[fguihen]

October 16, 2014 at 10:58 am

Good to hear its producing good results on a DSLR. I never tried it on the DSLR, but on the x100 i almost never auto focus. F8.0, set focus to 2.5- 3 meters in front of the lens and that covers almost everything i need for street photography. Camera doesnt have to spend a half second searching for focus so taking an image is that much quicker, which makes all the difference in street photography.

I got that number from trial and error but this table gives more accurate distances & focus zones for Fstops near and at hyperfocal distances:

[fguihen]

September 26, 2014 at 2:19 pm

I called about this and there has been a very slow uptake. It now looks like there are enough to make it worthwhile, but aparently there is not a lot of uptake on the friday night talk.

Once i get confirmation its going ahead i will book, assuming i can get a reasonably priced hotel at that stage. Friday night talk would be nice but I live in Dublin and theres no way i can be in Cork for 7:30 as i only leave work at 6.

[fguihen]

September 21, 2014 at 2:05 pm

last one is an excellent shot. Works very well, attention is drawn to the center by both subjects as they are both converging, subject is obviously the kid, and the man behind focusing on the kid also helps draw your attention there. Good choice to stay with color also, a lot of street photographers seem to feel the need to take B&W only but color works great in a lot of situations, particularly here. Nice and sharp throughout also.

[fguihen]

September 21, 2014 at 2:03 pm

If i had to chose i prefer the first one. It feels more street, which is what I prefer. The second one has been taken a million times, and also looks claustrophobic, there isnt enough space around the guy, he feels squashed into the frame..

Not sure about the processing either. Its obviously daytime but they are overly grainy from either super high ISO or purposefully added grain. I love a bit of grain and Manos even says that “grain is the photographers brush stroke”, but only in the right situation. In a moody, dark or highly charged scene grain can add to the effect, but in a scene like this, day time, peaceful, lots of light, nothing particular happening that makes the scene striking, grain detracts a lot & just looks like you forgot to turn the ISO down and are now suffering the consequences.

DOF in the first is a little off to my eye, guitar head is in focus but musicians head is not, maybe thats an stylistic choice, but for me that doesnt work.

The lady staring at the musician is the most interesting item in the scene, she has a good expression but again, shes not in focus, a deeper DOF would have helped here.

[fguihen]

August 26, 2014 at 10:33 pm

Thanks for the input john, appeeciate your honesty. I tried many in b&w but they just didnt capture the energy and cibrance of the scene. It was a deliberate decision to keep the color. Im interested in what, in your opinion could make hese into real photos as oppposed to snaps? We talking trendy dof, some filters or something else?

Regarding the facial expressions, i can only capture the people, i cant make them grimace or produce more intesting faces!

In regards to the first one, well, this is a protest for freedom, and the gpo and tri color are big symbols or our steuggle and where it happened, so i felt a connection between these objects and the protest for peoples freedoms in the modern age. I think the photo says that

[fguihen]

August 26, 2014 at 3:03 pm

I dont think he was up to much and the look is just trying to look cool more than anything. He joined around stephens green and only put his mask up after he noticed my camera pointing in his direction ( i wasnt actually taking pics of him until i saw his mask go up and he became a lot more interesting!) . They left the protest march not long after i took this and headed off to some unknown destination.

When you look at the care taken in his hair, well kept boots, not cheap either il bet, Id say he’s most likely all image. A proper real salt of the earth up-to-no-good scumbag wouldn’t care about the state of their clothes, hair or matching their footwear with their buddy, at lest in my experience!

[fguihen]

August 26, 2014 at 2:41 pm

Thanks for the feedback Mark, much appreciated.
I actually went through pretty much that thought process when processing this in PS. The image looked ok, but something just grabbed me about the much higher contrast ( darker darks, brighter brights) than the more balanced image and i went with my gut rather than my head on this.

I appreciate it may not be to everyone’s tastes though.

[fguihen]

August 24, 2014 at 9:56 pm

brilliant image! I love macro shots that are not all about “how close can i get to this really tiny object/insect”. This is technically good, sharp, well exposed, shows the bug well but is about a story and content, rather than a super close up. great job.

[fguihen]

August 24, 2014 at 9:53 pm

2nd one works best to my eye, just a better pose and the eyes look more realistic. the eyes almost look fake in the first one.

[fguihen]

August 24, 2014 at 9:52 pm

lines and shapes in the 2nd one is awesome and it works really well in B&W. black rim of the building is great. only thing that detracts is the vertical black curtain in the right, but thats minor

[fguihen]

August 24, 2014 at 9:49 pm

number 2 is defo the best. could be made stand out more with a little processing, but agree with other comments, sometimes its about the subject and not about nit picking on composition and quality!

[fguihen]

August 24, 2014 at 9:48 pm

nice scene, i know the spot alright! sky looks a little overbaked and once pointed out, the tree does look strange! Id say tone the processing down a little and let the image speak for itself.

[fguihen]

August 17, 2014 at 12:25 am

Brilliantly informative guys, thanks a mil!

[fguihen]

August 5, 2014 at 10:01 am

lovely shot. I agree, with good B&W processing this image would just jump off the page/screen,

[fguihen]

August 5, 2014 at 10:00 am

Beautiful. they look like perfect little marbles, pin sharp.
Im not a fan of the framing though, the shadow and all that. This would work perfectly on its own strength without shadows, boarders etc. Would also be super striking with the right B&W processing.