W/NW took my MP to the coast...

[amoz]

I have bought the MP more than six months ago and never even put up any MP pictures --to share with all these RFF'ers who lured me into rangefinder photography in the first place! So here it goes, and since I have no particular occasion to put these up, I just picked some of my last ones, taken at the Belgian seaside last weekend.

MP + 35/2 asph, Tri-X @ 1600.

I'd appreciate some honest feedback, so feel free to critique!

 

[le vrai rdu]

IMHO , you underexposed a bit your film :d

I really like the last one 🙂

The first could be nice if you were neerer of the people

picture 2 and 3 are too much dark to give an advice

the fourth, well, I don't feel anything about it 😱


I really love the composition of the last, the hair in the wind etc

 

[Andrew Sowerby]

The two "street" photos don't do anything for me, but I think that it takes a while to develop the ability to shoot street. I'm certainly not very good at it. If it's something that you're interested in, keep practicing.

I like the first one and I disagree with the poster above who said that you should have been closer. I like the framing. The last one is the best of the bunch, IMO. Good DoF and tonality.

 

[tripod]

A strong "film noir" look.

 

[Tom A]

Any particular reason why you rate your Tri X at 1600? There is a loss of shadow detail in a couple of the shots. The first and the last one I really like -great framing and "feel".
The advantage with the rf is the fact that you can get way with very slow shutter speeds and not needing to push film (which usually involve a trade off somewhere, either as grain or loss of low light details). Try some more shots at "rated" speed and see how it works.
Is that the Jabbeke beach? Looks great.

 

[jbf]

I enjoy the first and final shots of your sets. In the case of the last one I think the added contrast really works well for this shot. As mentioned already definately there is a very strong film noir effect going on. Quite nice. 🙂

 

[jairy hunter]

I really like that last one!

 

[-kk-]

love the baby shot!

 

[tomasis]

it is the mood there. like it. Surprised that was 35 asph. it is way too smooth 😀

 

[marke]

The street shots don't work for me, but that last one is a sure winner. The composition is wonderful!

 

[amoz]

Thanks for all the comments!

Let me get into a few remarks.

If you think the first shot was taken from too far off, maybe you'll like this one better (I don't!):

I had the camera to my eye, kept one of the girls in the middle and snapped as the other one looked back at me.

...or just from a different perspective; was hoping they would try and júmp over the water but they did not 🙂. (somehow this is kind of a dull picture I think, I am not really a fan)

The first street shot I really like, in fact. The shadows, the perspective on the right, the grandma's head popping up... I consider it a lucky shot --didn't have time to bring the camera up to my eye and properly compose --and the result pleases me in a way. Of course: it's okay for you not to like it! ;-) It's good to disagree; makes our (look on) photography much less objective and sterile than it sometimes seems to be in gear discussions. I like that.

About the second street shot: I tought it was not completely worthless because of the "copied" poses (all looking down) and different plane of focus (which adds some depth) between the characters. The "lingerie" advertisement was a welcome subtle funny note. But again, I don't want to sell my pictures here and I believe we should be critical about our own work. If you don't feel it, you just don't feel it.

I will definitely take Andrew's advice to keep practicing.

The two "street" photos don't do anything for me, but I think that it takes a while to develop the ability to shoot street. I'm certainly not very good at it. If it's something that you're interested in, keep practicing.

I like the first one and I disagree with the poster above who said that you should have been closer. I like the framing. The last one is the best of the bunch, IMO. Good DoF and tonality.

About the baby shot: it was taken in an elevator, which means 4 people plus a baby on one square meter and very low light (taken at 1/15, f 2.0, 1600 ASA + green-yellow filter). Each time we took the elevator I had the time to snap just one shot. Here is another one:

And for those who thought it was too dark, this version is a tad lightened up. Here you can see the girl who holds him is about to give him a kiss right when I took the picture.

Again, thank you all for the helpful reactions.

 

[amoz]

Any particular reason why you rate your Tri X at 1600? There is a loss of shadow detail in a couple of the shots. The first and the last one I really like -great framing and "feel".
The advantage with the rf is the fact that you can get way with very slow shutter speeds and not needing to push film (which usually involve a trade off somewhere, either as grain or loss of low light details). Try some more shots at "rated" speed and see how it works.
Is that the Jabbeke beach? Looks great.

Tom, I rated it at 1600 because I knew I was going to be in very different lighting conditions and wanted to be ready for that. I made the mistake to also use a green-yellow filter, which again added contrast. I like the remarks about the "film noir" effect however. 🙂 About the slow shutterspeeds, I did need them quite often (because the filter put me about 1.5 stops back). I usually manage to handhold down to 1/15, and 1/8 if I can lean against a wall or so. Anyway, I will definitely try shooting Tri-X at 400 more often (with simple UV filter), thanks for putting that up.
It was not Jabbeke (never been there, I think!) but in Heist, close to the port of Zeebrugge which you can see in the back of the second pic in the last post.

Thanks for your time (and critical eye).