Help me choose a photo...

[dreilly]

Hi All,

I need some input here on a few photographs. I need to pick one. Okay, truth be told, it's for the RFF 2 book...I'm late because the deadline fell on a transcontinental flight with a 2.5 year old--and lots of jet lag. The first is agreed upon, the second is a tough call for my wife and I.

We're not terribly objective obviously since a) I took them and 2) they're mostly of her family or people/things she knows very well in Slovakia.

How should you judge? However you want. I guess which one captures something about the subject that grabs you...(specific enough?) Okay, enough words.

Photos:

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

Where should we find these photos?

 

[dreilly]

There they are. Look up. Took me a minute.

 

[RML]

I'd say nr 3.

 

[zuikologist]

Number three for me - it's enigmatic. Are they sharing a joke, a school memory, discussing women...........

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

Number three gets my vote.

(You should have made this thread a poll)

 

[dreilly]

Never done a poll before. I guess I can't add one now. Looks like folks like #3, thus far. Anyone want to be the fly in the ointment?

 

[Gid]

Number three - no flies on me or my ointment.

 

[Ukko Heikkinen]

Number Four

Number Four

Ukko Heikkinen

 

[JoeFriday]

I like #4 also, but I'd crop out the empty space on the left

 

[terrafirmanada]

I like the fourth. It has a nice intimate feeling for me. Maybe a dad thing.

 

[dreilly]

How much of the space would you crop out, Brett? I sort of like it for balance, keeps it more on thirds than smack in the middle. I'll have to fiddle with it.

Still open for votes. My wife and I love the fourth, too, since it captures such a memorable (if slightly gross) moment, the stuff of every day life nonetheless.

 

[JoeFriday]

the thirds rule would apply well, except all the action is leading into the right side of the frame, making it heavy on the right

here's how I would probably do it.. cropped just a bit, and I played with the levels a little, since it looked a little dark on my monitor.. note that I think it's important to keep the little guy's hands in the image, as that gives it a lot of feeling

 

[Goodyear]

I like 4, also.

 

[dreilly]

Thanks, that looks good. I haven't really fiddled with the levels or curves yet. These were quick scans. It's a little girl, too. No worries, it happens all the time. We don't dress Zora in pink (unless that's what was at the second hand store) and if she's a tom-boy...more power to her!

My wife and I get a little freaked by toddlers that look more like their barbies than we do. Not that zora has any barbies, though she does have a curious george sock monkey that's the current star of her life.

 

[Todd.Hanz]

#4 for sure, this one reminds my of my kids when they were young, now if you could only add sound you would hear that terrible "sucking noise" 🙂



Todd

 

[vladhed]

go with four, as cropped/leveled by JoeFriday. Also, in keeping with with rangefinder theme, 3&4 are more representative of the kinds of shots that RFs are good at.

 

[dreilly]

ManGo,

Not a bad point. It would be a mighty thing to take out and show to potential suiters when they come a calling. But maybe not as bad as that naked shot of me at the same age, in a bath tub, that my parents used to torture me with.

My thought was that 3 was a little more...done before...than 4. I've seen tons of cafe shots (love them myself of course!) and 3 is special because we know the characters really well. I'm not sure how much of their character I caught...we think a lot, because we know them and elements of the image resonate with us.

But without the context, how much is communicated?

 

[brightsky]

I'll vote for #4.

To answer your question about communication without the context....

Parents anywhere would recognize this moment and relate to it. No context is needed.

 

[robert blu]

totally agrre with JoeFriday !