Sometimes action does not feature in a Sports Photo.

[Gearóid Ó Laoi Garry Lee]

This is a fairly edited crop from a Sony A6000 with standard zoom of my daughter who has just had a huge PB at the Berlin Marathon, smashing the Olympic qualifying standard. I like juiced up colours etc.

I like the stance, the number, the name Elizabeth and the memory. I've printed it to A3 and it's very good.

 

[John_A_G]

This is a fairly edited crop from a Sony A6000 with standard zoom of my daughter who has just had a huge PB at the Berlin Marathon, smashing the Olympic qualifying standard. I like juiced up colours etc.

I like the stance, the number, the name Elizabeth and the memory. I've printed it to A3 and it's very good.

First of all - congratulations to your daughter - that's a tremendous accomplishment.

As for the image - it's a great memory for you and that is important. I create photo albums every year that contain snapshots that are important memories to me and my family.

To me the difference between a photo and a snapshot is this:

the snapshot has significance to viewers because of an emotional attachment to the subject.

A photo elicits interest in people that don't have an interest.

For sports photos - I agree that they don't all have to have action. But for those that do not, there should be a story. This image, to me, doesn't have a compelling story. Jazzing up the colors looks great to people on social media / instagram - or it did 3 years ago - now, it's just "old hat". That isn't enough to make it a compelling image.

Again, you might get irritated by my critique. I don't mean it to diminish your daughter's tremendous accomplishment or the emotional importance of a snapshot memory of an important life event. Just - with no emotional attachment to the subject of the photo, I don't find the image compelling. There's no story and the over-processed colors don't make the mundane content more compelling.

on the other hand, if the image was from the front and showed an emotional reaction to her achievement, that could be a compelling image - one that speaks to people that don't know you or your daughter. I have literally hundreds of snapshots of my son that have great emotional significance to me. That significance doesn't make them good photos.

There are any number of photos around sports that aren't directed at the action that make for compelling images.

Again, congrats to your daughter and cherish the memory and the image you have to commemorate that memory. But, I don't think either of those two things makes this a good sports photo.

 

[Gearóid Ó Laoi Garry Lee]

This is a fairly edited crop from a Sony A6000 with standard zoom of my daughter who has just had a huge PB at the Berlin Marathon, smashing the Olympic qualifying standard. I like juiced up colours etc.

I like the stance, the number, the name Elizabeth and the memory. I've printed it to A3 and it's very good.

First of all - congratulations to your daughter - that's a tremendous accomplishment.

As for the image - it's a great memory for you and that is important. I create photo albums every year that contain snapshots that are important memories to me and my family.

To me the difference between a photo and a snapshot is this:

the snapshot has significance to viewers because of an emotional attachment to the subject.

A photo elicits interest in people that don't have an interest.

For sports photos - I agree that they don't all have to have action. But for those that do not, there should be a story. This image, to me, doesn't have a compelling story. Jazzing up the colors looks great to people on social media / instagram - or it did 3 years ago - now, it's just "old hat". That isn't enough to make it a compelling image.

Again, you might get irritated by my critique. I don't mean it to diminish your daughter's tremendous accomplishment or the emotional importance of a snapshot memory of an important life event. Just - with no emotional attachment to the subject of the photo, I don't find the image compelling. There's no story and the over-processed colors don't make the mundane content more compelling.

on the other hand, if the image was from the front and showed an emotional reaction to her achievement, that could be a compelling image - one that speaks to people that don't know you or your daughter. I have literally hundreds of snapshots of my son that have great emotional significance to me. That significance doesn't make them good photos.

There are any number of photos around sports that aren't directed at the action that make for compelling images.

Again, congrats to your daughter and cherish the memory and the image you have to commemorate that memory. But, I don't think either of those two things makes this a good sports photo.

I don't at all disagree with you! I've thousands upon thousands of action photos of her, some of them really good like...







..but as regards juicing up the colour etc., I utterly disagree! The visual impact of a photo printed with correct colour and contrast is very often magnified by playing with it.
However, for the individual who took it, a picture may tell a story that is lost on others. That's perfectly fine. One person's priceless memento is another's worthless bauble!
Your critique is correct in all respects except the colour one. I can't understand the obsession of photographers with correct colour. Black and White isn't correct colour, nor is Sepia, yet who gets rid of those techniques because of that?





--
Níor bhris focal maith fiacail riamh (Irish Gaelic)
A good word never broke a tooth.

 

[John_A_G]

..but as regards juicing up the colour etc., I utterly disagree! The visual impact of a photo printed with correct colour and contrast is very often magnified by playing with it.
However, for the individual who took it, a picture may tell a story that is lost on others. That's perfectly fine. One person's priceless memento is another's worthless bauble!
Your critique is correct in all respects except the colour one. I can't understand the obsession of photographers with correct colour. Black and White isn't correct colour, nor is Sepia, yet who gets rid of those techniques because of that?

 

[Gearóid Ó Laoi Garry Lee]

Indeed John! I was a huge fan of Velvia. But ultimately, there's no accounting for taste in anything! I'm not arguing against you at all. I agree all the way, except on the "punch" of an image but I agree that it has to be judged on an individual basis. You really have to see it printed. I've printed it to A3. It looks terrific to me and all I've shown it to. It's dead in the original.

 

[fishy wishy]

You might look on the photo in one way, but as soon as I look at it my attention is drawn to someone's bum slap-bang in the middle of the photo. And not because I am a fetishist. Since you can't see their faces this is just about inevitable.

 

[Rich Rosen]

No, sometimes it doesn't.

 

[Gearóid Ó Laoi Garry Lee]

Indeed! That has emotion. I like emotion.