Luminous Landscape Forum
The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: RSL on June 27, 2014, 06:34:10 pm
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Overall I like this but I'm not sure if the man in the white shirt is a distraction? The eye is drawn to him first rather than female musician. An image that I would have to look at again to make up my mind.
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Overall I like this but I'm not sure if the man in the white shirt is a distraction? The eye is drawn to him first rather than female musician. An image that I would have to look at again to make up my mind.
That bothers me too.
The only way I can make sense of the image as presented is if it is a metaphor about the difficulty (the wall) an artist (the singer) has about reaching a potential audience (the man in white). But the tonalities suggest that the man is more important than the singer.
If the purpose is to be unsettling, than it certainly works.
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Okay. You both are right. I'm happy to see this kind of criticism -- that deals with composition rather than post-processing. Here are two alternatives. (I cropped. I'll have to confess to the ghost of HCB.)
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Now you've made it harder, Russ.
The square shot is now a lovely, sensitive portrait, and the background and lines on the ground leading to her make a very nice composition. But it doesn't really have the "ambiguity" that you want in "street." So I classify it as a fine portrait, but not "street."
In the new vertical shot, I'm glad you made the guy go home and change his shirt. ;)
Now the tonal balance between the singer and the passerby is much better, and this shot does retain the ambiguity that invites the viewer to try out a variety of readings. So, since I tend to prefer complexity over simplicity (as in the Choir rehearsal shots), I now find I have a modest preference for this new version.
Am I right to say this is now "street?" After all, I generally only do pretty landscapes and abstracts myself, and occasional photos of streets, but never "street," since it's too hard. ;)
Eric
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Hi Eric, Yes, I'd call the vertical "street," but it would be better street if there were a bit more ambiguity there. It just seemed a pleasant thing as I passed by, but I spun the lens up to f/11 to catch the guy in the background and make it a street shot.
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Russ, both are an "improvement". I prefer the one with just the girl singer.