The eyes have it

bdcolenbdcolen Registered Users Posts: 3,804 Major grins
edited May 1, 2010 in Street and Documentary
851768398_XJmqM-X2.jpg

851768409_uqUmh-X2.jpg

852327146_bne5v-X2.jpg
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  • rgphotorgphoto Registered Users Posts: 251 Major grins
    edited April 29, 2010
    Not a huge fan of the composition in the first one, but I really like the second! thumb.gif
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  • TonyCooperTonyCooper Registered Users Posts: 2,276 Major grins
    edited April 29, 2010
    Interesting, but the people in the foreground don't seem to connect with the object behind them. I suppose the odds of catching someone with huge dark glasses in front of the background art would be against you.
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  • bfjrbfjr Registered Users Posts: 10,980 Major grins
    edited April 30, 2010
    #2 but I'm inclined to think cropping the left would make for more interest.
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  • RichardRichard Administrators, Vanilla Admin Posts: 19,952 moderator
    edited April 30, 2010
    bfjr wrote: »
    #2 but I'm inclined to think cropping the left would make for more interest.

    Or the right. Or not ne_nau.gif. I agree that #2 is the more interesting of the two.
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  • bdcolenbdcolen Registered Users Posts: 3,804 Major grins
    edited April 30, 2010
    TonyCooper wrote: »
    Interesting, but the people in the foreground don't seem to connect with the object behind them. I suppose the odds of catching someone with huge dark glasses in front of the background art would be against you.

    The idea is not the people connecting with the eyes - not sunglasses - but the eyes connecting with them. But if it doesn't work for you, it doesn't work for you.
    mwink.gif
    bd@bdcolenphoto.com
    "He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan

    "The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
  • bdcolenbdcolen Registered Users Posts: 3,804 Major grins
    edited April 30, 2010
    Richard wrote: »
    Or the right. Or not ne_nau.gif. I agree that #2 is the more interesting of the two.

    Definitely agree #2 is the stronger image, though there's something I like about that guy in #1 - I think it may be a 60's thing.;-)

    As to the crop question. I did a square crop - which I'll post later - but then decided I liked the composition as originally seen - with back ground figures on either side. See what you thonk when the square goes up.
    ne_nau.gif
    bd@bdcolenphoto.com
    "He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan

    "The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
  • sabeshsabesh Registered Users Posts: 194 Major grins
    edited April 30, 2010
    How about something like this?

    851768398_XJmqM-X2.jpg
  • Awais YaqubAwais Yaqub Registered Users Posts: 10,572 Major grins
    edited April 30, 2010
    2nd works for meclap.gif
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  • bdcolenbdcolen Registered Users Posts: 3,804 Major grins
    edited April 30, 2010
    sabesh wrote: »
    How about something like this?

    851768398_XJmqM-X2.jpg

    Not for my photograph; maybe for yours.rolleyes1.gifrofl
    bd@bdcolenphoto.com
    "He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan

    "The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
  • lizzard_nyclizzard_nyc Registered Users Posts: 4,056 Major grins
    edited April 30, 2010
    I have looked at these several times since yesterday.
    I guess I didn't comment because I kept thinking "so what's the story?" as I have learned from you. While I like #2, visually, I kept thinking "it's a guy walking infront of a cool mural, so what?". I'm learning from the best, what can I say?

    I do however prefer #1 out of both of the shots, I really like the look on his face.
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  • bdcolenbdcolen Registered Users Posts: 3,804 Major grins
    edited April 30, 2010
    Awais Yaqub wrote: »
    2nd works for meclap.gif

    Thanks, Awais - It's also the one I don't have questions about. I like the first one, but...
    bd@bdcolenphoto.com
    "He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan

    "The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
  • sabeshsabesh Registered Users Posts: 194 Major grins
    edited April 30, 2010
    bdcolen wrote: »
    Not for my photograph; maybe for yours.rolleyes1.gifrofl
    Ah OK, then it's a lost cause for you rolleyes1.gif
  • bdcolenbdcolen Registered Users Posts: 3,804 Major grins
    edited April 30, 2010
    lizzard_nyc wrote: »
    I have looked at these several times since yesterday.
    I guess I didn't comment because I kept thinking "so what's the story?" as I have learned from you. While I like #2, visually, I kept thinking "it's a guy walking infront of a cool mural, so what?". I'm learning from the best, what can I say?

    I do however prefer #1 out of both of the shots, I really like the look on his face.

    Interesting. Okay, first, that's a woman in #1. And there is no story - rather there are interesting compositional elements. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't.

    As to the first, it is the look on his face that makes it interesting. As I said to Richard, there's something 60s-ish about him. I think what it is is that with that hat, and the '1000 yard stare,' he reminds me of the young Vietnam vets I'd see at anti-war demonstrations.
    bd@bdcolenphoto.com
    "He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan

    "The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
  • bdcolenbdcolen Registered Users Posts: 3,804 Major grins
    edited April 30, 2010
    sabesh wrote: »
    Ah OK, then it's a lost cause for you rolleyes1.gif

    Well, obviously not or I wouldn't have posted it. Rather, it's a lost cause for you, because you see it as requiring a massive crop, and that ain't gonna happen. rolleyes1.gifrofl
    bd@bdcolenphoto.com
    "He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan

    "The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
  • sabeshsabesh Registered Users Posts: 194 Major grins
    edited April 30, 2010
    bdcolen wrote: »
    Well, obviously not or I wouldn't have posted it. Rather, it's a lost cause for you, because you see it as requiring a massive crop, and that ain't gonna happen. rolleyes1.gifrofl
    You don't like massive crops? :D OK, the reason that it requires a massive crop, IMHO, is that it establishes a connection between the "eyes". As it is, the first picture is of a guy sitting with a zoned out look on his face, which is quite common: There's no "eyes connecting with them", no "1000 yard stare", no "vietnam vet look", no "story", sorry headscratch.gif Cheers.
  • bdcolenbdcolen Registered Users Posts: 3,804 Major grins
    edited April 30, 2010
    sabesh wrote: »
    You don't like massive crops? :D OK, the reason that it requires a massive crop, IMHO, is that it establishes a connection between the "eyes". As it is, the first picture is of a guy sitting with a zoned out look on his face, which is quite common: There's no "eyes connecting with them", no "1000 yard stare", no "vietnam vet look", no "story", sorry headscratch.gif Cheers.
    And story? No, no story, just a zoned out guy beating on a drum, with a pair of giant eyes watching him.;-) But if we were to start deleting all the photos posted here
    No need to be sorry. You see what you see, I see what I see. And as I said from the beginning, I'm not sure about it.
    However, the massive crop doesn't accomplish anything - the massive eyes are already there without the crop. But what it finally comes down to is that it's an iffy image to begin with. As many are.
    bd@bdcolenphoto.com
    "He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan

    "The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
  • TonyCooperTonyCooper Registered Users Posts: 2,276 Major grins
    edited May 1, 2010
    bdcolen wrote: »
    The idea is not the people connecting with the eyes - not sunglasses - but the eyes connecting with them. But if it doesn't work for you, it doesn't work for you.
    mwink.gif

    I was thinking of a connection by opposites...eyes in the background but no visible eyes on the
    people in the foreground. Just something to connect the elements. Unless you have Eddie Cantor
    available, it's tough to get a foreground figure to make the connection in this case.

    The connection I was looking for is "Why this figure in the foreground?"
    Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida
    http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/
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