>>> Street Photography eXchange #153 <<<

jacwashere · May 2, 2016

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jacwashere · May 2, 2016

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BenedictusMargaux · May 2, 2016

...interesting choice of shutter speed. At f/8 with a 28mm lens I doubt that many of the back characters are totally out of focus (the blur must be in part do to movement). This adds to the image. Yet the main character is essentially frozen (even though she must have been moving). Really nice picture.

xtoph · May 2, 2016

and pretty quickly, too.

i took some shots at more normal shutter speeds, but i also tried a couple like this, dragging the shutter to try to convey some of the sense of the movement and the dancing (and the smoke, of course).

i thought in the end this one worked best--i managed to follow her motion enough to keep her face sharp, while everything else swirled a bit.

it's hard to see the total effect in the small picture posted, so it's gratifying that you noticed. here's a crop to better show what's there (though dpr's processing degrades the detail, i notice):

you really won't be able to see anything unless you view it at the largest size

i take a fair measure of delight in getting an image to depict what i visualize--unfortunately many of the qualities that go into that are genuinely difficult to represent online (as opposed to prints).

oh well.

thank you, again, for looking.

xtoph · May 3, 2016

i agree with gerald, the picket fence is a good element, and the dramatic light is lovely.

i don't know that the tilt is doing much for you in this case--while it may contribute a bit of a sense of momentum to the skateboarder, it also seems a little haphazard. that might be mitigated if there were a stronger sense of order to some of the lines--for instance, if the picket fence were level, or if the angled shadow line hit the corner for a nicer diagonal.

just some things to perhaps think about compositionally--but i'd like to see you share some more street photos with us as you go--

leopold · May 3, 2016

xtoph said:
i agree with gerald, the picket fence is a good element, and the dramatic light is lovely.

i don't know that the tilt is doing much for you in this case--while it may contribute a bit of a sense of momentum to the skateboarder, it also seems a little haphazard. that might be mitigated if there were a stronger sense of order to some of the lines--for instance, if the picket fence were level, or if the angled shadow line hit the corner for a nicer diagonal.

just some things to perhaps think about compositionally--but i'd like to see you share some more street photos with us as you go--

Good points, i will try to level it to see how it looks.

Thank you.

jaggedhorizon · May 3, 2016

This is indeed great technique and a very good photo. The sense of movement is palpable.

When I saw the crop you posted (below), I really liked that as well...maybe a crop somewhere in between the two could also work?

jaggedhorizon · May 3, 2016

The processing here is just right in my view...the stronger contrast nearby and the hazy view over the sea / ocean...

Also like the framing / composition, it has depth and simplicity.

But it would have been great if the woman behind was frozen in a more solid position than at the beginning of a step.

(difficult, I know)

jaggedhorizon · May 3, 2016

xtoph · May 5, 2016

The colors in this are bright and concentrated, which seems like a good thing except that the overlap with the red dress in the bg, and to a lesser extent the red awning, end up distracting, I think, from the main figure. Counterintuitively, I would consider presenting this in bw. I would also strongly suggest a crop down from the top edge, both to eliminate the of poles in the bg which compete with the juggling pins, and to move the face closer to a 1/3 line down from the (new) top edge. As it is now, the face is centered but not much is going on in the top 1/4 of the frame; cropping both fixes those issues, and emphasizes the already nice arc of the pins around the face, which allows the "focus" to come out.

Does that all make sense? My comments are meant mostly to help communicate how I see this, so you understand how your picture affected me; feel free to disregard them as recommendations.

xtoph · May 5, 2016

Good tableau--your shadow thows the group out of balance a bit though. You could correct for that by shaving a bit from the left edge and up proportionally slightly (w/o cutting into feet or chair legs). I know you don't like to make many changes after the fact though.

But something to consider next time, perhaps.

bluesman2070 · May 5, 2016

Thanks Gerald. The photograph was taken in Aldeburgh, a small seaside town on the east coast of Suffolk. Some might agree with your comment about a "different time and place" with respect to Aldeburgh.

Alan.

bluesman2070 · May 5, 2016

xtoph said:
I like the elements in the background-though I think I would like to see more of the flag.

The overall balance seems a bit strange to me. I think I would like to use a wider frame with the foreground figure more to the right of it, or possibly just reframe over to the right and lose the flag at the left. That would place the singer heading into the frame instead of out of it. The other strategy of placing her on the right side of a wider frame would attempt to use the flag as a counterbalance and place her not as the principal figure But instead as one element among many spread across the frame.

I agree that the flag and the people in the background are a vital part of the image, and the main reason for taking the shot.

For me, a balance of sorts is provided by the people in the background. Options for framing the shot were not quite as easy as the picture might suggest. It was taken during the Musicircus event in Aldeburgh (see reply to Gerald) where some one thousand musicians were playing, more or less simultaneously, along the seafront.

Composing shots with so many people around was quite a challenge. I seem to remember that behind her and to the left were a dozen or so bagpipe players letting rip. How she managed to perform under these conditions, a single voice and instrument, filled me with admiration.

Thanks for your comments.

Alan.

xtoph · May 5, 2016

thanks jh for looking and commenting--

i can certainly appreciate how one might like to crop in on the original image a bit. however, i think my preferred solution would be to print this fairly large, and let the size provide the detail to appreciate the central subject, while retaining the overall context. i like the sky, and the way she (and her smoke) expand to occupy more than her immediate vicinity.

but i have decided that i can knock the tone and saturation down very slightly for the green figure at the right--i had thought he was balanced by foliage and other similar colors, but i think it is a bit too much.

thanks again

jaggedhorizon · May 6, 2016

Thank you xtoph! The comments are very useful - in general I highly appreciate the fact that you take the time to write detailed comments, not just on my photos. This helps a lot the learning process, whether for adjusting a particular photo or, more importantly, for improving future ones.

For this photo (taken at some sort of a fair during a public holiday in Brussels), I missed most of the juggler's show while I was busy taking photos of a guy making huge soap balloons. Bad decision, the juggler was far more interesting, just hadn't noticed him behind me. As I turned around, I managed to snap a couple of pics towards the end of his show. I like how the pins lined up and his expression, but the background is not ideal. I'll experiment with your suggestions.

geraldgPP · May 6, 2016

Varanasi

xtoph · May 7, 2016

really nicely done, gerald. you've approached a strong subject without forgetting the whole scene, and composed a whole picture rather than settling for a snapshot.

as you often do.

i like how the edges work, but they should be viewed against a blk bg to appreciate them properly.

geraldgPP · May 7, 2016

xtoph said:
really nicely done, gerald. you've approached a strong subject without forgetting the whole scene, and composed a whole picture rather than settling for a snapshot.

as you often do.

i like how the edges work, but they should be viewed against a blk bg to appreciate them properly.

Thank you Chris!

Do you usually click on the original pix link or click on the photo?

The original size link always butts itself to the top of the browser which I find irritating. I usually click on the photo to enter into dpr image browser. That's a near black background which sometimes is the best of both worlds.

Then with some viewers can't even be bothered to look beyond the preview and totally miss everything! Can I mention photoshop bombs seen in other threads?