Two light and shadow shots

Richard

C&C always encouraged.

Syncopation

No. 1.
Was the figure that created the shadow walking into or out of shot? If it was into the shot then another exposure half a second later might have got you their entire silhouette on the first tree which would have been a great shot. As it it is I love the light but would be tempted to go for a tighter crop on the figure and trees.

No. 2.
Again great light but the railings at the runner's feet just detract from the scene. I'm also not convinced that the figure on the right adds anything. Maybe a different vantage point would work better?

Looks like a time and a place with a lot of potential

bfjr

I'm trying to like #1 but I think it needs a stronger composition.
maybe crop from bottom (curb) and up to right hand tree.

But ya know I don't know Jack

Flyinggina

I love the light in these Richard. One thing I like about street photography is that you are forced to use the light you have. This makes you think about it as part of the photograph, which I think is both fun and rewarding.

Of these two, I think I would be tempted to crop #1 to a horizontal. At this size, it seems to be more about the trees (and the light) the brighter tree on the left pulls my eyes away from the reader. I do like the shadow at the base of the left hand tree, though!

I think I'm with Benjamin on #2.

Can't wait to see more!!

Virginia

Richard

Thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated. Interesting idea to crop #1 as a horizontal--that never occurred to me, but I might give it a try. I too wish that I had caught the full shadow in that one. TBH, what I got was purely by accident--I was taken by the light and didn't even notice the shadow till I processed the pic . So I went back to the same spot at the same time a couple of days later and did get nice shadows on the trees, but the rest didn't fall into place. It's always something. As for #2, I wasn't very sure I liked it and posted it just to see if anyone else did. There was something disconcerting about it, but I couldn't decide whether that was a good thing or bad. I was hoping that the guy on the right would appear menacing, but I guess it doesn't come across. Oh well.

Flyinggina

I sure know that "oh well" feeling. I think I've captured a really neat set of photos, but when I have them up on the screen it is one "oh well" after another.

While in Paris, I saw an exhibit of amazing work by the French photographer, Willy Ronis, who died last year just short of 100 years old. At some point in an interview late in his life, he mentioned that sometimes he saw a shot that he wanted but lost it before he could take it. He shrugged and said that he just moved on. Basically he didn't have time to regret what didn't work.

Of course, we take more "almost" shots now that photographers did in the film days because it doesn't cost us anything but disk space.

So every time I see misses and near misses up on my screen and every time I simply don't get the camera in position fast enough, I try not to be discouraged but to just move on to the next photo opportunity.

Virginia

PS the video on the link is almost 10 minutes long but interesting if you have the time. At about the 3/4 point, there are some photos taken in New York in the 1950's that would fit right into this forum.

Richard

Thanks for that link, Virginia. I had never seen any of his work in color before. Great stuff.

OK, so I cropped #1 as a 3x2:



You guys were right.

bdcolen

Really like the first one, Richard. Terrific light, and I like the interplay between the tall figure and the short shadow. Nicely done.clap

Richard

bdcolen wrote: »

Really like the first one, Richard. Terrific light, and I like the interplay between the tall figure and the short shadow. Nicely done.clap

Thanks, BD. Glad you liked it.

Flowerman

I like the cropped #1 shot as is. The small shadow IMO lends motion to the shot - I had to look twice to see if the person was leaning on the tree - just me, I suppose.
The color adds drama.
ED

Richard

Flowerman wrote: »

I like the cropped #1 shot as is. The small shadow IMO lends motion to the shot - I had to look twice to see if the person was leaning on the tree - just me, I suppose.
The color adds drama.
ED

Thanks, Ed. There's a bus stop sign that's behind the tree--you can barely see it's edge on the left of the tree (oops ). I think she may have been leaning on that, but I'm not really sure.