Critique #42 *Open Theme* 5 Participants

[lubitel]

jvx,

this is such a devilishly good shot. the look on this face and the way his eyes just shine is great. The focus is right on, contrast and sharpness are nice. The way you chose your composition is interesting too, it really puts emphasis on the head, it seems to cut it off from the rest. a very fascinating portrait.


ampguy,

This is a very dynamic photo. The tilt of the camera and the lines of the guitars add to this effect. I also like how the white pickup and the older guy dressed in white are unified while the rest of the photo is rather dark. I think this shot would have been better with a somewhat different perspective. may be if it was just shot from a lower standpoint, or may be if the tilt was in the other direction? I feel its a bit too heavy on the right.


garethc,

a very thought provoking capture. I wonder what he thinks and what he sees. I really like the composition the white on top and bottom make it seem elongated. And the way the person brings the viewer into this picture from the left corner. I also like the way the painting is out of focus and the we have no way of knowing if its a traditional painting or something abstract.


jmilkins,

also very dynamic photograph, i like the composition and the way the driver looks like he is on top of the world in his right upper corner cruising in (some kind of ) classic car. I also like how the line of the windschild going up seems to kind of stabilize the composition.

 

[jmilkins]

Jonas
I really like this portrait – your subject’s eyes really stand out superbly and create a stack of character for the image. The framing is unconventional but the dark lines on the frame and the position of the eyes in the top third line make it work for me. I like the shallow depth of field, the bokeh and the subtle but definite power and strength in the shot.

Ampguy.

Ha Hah! Twin Roland microcubes – does that make a microstack? ;-) I like the story this tells and I think it’s a good enough catch to overcome the slight technical issues – e.g. the skewed “horizon” line the chain fence creates and the need for perhaps a tighter crop to centre attention of the musicians. A good moment shared -Nice one.

Lubitel

There are several elements in this one Yvgeny – the arch, the textures of the pavement, the interesting buildings in the background and the cyclist. The arch framing the buildings works well for me but I’m not quite sure what the subject of the photo is - I’d like to see the cyclist a bit closer to the front of the shot and therefore larger, as he seems to be what I’d say the subject is. Perhaps also try it in monochrome. Nonetheless, an interesting photo and probably quite a wide angle lens yes? These can be tricky sometimes precisely because they catch so much.

Gareth

Very contemplative and a great catch– I think one is very well seen and framed. I like the space you’ve created here and how your subject is placed. The patterns in the out-of-focus artwork also add to the shot. It seems to be a n impressively sharp image, but for me the depth of field is just perhaps a little too shallow, or maybe it’s the point of focus – the shirt and back of the head really jump out but it does fade very quickly – I find myself wanting to see the view through the edge of the gentleman’s glass, and for that the focus would need to be there. Overall though this one is great.

 

[garethc]

JVX,
Hard to put in to words how striking this image is. I love the tonal range and depth of field in this portrait. The eyes pull me in totally. The composition is unique too. The neck falls away leaving the head seemingly floating. I think i prefer it this way but I would have liked to see how the image would look with just a little shoulder visible, perhaps in portrait rather than landscape.

Ampguy,
I like the story that this image captures with these two 'jammers' who are years apart. I don't think its technically the strongest image and I think that the eye has no real point of focus...not sure what could have been done here though to be honest. I would also like to see this image in b/w.

Lubitel,
I like this image a lot. The way you have used the arch to draw in the viewer is great and the buildings in the background have a lot of character and their angles work well against the curve of the arch. I would have liked to have seen a little less of the arch walls and for the cyclist to be further forward away from the background dictractions.

Jmilkins,
An interesting shot with some wonderful tones and a great use of a large area of darkness against the light sky. For me the angle is a little too much and perhaps makes the shot less dynamic than it might have been. I like the tone you have used for the image. The last thing I can mention is that I am not a big fan of the drop shadow frame. I find it distracting as my eye keeps being drawn to it.

 

[lubitel]

alright we made it! 🙂 Thanks to all for the constructive criticism. The lens I used was actually 35mm CV. I picked this shot not because it was my favourite, but because I wasnt sure about it. On one hand i liked it - on the other something didnt feel right.

 

[ampguy]

Thanks all, I appreciate the great feedback. My shot was taken last weekend at a jam session, these guys had showed up early and were just wailing out of the back of their pickup with battery powered amps. Later I got to talking with them and I think they are father/son or father/grandson. Both are great players, and really nice folks.

 

[jonasv]

Thanks for the comments everyone. It was a real pleasure taking that shot... A really interesting man, one of the last descendants of an old tribe living in the Romanian mountains. Contrary to what that last sentence may make you assume, he was an extremely knowledgeable man with an enormous interest in literature and writing. He wrote a book in Romanian - I can read some and got the rest from a so-so Dutch translation - it's beautiful and I promised to rewrite the translation in Dutch as I think it really has potential to sell well even over here.

Anyway... I know vertical format is more traditional (it is called portrait, right) but for some reason, when I saw that man, I just had to shoot horizontal... Not sure if it's the mustache, the wrinkled face full of character and personality, the eyes or the hair... probably a combination of all these, but I didn't want to try anything 'artistic', just his face, right in the center of the photograph, as a "This is who I am"-statement and hell, he's one wonderful man.

cheers!

 

[jmilkins]

An interesting thread folks. A little more detail on my shot - It was taken by guestimation - I leant as far back in the passenger seat as I could to be out of the frame and streched out my arm with my CV15 pointed back at us. No crop on the final image but yes it's tilted - which I did to get more into the frame - imagine thinking that 15 wasn't wide enough ;-) !
thanks all for contributing - after I post my thoughts I find it very revealing to see others' take on the same image.

 

[jmilkins]

Oh and Yvgeny - I was certainly wrong on the very "wide angle" aspect on your image !

BTW I like your approach in posting a shot you are not sure about yourself - that's a great way to gather views and I think is the spirit of what this series of critque threads can be about - sometimes posting our personal favorites, sometimes posting ones we're not so fond of.

 

[garethc]

Ampguy:
well composed, but I wonder what the guy is staring at?

Yes, perhaps too much of the mans view is obscured. There are others to this series which help to explain!

JVX:
Gareth, love the shot. Composition and perspective works really well, I love the feeling we're looking over his shoulder even though we don't really know what we're looking at. I do have a feeling the colors are a bit over-edited though, but that's only my .02 and I'm just a b&w shooter after all. Not really sure yet what to think of the plane of sharpness; on his shirt instead of his hair, the side of his face or his hand. I think it works here.

Regarding the unknown that the man is looking at...as I said above this wasn't entirely intentional...but in a way it gives the image a certain mystery!

The focus issue isn't entirely intentional. While I kind of like the effect I would have liked all of the man to be in focus...thats the result of using an f2 lens for the first time after using an f3.5 for so long...just didnt remember how shallow DOF could be!

As for the colour...this was intentional. I usually shoot BW but the man was looking at a Monet painting and I felt the image deserved some hues and tones that would represent that in some way.

Lubitel:
a very thought provoking capture. I wonder what he thinks and what he sees. I really like the composition the white on top and bottom make it seem elongated. And the way the person brings the viewer into this picture from the left corner. I also like the way the painting is out of focus and the we have no way of knowing if its a traditional painting or something abstract.

Thanks again. I cropped this imager to push the man to the left corner to help balance and try and lead the viewer in...I am glad it worked for you!

JMilkins:
Very contemplative and a great catch– I think one is very well seen and framed. I like the space you’ve created here and how your subject is placed. The patterns in the out-of-focus artwork also add to the shot. It seems to be an impressively sharp image, but for me the depth of field is just perhaps a little too shallow, or maybe it’s the point of focus – the shirt and back of the head really jump out but it does fade very quickly – I find myself wanting to see the view through the edge of the gentleman’s glass, and for that the focus would need to be there. Overall though this one is great.

Couldn't agree more (re DOF).

For those interested, here are the others that i took at the gallery. The one with the man standing is the one that a couple of people had already commented on here at RFF. I preferred teh one that I submitted in the ctitique and was interested to see others opinions. The other attachment was really taken just for me to test the sharpness of the lens when wide open, but I quite like it and finds it helps turn the individual images in to something more like a series.

Thanks again to everyone. All your comments are really appreciated.

 

[jonasv]

Gareth, what an absolutely wonderful series. Thank you for posting these.

 

[garethc]

JVX

Thanks for your kind words. I am a fan of your work so it means a lot to me. To be honest I am happy with them...

I was in Paris for the weekend (a birthday present from my wife) and went to see these paintings (a real joy and something I get too little time for much now) and was shooting with my R-D1 and new (second hand) Summicron which made me fall in love with the camera in a way that I was starting to doubt after spending so much money on the R-D1...goes to show what a good lens can do for a person!

So...all those memories are wrapped in to those images and will always be happy ones even though I think the pictures seem more melancholy than anything else...