Critique #21 Open Theme 5 Participants

[kmack]

Ampguy: I like squares.
Using the lamp and the painting to contrast the texture of the brick works well. The composition just does not flow. My eye is drawn into the center and sticks there. I think the chairs and glasses add to the overall color balance but compositionally they are not tied to the rest of the image.

 

[kmack]

Ray: The composition wants to be tighter here. The two people in the shot are interesting but they need to fill the frame, the environment here adds nothing to the shot. In addition a tighter crop will help the woman's dark hair stand out against the dark green of the kiosk.

 

[kmack]

Raid: In my opinion it is compositionally the most solid shot of the bunch. The only distraction here is that the woman's head is superimposed on a dark area and due to the contrast inherent in the scene it makes it difficult to distinguish her features. However this may be more of an artifact of my monitor than any real flaw with the image.

 

[RayPA]

Here is mine. Leica IIIa w/ Summar 50mm.

Nice location and framing/composition, with the darkened foreground and then the arch-shaped structure on the right—framing the seated fellow. The image seems a bit wide/distant, however, and I feel that the most interesting part of the image is the right side (the arch framing), and the middle (where the two women are walking toward us). I see this more as a vertical crop of the right side with the two women on the left edge and the bottom cropped just above the first (working downward) strong horinzontal branch shadow. I think that crop gives you at least one body in every vertical third. It also highlights the three solitary guys, juxtaposing them against the couple (the two girls). I think it becomes interesting then, speaking somewhat to the male/female relationship. 🙂 It's a good catch with room to work. 🙂


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[kmack]

remrf: I think I spent more time with your image than the others. There is a lot going on there. At first I was ready to just blow it off but as I started to look at all of the elements I noticed a lot of details that make it more and more interesting. The man isolated in the concrete ovals on the right, the man at the table on the left framing the two women in the middle, all on the same plane, nice detail. It is an interesting perspective shot. It would help if there were greater shadow detail. The trees framing the top are black with no detail giving the shot a flat look. A greater tonal range may help this shot a lot.

 

[RayPA]

Here is my image; I tookthis photo in a subway station in Nagoya (Japan) with an XA rangefinder camera and Ilford Xp2 Super film.

Nice shot, Raid. I think compositionally it works well (although there's a slight rightward tilt). The blur adds interest and a nice dimension to what could have been an otherwise flat (perspective-wise) image. I feel it speaks to me about the frustration associated with the rush of modern life and maybe the burden of consumerism (the woman ladened with purchases).

🙂

 

[RayPA]

here is my post.


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Ted, I think I see what you're getting at here. There's a nice near-continuity of color combined with some interesting shapes, and it almost flattens out to the point of an abstraction. I'm having a problem getting past the not-quite-continuous color (the lamp shade and the brick) and I can't seem to see this as an abstraction of shape. The painting keeps brining me back to reality, but there isn't quite enough information in the painting to satisfy. There seems to be a slight washed-out look and a softness to the image. You're also not quite square to the brick. I think a better crop may be to move away from the square format, go landscape and crop out the chairs and details at the bottom of the image. I'd try to punch up the color and contrast a little bit and add some USM. I think if you can get it to "pop" a little more you can accent the shapes and color. I'd really be interested in hearing your point of view on the image: what you saw originally, etc.

🙂

 

[RayPA]

Here is mine

Nice exposure and good tonal range. It's an interesting image. I'm somewhat bothered by the centralized subject and I think you've two possible crops here, crop the left side, or crop the right side. At first I looked to cropping the left side, because I was getting distracted by the display on the left and the wording . The crop looks nice, but to lose the display entirely, results in avery tight crop on the subject. Cropping the right side, I think makes for a stronger image. You could straighten the vertical and crop, splitting the back [DOOR] almost down the middle and imo you'd have a stronger composition and will have not lose a lot at all.

Good eye to have seen this and grabbed it with a great exposure, in some rather difficult lighting conditions.

🙂

 

[remrf]

Here we go in the order the images appear in the thread.


Ampguy: This is a photo I like more each time I view it. The square format works well for this shot. There is both a graphic as well as a color balance within the composition. It reminds me of a painting style who's name escapes me but it is one of the classic periods. Sharper focus would improve this shot but I can't think of any other thing that would improve this photo. Good eye for the shot and the moment.

RayPa: A successful photo to my eye because it presents a scene that has a story which I, as the viewer want to know more about. It has the feel of a grab shot on the street yet has strong compositional balance which tells me you have a well trained eye for framing on the fly. A useful skill for the street photographer. As with the first shot by Ampguy I would wish for sharper focus and I wonder if both photos are the victim of so-so scanning or if the lack of sharp focus is on the print as well. In any case I like this photo and enjoyed viewing it.




I have to go to work now. I will post the remainder of my comments later.


Later....

Kmack: Great photo. You have a good eye for catching a visual that will draw one in to look further. It begs the questions, "Is the subject merely tired after a long day or severely depressed. Or did the subject just get some really bad news?". The up tempo point of purchase assembly on the counter adds a bit of irony. Were it any other scene I might point out that the entire frame tilts to the right but with the body angle of the subject this tilt just adds to the statement imo. Don't change a thing. It's great just as it is.


Raid: Great exposure. Good composition. Lots of motion.But to me this photo lacks one more element to make it a really great photo. That final something that piques the interest and catches the eye. As it is all I see is a woman waiting alone on a subway landing while a train goes by. A scene probably repeated many times in a week. There is no "hook". From what I have read others disagree. That's probably why clothes and other things come in colors. Taste varies.

 

[RayPA]

Thanks for a great critique, everyone!

My image was a grab shot. I was actually moving toward the subjects from a crosswalk, using an AF camera. It's soft for this reason. I personally like the shot for what it captures, a real life moment, some real drama. I agree there's a story here. No offense to the the criticism and suggestions, but I would probably do very little to this image. I think the street elements add a a lot to the photo. I do appreciate that you all have applied a critical eye to the image. Hearing your thoughts was very helpful, for future shooting.

Thanks again, everyone!

🙂

 

[ampguy]

My photo of the red wall with painting, and chairs at the bottom was taken at a family restaurant that we go to a lot. The restaurant is usually jam packed with a ~20 minute wait to get seated, so this was unusual to have gotten here early enough at opening and see some empty tables.

I appreciate and agree with most of the feedback left. Thanks.

 

[remrf]

My photo was taken at a place called "La Placita Village" in downtown Tucson. It is one of the urban renewal projects that the city forces upon itself from time to time supposedly to draw people back to the downtown area.Something that has not worked despite millions of dollars spent on this and other projects over the last 20 plus years. Nor will it ever in my opinion. The place is a rabbit warren of interesting angles and scenes but has only about 40% occupancy at best. Oddly enough I cropped a version of this shot as was suggested before I submitted the full frame and I do think the cropped version would be better. But the cropped version was from the already sized image rather than from the full scan and I did not like the resolution loss and I could not at the time find the cd with the full scan image so I went with the full frame instead.
At the time I was trying to capture the full scene of the walkway. The people in the scene were incidental to my intention. The frame around the single man to the right is not a bike rack. It is part of a water display and fountain. Below is a shot of the water way from a different angle. And a few other scenes from the village area.

 

[raid]

I was new in Nagoya and somewhat unsure how Japanese people feel about being photographed. Most likely, I used an Olympus XA with Ilford XP2 film. It was tricky to use an automatic camera in subway station with dimlight. I made use of the 2X exposurec ompmensation switch.

Thanks for the discussions. I enjoyed them all.

Raid

 

[ampguy]

thanks

thanks

thanks for the addl. info. The first shot of the walkway just attached is interesting. The first one you submitted is still a little busy even if cropped. I notice you're shooting b&w in afternoon contrasty light, maybe a polarizer or warming filter, or shooting in color would do something??

My photo was taken at a place called "La Placita Village" in downtown Tucson. It is one of the urban renewal projects that the city forces upon itself from time to time supposedly to draw people back to the downtown area.Something that has not worked despite millions of dollars spent on this and other projects over the last 20 plus years. Nor will it ever in my opinion. The place is a rabbit warren of interesting angles and scenes but has only about 40% occupancy at best. Oddly enough I cropped a version of this shot as was suggested before I submitted the full frame and I do think the cropped version would be better. But the cropped version was from the already sized image rather than from the full scan and I did not like the resolution loss and I could not at the time find the cd with the full scan image so I went with the full frame instead.
At the time I was trying to capture the full scene of the walkway. The people in the scene were incidental to my intention. The frame around the single man to the right is not a bike rack. It is part of a water display and fountain. Below is a shot of the water way from a different angle. And a few other scenes from the village area.

 

[ampguy]

Hi Raid

Hi Raid

I think they feel the same as any other culture, a little shy and awkward if they see you taking the picture of them, but better at a distance and with a small camera than real close with a big one, imho.

I was new in Nagoya and somewhat unsure how Japanese people feel about being photographed. Most likely, I used an Olympus XA with Ilford XP2 film. It was tricky to use an automatic camera in subway station with dimlight. I made use of the 2X exposurec ompmensation switch.

Thanks for the discussions. I enjoyed them all.

Raid

 

[kmack]

Just for general info, my shot was with a Kiev 3a and Jupiter 8 lens, Arista.edu 400 developed in Clayton F76+ 1:9.

This has been informative and fun. Thanks all. I hope my input has assisted all of you at least half as much as your criticism has helped me. I learned a lot.

I'll be joining in again soon.

 

[remrf]

thanks for the addl. info. The first shot of the walkway just attached is interesting. The first one you submitted is still a little busy even if cropped. I notice you're shooting b&w in afternoon contrasty light, maybe a polarizer or warming filter, or shooting in color would do something??

I was shooting Kodak C-41 B&W. And what you seen is the direct scan of the neg.I have been meaning to go back and shoot some more there as I have not yet covered all the interesting views of the area. I did shoot a couple of color shots. Below is one.