Critique #49 *Open Theme* 5 Participants

[ClaremontPhoto]

Lubitel


It works well and captures the atmosphere by not using your own lighting but relying on the performers' lighting. The motion blur (lead singer's hands) and eye contact (backing singer) add to it.

You may try cropping it closer next time you print it. Perhaps square, performers only, so we lose the large out of focus person in the right foreground and whatever it is to the left of the performers.


Jon


[Edited to change 'left' and 'right' round the correct way,]

 

[nico]

Hi,
here my critiques:

jon:
the expression and the pose are just great, you did not even need to explain what was going on, it's cristal clear!. really well seen and caught. i agree with Raid about focus, sometimes the mood or an expression are more important than tecnique, it's only to say that if they were in focus this shot would have been, for me, not only good but perfect indeed.

raid
all those legs give the shot a very "sexy" mood, the girls are pretty and the foreground makes me think about a saturday night. softness here works well but maybe a little bit less grain would made the shot even more appealing.

shiro_kuro
very good shot, i like the edge of the wall in the foregound that drives my eye to the people fishing first and then to the hills in the background. i also like exposure, light shows all the tones of the hills. i like this shot as it is and wouldn't change anything.

Lubitel,
I like this shot, it made me laugh, it's a very funny shot, the expressions on the singers' faces are wonderful (the one in the middle seems to look "with interest" at the woman in the foreground). I wouldn't crop it but the only thing i find distracting is the background (it's like a little bit ... foggy... cannot explain, maybe is my monitor). anyway, i like it and i still smile when I look at those singers!

bye
nico

 

[lubitel]

Nico,

i like this photo. It shows this blacksmith submerged in his environment, in his work and tools. i think its a pretty "cool", not emotional photo. A good, objective illustration of a blacksmith and his workspace. May be the fact that it has a lot of DOF underlines that feeling? On another note - it seems to have a very slight tilt to the right side, which throws off the composition a little bit.

shiro kuro,

its an interesting photo with unusual compositioin, which I think works well. this very strong path in the middle seems to reflect the hills, or mountains in the back. It also draws attention to the fishers and then to the person on the right, who somehow seems to be the key figure in this photo. Probably because she (?) is the closest to us. I wish she wasn't blurred, thats the one thing about this photo that bothers me - I want to see the facial expression. Its a very geometrical photo, all the lines: the lake, the mountains and the path come to this one point where the fishers sit.

jon,

this is somehow a funny photo - I am not quite sure why. two characters with funky hats drinking bier and they look like they are from some kind of a classic movie. it looks like a still from a film. I think you caught a very good moment and although they are a little out of focus - that doesnt bother me much. the photo has a lot of charm. Compositionally what does bother me is this thick orange thing in the back.

raid,

I am not quite sure what to say about this image. its an interesting intertwining of legs and arms, certainly gives one a bar feeling, a girls-night-out. I wish there was some kind spotlight on one of these girls that would make this scene a little more lively and the photo a bit more exciting. the angle you chose, certainly makes it somewhat more exciting than it would have been otherwise, but to me there is still something missing to make this a good photograph.

 

[shiro_kuro]

Jon
I find this image amusing ...I think you really captured their personality . This image looked to me at first like it was a shot of a tv program .....I am not sure about the blur .. maybe if it was more deliberate like the one guy with some motion blur and the other more sharp .
Charley

 

[shiro_kuro]

Raid
Great shot I love the the way they look into the camera .. and the legs ! A color shot with a black and white feel .. The lack of sharpness adds to the mood .... The roses wrapped in plastic , the backwards words ....lots to explore
Charley

 

[shiro_kuro]

Nico
I can appreciate the difficulty of capturing a craftsman at work ...I am in this situation everyday and have yet to pull it off to where I am happy with the results .
He looks a bit like a mad scientist in his workshop ....I think a few steps closer would work better ....There is lots to see but I cannot quite make out anything and I want to ; ) .... The highlights are a little bit blown which I feel in this case take away from some of the details that would make an already good photo better .
Charley

 

[shiro_kuro]

Lubitel
You really captured this scene ... I can really feel these guys performing in this photo .
I find the person in foreground distracting and think if you stepped a bit to the left and started the edge of the frame with half this person it would work better---just an idea .
Charley

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

Thank you all for your helpful comments.

Here is my photo again, and a slightly different one taken a few seconds later.

Which is better in your opinion?

 

[nico]

Thanks for the comments,
they're very useful. i scanned my shot in august and never posted before because i feel something wrong about it.
Lubitel, you're right, this "cool" maybe because is too contrasty (i think it comes from overexposure altough it was a dim room) and highlight are blown (charlie is right on this point) in fact numbers on the clock (on the wall in the background) can barely be seen. Maybe is cool because, even though I receveid his permission to shoot, he didn't really like to be photographed.
So i'll try to scan it again with a lower contrast and cropping it on the highlights (thanks charlie, i absolutely did not think about this solution ... my beginner's dumbness!!).
if anyone has something more to suggest he is really welcome!!!
thanks everybody,
bye
nico


P.S. lubitel, may you tell us the story of your shot? i'm curious ....

 

[nico]

The first Jon, i prefer the expressions they have in the first one.
bye
nico

 

[lubitel]

jon

the guy on the right must be a great character, you should do a whole portrait series or a photo-documentary just about him. he looks amazing in both photographs. I also like the first one better.


Thanks to all for the comments.

 

[lubitel]

nico, was your photo taken at f1.5?

 

[raid]

I was walking through Bourbon Street (New Orleans) late at night when I saw these two women at a window opening. My camera was loaded specifically for grainy photos that night. Anyways, these are Mother and Daughter enjoying the night out, and I just asked them from the street whether I could take photos of them. I have other slides from that "session".

This was an enjoyful discussion. Thanks.

Raid

P.S.. Jon: The eye contact by the men made the image strong. Without it, the image is weaker.

 

[nico]

Lubitel,
i cannot exactly remeber, but i think it was around it (i remember me thinking about how difficult was to focus ... 🙂).

 

[lubitel]

I am asking, because it seems so sharp, as if it was taken with a smaller fstop, in that case I was wondering how you handheld it. But I guess thats just the difference between a nokton and a j-3 🙂

 

[nico]

well, i may add that it's a print scan ... imho, the nokton worth the money it costs, i like to shoot at night (have several night shots in my gallery all scanned from prints) and it's a real good performer. With aperture @1.5 i can handheld my bessa 'til 1/30 with acceptable (for me) results in very low light situations.
Anyway ... what about the singers? 🙂
bye
nico


P.s. if remember correctly i shot "blacksmith" @ 1/30 or 1/60.

 

[lubitel]

they were 1.5 at 1/60th or 1/30 taken with J-3, as I was sitting nearby drinking beer. It was the day before the german-italian game, these guys were italian (at least one of them) and the atmosphere was really good.

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

I like the expression of the second singer: it looks as if he hates the camera being there but he doesn't feel able to do anything about it.

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

I find these two guys very photogenic, and it helps that they tend to dress in complementary clothing. Like this:

 

[lubitel]

hmm, thanks I never thought of that. I actually thought that he was may be trying to impress the woman in front of me with his voice. its certainly an interesting expression.