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Man with hat
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Well since I give out enough critique, its only fair I put myself up for some of my own medicine. Looking for suggestions as to how this might have been a better shot.
My take:
Pros – decent light, good mix of shadows and highlights, man in hat interesting element descending into shadow
Cons – The upper half of the frame is missing something to really make it a good one. Like two more people with hats/umbrellas walking past, preferablly in opposite directions etc.
For the record, I dont think moving closer for a crop would have worked. All that might do would focus on the man with hat, I think it needed more street element, but there just was not enough happening.
Steve,
Your critique was interesting lecture in the last days, I can only learn from it, so don’t hold back.
From where I see it , the image is busy enough in the upper part, it actually steers the eye away from your subject. Part of it might be because he already is in the shadow. What I find the most attractive in the image is the man and his shadow on the stairs in the lower half.I agree that the top half of the shot is the weakest part. It’s a pity that you can’t just shout “Places everyone. Take two!” when shooting street. Even if the people with umbrellas didn’t turn up, the photo may have been better if there was nobody at all in the top half of frame.
The lower half is the most interesting. There is a noir feel to it (probably because of the hat). The shadow of the man’s head is great too.
If you could lighten the upper part of the man’s body it would draw the eye down straight away I think
I think that if you had focused the camera downward more on the man on the steps and the shadow, with the slice of light across the mans chest and slice of light across the steps that seem to match, granted the lower half of the shot would probably be to dark, but i think it would have been a more powerful street shot.
Thanks for the crit all.
alancotter wrote:
I think that if you had focused the camera downward more on the man on the steps and the shadow
Yeah, but thats what everyone would have done, and it would be no better I think. It would be just a shot a man going into shadows, which is what it is now. The scene would have worked better of I had waited for another hat to come along and do the same thing but with something interesting happening above also. There were a lot of hats and fur coats of all types about, and great light, so it would be sure to happen with a little patience. Except I had the other half waiting in the shops behind me who gave me 5 mins, and no more. But that’s no excuse, to be honest.
Dedalus wrote:
If you could lighten the upper part of the man’s body it would draw the eye down straight away I think
Yeah, I agree, a little. But post processing is no way to hide my sins in street photography. If you dont get the shot, you dont get the shot. And I missed a belter here I think.
davedunne wrote:
Even if the people with umbrellas didn’t turn up, the photo may have been better if there was nobody at all in the top half of frame.
It might, I had never even thought of that when I took it, the be honest. I saw him coming, where he was going and chased him, while thinking, “where are the damn umbrellas?”
Steveb wrote
Yeah, I agree, a little. But post processing is no way to hide my sins in street photography. If you dont get the shot, you dont get the shot. And I missed a belter here I think.i think you’re being a bit hard on yourself there, although I know from sorry experience when you see an image and you know if only you had done something different, and the chance of the same composition happening again, and if something else was in the frame to balance the scene and…….well I could go on. If you’re in the area again, give it another go, it may work, it may not, that’s what I love about this type of photography
Dedalus wrote:
i think you’re being a bit hard on yourself there,
No, it’s called the editing process.
i thinks the shot stands by itself. I like it. He seems a bit like an anti-hero ulysses stepping through that shaft of light and into the shadows heading down to the underworld.
steveb wrote:
Yeah, but thats what everyone would have done
Really? Thats some assumption.
alancotter wrote:
steveb wrote:
Yeah, but thats what everyone would have done
Really? Thats some assumption.
Tis, but there you go. I see you have done some shadow work. I much like it, but I dont want to copy it.
Anyway all, many thanks for the critique and comments. We shall meet again.
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