Attempt at making every shot count ...

lifeLike

... Well it didn't happen today, that's for sure. Press conference with Pennsylvania State Senator Larry Farnese (right) and I was - as usual - itchy with the trigger finger. I tried REALLY HARD to make every shot count but I was a miserable failure.

I've got one that I'm happy with so far. Need to go through the other few (um, several hundred :cry ) and see what else might be in there.

C&C appreciated. Thanks.
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Wil Davis

Well, judging by he focus, I'd say that's not a bad picture of the dog…

…although I'd have framed it different.

Some basic rules (sorry, these are the ones that I'd use - many people disagree with me and say that there are no such things as rules, or that rules should be ignored, as they tend to "cramp one's style"… )

…but if the important part of the picture is the chap on the right, then I'd say that it's important for him to be in focus.

It's also important for the exposure to be correct.

It's also important for the framing or composition to be correct.

Take a look at other pictures, and decide which ones work (or not)…

…then decide why they work (or not)

Become so familiar with the process that it becomes an instinct…

There, that's all you have to do…

…simple, isn't it?



- Wil

BTW - Welcome to DGPF (great place to get information and full of helpful folks only too willing to share their considerable experience, even curmudgeons such as I…)

lifeLike

Wil Davis wrote:

…but if the important part of the picture is the chap on the right, then I'd say that it's important for him to be in focus.

Hmmm I should probably clarify. I was not a reporter covering the senator, actually I was a participant (a target of the cameras so to speak) but I always shoot back For me the important part of this conversation was not the senator but the dog who was featured in the press conference. Might not work out of context.

I do have some great shots of the senator tho .

Thanks for the comments!

Wil Davis

Ah!

Well, in that case, my apologies - but I'd say if you were taking a picture of the dog, then I reckon that you should have re-composed to exclude the two guys in the b/g, or used a wider stop to throw them even more out of focus; also the vertical white line/door/partition isn't helping the composition.

Just my (not so humble) opinion, and I still stand by all my other comments!

- Wil

PS: cute dog!

PPS: Wow! I think that's the first picture I've ever seen of a senator not lying! *

* very old joke…

WillCAD

I've heard that a lot of political events are nothing but dog and pony shows, but I didn't think it was meant literally...

bdcolen

lifeLike wrote:

... Well it didn't happen today, that's for sure. Press conference with Pennsylvania State Senator Larry Farnese (right) and I was - as usual - itchy with the trigger finger. I tried REALLY HARD to make every shot count but I was a miserable failure.

I've got one that I'm happy with so far. Need to go through the other few (um, several hundred :cry ) and see what else might be in there.

C&C appreciated. Thanks.
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This is a terrific shot! The laser-like dog-stare and the blah-blah-blah of the out-of-focus humans really works well, as does the framing. What also might be interesting would be the same shot with Larry in focus and the dog out-of-focus. In fact, if you'd shifted to get a bit more of Larry in, I can see a paper with a good photo editor using a shot like that.

michswiss

This is an excellent shot. So fun. I thought Richard's rule was that you should post two shots out of the two hour session. Where's the other?

lifeLike

bdcolen wrote:

This is a terrific shot! The laser-like dog-stare and the blah-blah-blah of the out-of-focus humans really works well, as does the framing. What also might be interesting would be the same shot with Larry in focus and the dog out-of-focus. In fact, if you'd shifted to get a bit more of Larry in, I can see a paper with a good photo editor using a shot like that.

Thanks so much. It means a lot to me that you feel it works. What you are describing is what caught me about the conversation. I particularly chose this shot of the few from this moment because of the eye contact among the humans being wrapped in their own sight-line triangle while the dog was just so popped out of it, shooting that look right into the lens.

Sometimes things seem to work for me but I'm not sure if it is the image that really works or if I'm viewing it positively in the context of being at/in the event. I think as I go on I should be able to develop more confidence in what I am seeing.

lifeLike

michswiss wrote:

This is an excellent shot. So fun. I thought Richard's rule was that you should post two shots out of the two hour session. Where's the other?

Sadly I was a colossal failure at "making every shot count" which I think was supposed to result in even more than two photos... like maybe ten? I ended up with about 140 shots in the file and although I'm kind of happy with many, the one I posted originally was the only one that really hit me hard.

Here's the only other shot I've worked on from that day so far. I LIKE it but there's no particularly special magic for me. So I'm either a really heavy handed self-editor or a generally lousy photographer,
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jmandoman

On the other hand, think about the shot another way. The politician is a throw away (out of focus) nobody likes politicians. The other people aren't important. Focus on the dog who shouldn't know what's going on but has the appropriate expresion.