Luminous Landscape Forum
The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: candide on December 31, 2010, 07:24:18 pm
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Hello everyone. I am new to this forum and would be interested in getting feedback on some of my work. Here's a photo I took recently in New Orleans. Let me know what you think. Thank you.
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Candide, I think it's a fine shot. The backlight is what makes it. Reminds me of the one I've attached from St. Augustine. If I have a criticism it's that I'd have given the pirate a bit more room on the left of the frame to walk in. But since I don't know what was off to the left I don't know whether or not that would have been possible without changing the whole feeling of the thing.
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RSL, thank you for your input. "Pirate Alley" is actually the name of the street. It's just off Jackson Square in New Orleans. That silhouetted person is really a woman who merely happened to be walking by at the time. There wasn't much off to the left of the frame that was worth including in the picture.
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I agree with Russ - well done.
Mike.
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Her hat fooled me. Kind of looks like a tricorn. I'm not talking about interesting stuff to the left; I'm talking about giving her a little more walking room. She just feels a bit crowded over there to me. But it's a nit I'm picking. I like the picture.
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Her silhouette does resemble the pirate in your photo.
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Her hat fooled me. Kind of looks like a tricorn. I'm not talking about interesting stuff to the left; I'm talking about giving her a little more walking room. She just feels a bit crowded over there to me. But it's a nit I'm picking. I like the picture.
Hey Russ,
It sounds to me as if you are suggesting a bit of, shall I say, "de-cropping" here! ;D
I must say I like the photo a lot, too.
I also like your Korean portfolio in the new B&W magazine, Russ. Very powerful images. Congrats!
Eric
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Eric, That's the problem people have when they don't do their cropping in the viewfinder and hope to improve things in Photoshop. It's damned hard to de-crop unless you screwed up a previous crop.
But I'm not sure Candide could have framed much to the left. That closest arch is essential to the composition, and so is the closest post. I don't know what he was working with. Had to be either a medium format, or else he cropped to a 1 to 1 aspect ratio. A zoom lens might have solved the problem, though the result probably would have required a crop. How's that for an idea you don't see often on LuLa? A required crop!
Thanks for the kudos on the spotlight. It was fun dragging out all that old stuff and cleaning it up. It's hard for me to believe now how primitive the processing facilities were that made those negatives.
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But I'm not sure Candide could have framed much to the left. That closest arch is essential to the composition, and so is the closest post. I don't know what he was working with. Had to be either a medium format, or else he cropped to a 1 to 1 aspect ratio. A zoom lens might have solved the problem, though the result probably would have required a crop. How's that for an idea you don't see often on LuLa? A required crop!
I used a 24-70mm zoom for this. The camera was a Sony A850, so it is cropped. I don't like cropping my photos, especially when doing so radically alters the aspect ratio, but I had to do it to attain balance in the composition. To the left of the frame was open sky with the sun rising and I couldn't put that in the shot, obviously. Pirate Alley is a very old and narrow little street so I didn't have a lot of wiggle room in there. The tight crop on the woman's silhouette doesn't bother me, since her shadow repeats her form and it extends into the middle of the shot. The two sort of work together. Without the shadow, ya, it would have been more of an issue i think.
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It's a very well done picture. The early morning sun brought out the textures in the wall really nicely.
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Okay, one from the Biscuit Tin of another pirate descended from those on the Spanish Main; dig the boots that are not really boots at all, but turn-ups. Fakery everywhere! But the flowers were probably real. So is the wall - Crusader church.
;-)
Rob C
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It's a fine image. You've accomplished a difficult task - shooting into the light and not letting the image blow out on the left side. Good camera control and excellent exposure. Highlight detail on the wall, for example, is good.
I really like your composition - not static at all, particularly capturing your subject with one foot up! The shadows are really a plus, not just adding visual interest but depth to the image.
My only suggestion would be that it's cropped a bit tight on the left side - the walker feels a bit hemmed in.
Nice work!
David Saffir
GuruShots Photo Critique (http://www.gurushots.com/)
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I'll echo Russ' original comments. It is indeed a fine shot, and while I too would lke to see a little more open space on the left, I think the image is fine as-is. Nice job.
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This is a wonderful example of the use of light in a monochrome print. And very hard to shoot so tight into the light without flare, too. The textures on the wall are stunning.
John