Requesting thoughts on what you would do -if you don't mind

[Todd Suttles]

I know its not a museum shot
Using as a learning exercise for my decision making and would appreciate any thought processes you would be willing to share on how to think about making this image be the best it could be.
Provided: Full Frame, color & Black/White, AND 3 crops.
Thanks if you have the time and patience, -/t

[Todd Suttles]

Square. Which is what I would assume to be the best.

[Jeremy Roussak]

I'd say the last of the first batch, but cropped at the top to just below the waste bin on the right. It'll be almost square; I think your square crop is too tight.

I think you could make the processing a little more interesting, too.

Jeremy

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

My choice and crop:

[RSL]

What's the point of this picture, Todd? To show a cute dog? If so, it doesn't matter how you crop it as long as you leave the dog in the picture.

[Martin Kristiansen]

My choice and crop:

+1

[Rob C]

You could write a treatise on this:

1. sanitation requirements and responsibilities regarding publicly used property;

2. due care in the prevention of theft (close to my heart these days);

3. animal welfare.

These could all provide a sound basis for the production of the photograph, and its value. Value is directly proportional to purpose. Without purpose there is no, well, purpose or reason for the energy expenditure that photography entails. Much like writing posts in social media. Stones, houses of glass.

;-(

Rob

[Todd Suttles]

What's the point of this picture, Todd? To show a cute dog? If so, it doesn't matter how you crop it as long as you leave the dog in the picture.
ope.

You are right! Thank you as always. It is a feeble beginning at something you and others have been encouraging me to understand for some time now -I hope. The dog is a central image in an exercise/project/story I started last Saturday while I had a few hours off from work. It is a story about how food choices can be evidence of lots of things. There are 39 first working images, it is in the first beginning stages. The camera becomes the dog as he is chauffeured past human food. It is way TOO much to post here but is on Behance at link below. And... I don't know where it is going, why, or what I want it to say yet. Currently, my rules are: color, full-frame/no crop (dog excepted), no processing except burn/dodge, sharpen, noise removal.


https://www.behance.net/gallery/88879083/Evidence-Of-Personality-IdentityVia-Food

Below are the first and second images in the series as of now

[Todd Suttles]

You could write a treatise on this:

1. sanitation requirements and responsibilities regarding publicly used property;

2. due care in the prevention of theft (close to my heart these days);

3. animal welfare.

These could all provide a sound basis for the production of the photograph, and its value. Value is directly proportional to purpose. Without purpose there is no, well, purpose or reason for the energy expenditure that photography entails. Much like writing posts in social media. Stones, houses of glass.

;-(

Rob

Thank you Rob. See my reply to Russ

[Todd Suttles]

My choice and crop:

Thanks Slobodan. that is where I landed with the exception that it is part of a story board and I wanted this image include more external conext/environment; and I like the placement of pinks in the image. (it is iamge #2 of 39; see my reply to Russ's question)

[MattBurt]

Late to the party, but I like the final choice. DOF is good to show the context but not too much busy/distracting detail.
The dog is cute and even if that was the whole story, I think any image worth making should be given some thought to composition. What to leave in or out will make a break a photo, regardless of how you regard the subject.

[RSL]

And the purse is safe. A dog that large and vicious will protect it.

[Rob C]

And the purse is safe. A dog that large and vicious will protect it.

Is the mutt safe?

An excerpt from a message, today, from my daughter:

"...had a similar tale to tell from a recent holiday she had in Greece. She and her husband went to look at the Parthenon from a vantage point. The signposted route looked a little dodgy as they were heading up backstreets, and she asked a local if they were on the right path. He nodded. She then stopped to take 2 photos on her phone, with her bag strapped across her chest for safety. It must have been seconds. When she turned back to continue up the steps, she saw her purse lying on the ground. Her bank cards were there but she had lost 100 euros cash and £40 sterling. And she felt nothing and saw nobody."

A dog in a basket is even easier than a watch on a wrist or a wallet in a bag!

The sooner there are surveillance cameras everywhere, the better! And with face-detect.

Commit a crime and the world should be made of glass; remain innocent, and you should get a large sum of money paid into your bank account every Christmas.

;-)

[rabanito]

Todd

I looked at your website and found that many  (or most of) the images published there are IMHO way more interesting that anything you publish here for "User Critiques"
Rather confusing at least to me.
Is this some kind of test?

[KLaban]

Is the mutt safe?

An excerpt from a message, today, from my daughter:

"...had a similar tale to tell from a recent holiday she had in Greece. She and her husband went to look at the Parthenon from a vantage point. The signposted route looked a little dodgy as they were heading up backstreets, and she asked a local if they were on the right path. He nodded. She then stopped to take 2 photos on her phone, with her bag strapped across her chest for safety. It must have been seconds. When she turned back to continue up the steps, she saw her purse lying on the ground. Her bank cards were there but she had lost 100 euros cash and £40 sterling. And she felt nothing and saw nobody."

A dog in a basket is even easier than a watch on a wrist or a wallet in a bag!

The sooner there are surveillance cameras everywhere, the better! And with face-detect.

Commit a crime and the world should be made of glass; remain innocent, and you should get a large sum of money paid into your bank account every Christmas.

;-)

Same the world over, Rob.

There are places, islands, in Greece where a certain level of care is advisable. The are other areas, islands, we visit where nobody, including us, bother to lock our, their, doors and peoples whose generosity and kindness is humbling. I've lost count of the number of occasions when we've been invited into complete stranger's homes to share their food, drink and hospitality.

The difference is often explained by tourist numbers, those with high levels of tourism being prone to problems, those with low levels of tourism being welcoming.

No prizes then for guessing where we choose to spend our time when in Greece.

;-)

[RSL]

I don't know whether or not it's still true, but in 1953 and '54 when I was in Japan occasionally, you could leave your wallet on a restaurant table and it would still be there, or at least secured by the establishment's owner, hours later.

[Rob C]

I don't know whether or not it's still true, but in 1953 and '54 when I was in Japan occasionally, you could leave your wallet on a restaurant table and it would still be there, or at least secured by the establishment's owner, hours later.

It's the honour concept.

On this island of Mallorca, when discussing this subject, many a person has dropped his voice, moved a bit nearer and said "Franco!" and then gone on to say that during his time, nobody gave a thought to locking doors, and people with cars seldon withdrew the keys when going into a café for a glass or cup of something. In the days when the Guardia Civil wore leather boots and rode big motorbikes, their appearance was enough to scare the poop out of casual thieves. These days, they seem to drive around on four wheels rather than two.

During lunch today I had the company of an English neighbour who had flown out for a couple of days to sort out a few problems, only to find that he'd landed in even more: he returns to Britain tomorrow, and already he has lost money on flights he has had to cancel in order to make totally (and more inconvenient) new connections for getting home because of strike action! Anyway, lunch: a male and female Guardia Civil were having a coffee at the next table, and when they got up to leave (they paid their bill!), I remarked to my friend that the lady fuzz had a lovely automatic strapped to her waist. He replied that once upon a time guys used to comment on the size of a lady's tits, not on her weapon of choice. Things change.
;-(   ;-(

[Rob C]

Same the world over, Rob.

There are places, islands, in Greece where a certain level of care is advisable. The are other areas, islands, we visit where nobody, including us, bother to lock our, their, doors and peoples whose generosity and kindness is humbling. I've lost count of the number of occasions when we've been invited into complete stranger's homes to share their food, drink and hospitality.

The difference is often explained by tourist numbers, those with high levels of tourism being prone to problems, those with low levels of tourism being welcoming.

No prizes then for guessing where we choose to spend our time when in Greece.

;-)

Yes; we first went to Greece - if you can really think of Rhodes as Greece? - with the job, and found the people very friendly too, where we'd get dragged into the restaurant kitchen to see what was cooking because we had no idea what the menu was proclaiming, even if it was, supposedly, in English. These were, of course, small places on or near beaches, not hotels! The same held in Mallorca in the day, and I tell you what, it guaranteed return visits! When folks are confident enough to let you see how the food is before you get the plate, it shows good standards.

And there the rub: when this starts to create more visitors, the numbers attract the predators, too. Just like in the natural world. The melting ice caps are going to change all that for the sea life as for the human. Hmmm... if I can't sell this place and the Med rises, as our place is built a few feet above ground level, then the terrace might become a mooring, allowing (forcing) me to get rid of the car and finally invest in a little boat instead! That's what I'm like: I see the positive in everything. ;-)

Rob

[KLaban]

Tavernas in Greece, or at least tavernas in Greece that are worth a light, tend to offer what looked good in the markets that morning. The only time you'll see menus in such establishments is when the tourist police are due to make one of their visits.

[Rob C]

Tavernas in Greece, or at least tavernas in Greece that are worth a light, tend to offer what looked good in the markets that morning. The only time you'll see menus in such establishments is when the tourist police are due to make one of their visits.

The implication of police visits and proprietors being aware has a delightfully Mediterranean flavour to it.

I remember some years ago that we were in a bar having tapas one Sunday morn after doing the veggie market buying for the next few days, when one of the regular African salesmen was in trying to do his thing with cheap music CDs. All of a sudden he fled into the loo and reappeared sans his bag. In a moment or two, in came two local cops for their cup of whatever. When they left, back into the loo, and back with the CD bag.

My friendly neighbour,  who is currently on a very short trip over here from Britain, knew about the theft of my watch - he was here the day it happened - and as we sat having lunch a couple of days ago, he asked me if I needed a new Rolex. I laughed, and showed the Invicta, whereupon he reached into his pocket and proffered an ancient "Rolex". Ancient, and bought from another African doing his sales thing in the yacht club, of all places! I think it cost the equivalent of €30 in the days of the peseta! As this is Wednesday, and as Wednesday is the port's market day unlike Pollensa, which has it on Sundays, and knowing that my lapse in awareness of the implications had led to the mugging on a Wednesday, today I had decided to play safe - too late! too late! - and wear the newly gifted ancient fake. I had been tempted to ask the two Guardias having coffee next to us if they had heard anything about my stolen watch, but then thought: keep shtum, baby, you are wearing a true fake that has used the actual brand name! Had they (the fuzz) then glanced at my wrist, God knows where that might have led; it had been difficult enough convincing them that an old geezer with knees poking out his jeans, and with a worn out baseball cap on his dome had ever had a Rolex in his entire life.

But the thing is, from a no-nonsense tapas bar to an exclusive yacht club, there seems to have been tollerance for those migrants trying to sell shit in order to eat.

Life has its funny moments.

Rob