Euro Rail Traveller

[mike.online]

Hi All,

Got this picture in the Train Station in Marseilles, France. I really loved the sense of style and the body language present in the image. Would like to hear what you all thought.

30D, ISO640, F/3.5, 28mm

Color
[attachment=15805:mme_5168.jpg]

B&W
[attachment=15806:mme_5168_2.jpg]

[popnfresh]

The lighting is very unusual. Is the person being lit by an overhead streetlight? Against the bluish light of dusk in the background, it makes her really pop out. It seems like the shot was white-balanced for her and the background lighting shifted towards blue.

[jasonrandolph]

I like the color version much better.  The one thing that bothers me is the horizontal line "impaling" her head.  Perhaps this couldn't be helped if you were snapping a quick shot, but I would've either moved camera position or used a shallower DOF so that the line is blurred.  Otherwise, it' a very interesting street portrait.

[Jeremy Roussak]

Got this picture in the Train Station in Marseilles, France. I really loved the sense of style and the body language present in the image. Would like to hear what you all thought.
[attachment=15805:mme_5168.jpg]

I much prefer the colour version, but the sky looks unnaturally intense. Could you perhaps decrease the saturation a little?

Jeremy

[alangubbay]

I like the color version much better.  The one thing that bothers me is the horizontal line "impaling" her head.  Perhaps this couldn't be helped if you were snapping a quick shot, but I would've either moved camera position or used a shallower DOF so that the line is blurred.  Otherwise, it' a very interesting street portrait.

I like it.  Surely it would be very easy to remove some of that horizontal line "impaling" her head and considerably improve the picture.

[francois]

Same as others... I like the color version very much. The sky is not so good in the B/W, I find the whole photo too flat in B/W.
The intense blue color doesn't shock me but the large beam that goes across the head of the subject is disturbing. I would try to "move" the lines and beam up. It should be too difficult.

The position of the subject and the train in motion (slightly blurred) on the left combined with the low point of view is very pleasant, a good photo, congratulations.

[mike.online]

Thank you all for your kind words and criticisms. One question I have it I wonder how you would go about shifting the horizonal beam upwards. To do so I would think that I would need to move pretty much all of the powerlines, or remove all of them entirely. Given that they are all connected it does not seem like a viable option to move just one without killing the realism. Thoughts ?

[Peter McLennan]

... how you would go about shifting the horizonal beam upwards. To do so I would think that I would need to move pretty much all of the powerlines, or remove all of them entirely. Given that they are all connected it does not seem like a viable option to move just one without killing the realism. Thoughts ?

You're right.  Once you start, there's nowhere to stop.  I normally hate power lines and clone 'em out fanatically.  In this case, I think the image is enhanced by them.  They're well positioned in the composition and part of the story.

The sky is great.  Leave it saturated blue.

I might even go to work on the train and add to the motion blur.  What little blur there is definitely works; more might be better.