Confusing or Interesting?

[ShaneS]

Shadow, texture and an unusual point of view for a staircase. What do you think? Does this composition work?



I have been trying my hand at capturing more abstract images. I feel as if the shadows combined with the texture on the back wall create the optical illusion of another set of stairs but I'm not sure if that adds to the abstraction or is just confusing to the eye? (Or, am I the only one who sees that )

I converted the image to mono as the colors in the scene were not particularly pleasing. I would also be interested in hearing suggestions on how the mono conversion could be improved (I am using CS5).

C&C welcome and appreciated.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Shane,

This doesn't work for me, I feel there are too many confusing textures;
stair treads
wall
crack
detritus on stairs
shadows (out of focus)

I think just two things would have worked well; no crack, no shadow, no muck on steps.
Three might be ok treads, wall and crack, or treads, wall and shadow.

However, I'm no expert on abstracts either.

I do think the exposure is good and you chose the top most step to focus on, which is what I hope I would have, despite the ease of picking the middle one.

Cheers,

[Mike Buckley]

It definitely works as an abstract for me in the sense that I can't tell what the objects are even after knowing that there is a set of stairs. I would never have known there was a set of stairs if you hadn't mentioned it.

However, the various elements that Dave mentions are more confusing than interesting.

[Geoff F]

I suspect that without the crossing shadow (going upwards) at the bottom right corner it may have worked better.

[ShaneS]

Thank you gentlemen! You confirmed what was nagging me about this image but as you know sometimes you can stare at these things too long and try to hard to find something redeeming about them...I will keep at it.