to get a poor shot with this

yes, if there is a good light and an object doesn't move :). anyway I prefer Schnider lenses so this Kodak was my choice.

Thank a lot for critics. I study it.

[Rhynome]

The one news source I have on Russia is the ever so reliable BBC. This means that the view I have of the country is of one that's falling apart from the inside out and 1 in 3 of the adult male population have a major drinking problem [post #9 picture 3 maybe?].

The view I've had from others is slightly different though, compared to London the trains run fantastic, the people are quite nice and so on.

So before I get started on the pictures I have a few questions to ask you on Russia, Moscow in particular somewhat. Basically what is it really like, there's also a picture of someone wearing a sickle and hammer on a T-shirt, I take it that T-shirt is likely to be humourous[?], there's also writing underneath it so what is the attitude to Communism like nowdays? Also what is Moscow like when it comes to Arabic or possibly Persian communities? I noticed in post #8 on your third and final picture of that post there's a poster with Russian then 'Salute' [which I think might be Romanian?] then there's something that looks like Arabic or Persian; is that common?

I promise I'll comment on the pictures eventually, but for now here's a little anecdote I've heard about the Russians during the Cold War.

The 'Bear', for those that don't know is an Antonov aircraft, they used to have rear-gunners and would regularly fly over Nato (in this case British) airspace fully laden with bombs. The Royal Air Force would go up and escort the Bear out of British Airspace. At this time there was an RAF magazine that came out each Wednesday; at this point I mention that the flight was occuring on a Tuesday. One of the pilots comes up to the rear of the Bear and the rear-gunner picks something up from the floor and puts it to the glass or perspex or whatever they used... it was the next days RAF magazine.
Brilliant.

[Al Blanco]

Basically what is it really like, there's also a picture of someone wearing a sickle and hammer on a T-shirt, I take it that T-shirt is likely to be humourous[?], there's also writing underneath it so what is the attitude to Communism like nowdays?


Well, some are nostalgic about the Soviet times. The country was great and everybody feared us. Now most of Russians are sore that we lost our imperialistic status. I don’t think that the guy with the T-shirt finds it humorous. As for communism, I think that most people understood that it was a nonsense.



Also what is Moscow like when it comes to Arabic or possibly Persian communities?


We have a very huge Azerbaijan community. As for Arabs, I doubt that there is a considerable amount of them. There are no blacks at all. Moscow is a nazi capital of Europe.


I noticed in post #8 on your third and final picture of that post there's a poster with Russian then 'Salute' [which I think might be Romanian?] then there's something that looks like Arabic or Persian; is that common?


I don’t think that the ‘salute’ inscription means anything. As a rule we write on walls in the Latin alphabet. :). Maybe it is a name of a soccer team or something like this. I don’t know. It means nothing to me.
No, it is not something Persian – I'll find the photo and try to magnify it to say what is written :)



http://d.foto.radikal.ru/0607/0ff3273b97a6.jpg


http://d.foto.radikal.ru/0607/c6f3a6e3248d.jpg



http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h27/svenalex/5-01_resize.jpg

[Rhynome]

Thanks for the comments/ clearing things up.
Another question now, what's fascism like in other cities? I only know 4 Russian cities so you might want to just mention Vladi-Vostok, Sankt Peterburg and Volgograd to keep it simple for yourself. If you know that is.

I like the third picture here as it's something slightly different. It's not something I'd ever expect to see, just the high wall, red brick, archway, etc. For some reason I'm quite taken by it.

[Al Blanco]

Well, I wouldn't say that we have fascism in some political forms. There is not fascist leaders (except for Zhirinovsky who declared that he is a half-Jew not long ago :) ). Just 60% of Russians support the slogan 'Russia for ethnic russians' and there are too many skinheads.
Yes, the third photo is not typical for Moscow. personally it resembles Prague for me :). I have never been there, though :)

http://c.foto.radikal.ru/0606/edff6dc7eb78.jpg


http://d.foto.radikal.ru/0607/8880e8eda34e.jpg


http://d.foto.radikal.ru/0607/b738949073c3.jpg

[Rhynome]

That bell-tower looks really neglected, what's the view on buildings like that at the moment in Moscow? I hear they're also tearing down old buildings just to build replicas, but which still aren't the same. Or something like that at least.

I like that last picture alot. In my view it might be slightly better if the lamppost wasn't in the way of the Benz Building and a bit more off the left, as two totally different objects in the picture and two totally different structures in their design.

That Zhirinovsky man sounds like a right nutter. He apparently praised Hitler and threatened to invade Estonia? What does he wish for, another winter war of '39? From what I gathered he also failed miserably though as most people see that he was a moron?