Critique #48 *Open Theme* 5 Participants

[raid]

surreal

surreal

My image.

David

David: The head of the woman seems to be merged with the wall. The image is surreal, and I like it.

 

[mascarenhas]

nico:

I can barely see the street and the three blokes in my lcd monitor, and the buildings look very blown out. I think the image could work if the contrast between top and bottom was lower. As it is I would cut the top half and make the street scene the image (lightening it up a bit).

raid:

Great candid you caught here, I enjoy this kind of photograpy. I agree with Kevin that cutting the empty space at the top would make a stronger image. Kevin suggested a square crop. I think a 4x5 crop would work, too. I also think the scan is not doing it justice, it looks soft and there are blown highlights in the hat.

formal:

This is my favorite of this bunch, and I am counting mine. 🙂 Great street photography, I wish I had taken it. Composition, lighting, exposure, all spot on to me. But as this is the critique forum 🙂, maybe it would be better if you had composed a little higher, not cutting the top of the girl's head; there seems to be enough space at the bottom to do this. But I know how this kind of accurate framing is hard on RF's. 🙂

kmack:

It's a nice street shot, I like the composition, and just the slightest bit of background blur separating the two guys from the background, but still making the background clear. I think the contrast is too low, though. I did a slight curves manipulation that I think makes the image "pop" more, it's attached.

 

[formal]

Nico
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I like the way the buildings appear to grow out of the darkness. At first I found the light areas in the bottom half of the picture distracting and was going to suggest a crop. However, once I had read the title, I eventually found the three blokes. Very subtle. I'm still not sure about the light area to the bottom left. Great capture.

raid
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Intriguing. Is she trying to hide or just facing into the wind? I'd love to see her face. Personally I don't like the sepia tone; B&W would be better.

mascarehas
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This is a good action shot and you have captured the guy with the ball at just the right moment. My only criticism is that he is not sufficiently isolated from the background; his head merges into the other players and he has an extra arm. I would have also liked a bigger image.

kmack
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My eye is drawn to the smile on the guy on the right's face. In contrast the other guy is concentrating on his video camera and is oblivious of you. I don't like the way the video camera is cut off.

David

 

[nico]

Hello guys,
thanks you all for the comments, they're very useful for me.
You all had problems recognizing the guys under the lamp and - partially - it's the kind of effect i was looking for but, i agree with you, that part of the scene should be lightned a little bit more; it's "too" difficult to see the guys (i do not think it depends on the screen if it's an lcd one).
i agree with kevin about the night shots as "some of the hardest get right" so i'll surely try, as suggested, to try to burn the lamp light to make more visible the 'blokes'. I also like the suggestion of mascarenhas about cropping the photo.
As you Raid I wondered what they were talking about and where they were going (it was round 2'00 a.m.) to because Mertola is very small town. i remember i waited long time for them to pass under the lamp.
As i'm not very good with postprocessing, if someone of you feels like trying to light up the bottom of the photo is welcome and I'll be grateful!🙂
bye
nico

 

[raid]

In my case, the image was taken on a very grainy and low contrast Scotch 1000 slide film. The original slide looks brownish; it was not B&W and then tinted sepia. I removed the brown-orange colors and added some colors with PS.

This street woman was hiding her face from some tourists, while I was across the narrow street, hiding from the woman. This was one of my first attempts at street photography. I was testing the water, as they say.

Thanks for the cropping suggestions. I will look into this option to see if the image comes out better.

Raid

 

[formal]

Thanks for the comments.

The poster of the girl is on a borad projecting into Grafton Street. I was trying to use it in an image when the boy appeared.

Fabio, I have the top of the girl's head, but I think the crop works better.

David

 

[mascarenhas]

I see. I thought the board was taller, and the new crop would still leave white space to the right of the girl's head. Your crop is a nice compromise.

 

[raid]

I like best the image first posted by David. It lets you focus only on the two subjects; woman and boy.

 

[nico]

I like best the image first posted by David. It lets you focus only on the two subjects; woman and boy.

I agree with Raid,
bye
Nico