Shots not used in the recent DSS Challenge

michswiss

Given I've already put them forward, I would appreciate comments and thoughts about the two images I didn't use in the recent Challenge from the broader Street community.

1)

2)

rutt

I just love #1. It's everything I try to get in street photography. You got right in their faces and captured some sort of spark. I could write more than one story to go with it. Great use of DOF and a strong simple composition.

#2 doesn't grab me as much. Sure it works, but I have lots of my own shots through windows with interesting reflections. This is an interesting looking man and a very interesting composition, but the shot is lacking in immediacy. Shooting through windows is like having a safety net. That said, something like this could be a winner for the current challenge.

bdcolen

rutt wrote:

I just love #1. It's everything I try to get in street photography. You got right in their faces and captured some sort of spark. I could write more than one story to go with it. Great use of DOF and a strong simple composition.

#2 doesn't grab me as much. Sure it works, but I have lots of my own shots through windows with interesting reflections. This is an interesting looking man and a very interesting composition, but the shot is lacking in immediacy. Shooting through windows is like having a safety net. That said, something like this could be a winner for the current challenge.

My take is just the opposite - of course. #1 is very nice. Nice use of selective focus. Nice and close. Nice.
#2 is more more than nice. Sure it's seen through a window, as is much of life. What a great face on the man - what has he seen in his life? What is that face telling us? The composition is wonderful, and the face of the woman in the lower portion of the upper right hand box - love the way the photo is divided into four boxes - lends a real air of mystery to the image.

Yes, it's true, it's important to get close, and you get points for being close. But let's remember the expression is "If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough," it's not "Your pictures aren't good if you're not close."
Big difference.

sara505

bdcolen wrote:

My take is just the opposite - of course. #1 is very nice. Nice use of selective focus. Nice and close. Nice.
#2 is more more than nice. Sure it's seen through a window, as is much of life. What a great face on the man - what has he seen in his life? What is that face telling us? The composition is wonderful, and the face of the woman in the lower portion of the upper right hand box - love the way the photo is divided into four boxes - lends a real air of mystery to the image.

Yes, it's true, it's important to get close, and you get points for being close. But let's remember the expression is "If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough," it's not "Your pictures aren't good if you're not close."
Big difference.

I agree.

In # 1, the girl's being out of focus is a tragedy. She is obviously - to my eye - the center of attention. She's adorable, and should be clear.

The face, and it is a great face, coupled with the clenched fist, in #2 is very powerful for some reason.

michswiss

Thank you all for your comments, it's so valuable to hear what others see in my shots. I really appreciate it.

I don't know if the shot of the young woman and man would have worked if she was in focus and him not. My guess is that with him out of focus but in the foreground would have been distracting. I also think a deeper dof to get them both in focus would have brought too much of the background into the composition. At least that was what I was thinking in the short time I had to see the shot, get the camera ready for what I wanted and fire off two to three frames before the crowd moved. They were both very well dressed and very much a couple having fun. We had a laugh after I got the shot and they noticed me practically on top of them.

I almost didn't shoot the old man in the window. Pretty much for the reasons that Rutt listed in his comment. I'd noticed him when I was sitting in the middle of the road (yes, actually sitting in traffic ) trying to get an interesting angle on something else and I couldn't stop looking his way. In the end it was bothering me too much to not take the picture as much as it felt odd. Glad I did.

VisualXpressions

Jennifer,

When I started picking my top 10 in the last challenge I remembered all of your possible entries and wondered why you posted the one you did over the old guy in the window? I visited your smug site and I must say you have some wonderful photographs of some of the most expressive and interesting people on earth... China, I couldn't decide if it was Beijing or Shanghai until I came across a shot, of I assume you and your family in front of the Temple of Heaven... anyway you have a wonderful talent... Good luck by the way with the voting...

Winston

michswiss

Winston, appreciate your comments and for taking the time to look at my smuggy galleries. I'm Shanghai-based but travel around China so there are actually several cities represented. But, you wouldn't necessarily be able to tell in most of my street work. The Temple of Heaven stuff were holiday snaps when my Brother's family visited. The current stuff is mainly piled under the Work in Process galleries for 2010 until I get better organised.

I think the simple reason why I didn't go with the old man in the window for the challenge is that I felt it wasn't a good image for the web, rather for a larger print. There's a lot going on in the image and I was concerned that it might get lost in the smaller format. As a matter of fact, I'm going to experiment with some printing options for all three this weekend.