A few months ago I posted a shot I took in the stairwell at the Tattered Cover Bookstore in lower downtown Denver. I loved the concept, but wasn’t happy with how I framed it (or, for that matter, the color balance). So last week I went back to see if I could get it right. Much better this time.
5280 Lens Mafia 
Very nice – this has a warmth to it, where the earlier one was brighter. The dark stairs on diagonal corners really anchor that image.
Much improved
Thanks. There’s sort of a diamond of light in the center that I stressed in processing. The big problem with the original was that the geometry needed to be centered. Fortunately, interior architecture shots are still there when you go back three months later….
This has people in it, which gives it scale. I don’t remember of Stairs 1.0 had that. It’s a well-balanced shot.
I have always tried to keep people out of my interior shots, but Stuart has argued that a person or two in a shot like this adds a human interest element that’s appealing to the audience, so I’m trying. Also, if I waited for there to be no people in the shot I’d be there forever. I could have removed them in Photoshop, but I decided to give it a try.
I went to the Lullaby Pit to find the original and compared them. Interesting and smart choice to go up, rather than stay with a downward perspective. But most of all for me, I find you becoming more sensitive to the problems of the yellow cast that’s shown up in the past. The yellow does provide a brightness to the image, but it’s almost always a failure of the camera to read the proper white balance. Good to see the corrections.
Well, a failure of the rookie photographer to know how to get the white balance settings right. This time I did a custom white balance, which you really have to do in that store. There just isn’t a preset that works.