Little league parents (series of 7)

lizzard_nyc

My son was invited to a little league birthday party. We have known these parents for one season and some two.
I don't know if it is a must to know the players as I do to get something out of these.
Sometimes it's as American as apple pie, and sometimes it's like a reality tv show.

The place was bright, overly so with bright pops of color, I just didn't want to make all of them b&w and in fact went to the extreme with the processing.

Curious as to the results of this post.



1.

2.



3.


4.


5.



6.


7.

WhatSheSaw

They're all so young!

I like the Mom taking the picture. And the first one with the repeating hand gesture. And the kids' table. The others don't do much for me.

michswiss

There's a strange crop you could try with the first. Go square or 4x5 and crop from just left of the reflection in the middle and at the mid-forearm of the man on the right... Hand pointing into frame at kid with man pointing out of frame. Circular. Otherwise, #6 feels unnerving and #7 is fun. I feel the processing is too aggressive so much so that I think you might be losing some of the vibe of the event as a result.

ps... All the parents are SO young!

Flowerman

Liz: They all tell a story - IMO great PJ. Perhaps all B&W would solve that distracting pop in the color shots. Great set.
ED

lizzard_nyc

WhatSheSaw wrote: »

They're all so young!

I like the Mom taking the picture. And the first one with the repeating hand gesture. And the kids' table. The others don't do much for me.

Thanks WhatSheSaw.
The mom taking the photo cracked me up. She just put the camera right infront of that other little kids face to get the shot and said "say cheese" lol. love it.

lizzard_nyc

michswiss wrote: »

There's a strange crop you could try with the first. Go square or 4x5 and crop from just left of the reflection in the middle and at the mid-forearm of the man on the right... Hand pointing into frame at kid with man pointing out of frame. Circular. Otherwise, #6 feels unnerving and #7 is fun. I feel the processing is too aggressive so much so that I think you might be losing some of the vibe of the event as a result.

ps... All the parents are SO young!

Jenn,
I can't wait to play with that quirky crop. I can't get into my smugmug account to access the cropping tool right now, but I really want to see what that will look like.

#6--I think Stepford children when I see it and two of them are mine, and I swear they are far from Stepford, but that's what I see.

I fought about having two different threads, even though they are all taken in the party. I wanted one to be about relationships, mainly husbands and wives and the other about the kids.

For #4 and #5, I was going for the B.D. sequence of even shots, but I couldn't get more. I think those two tell a story seen one after the other. They are my favorite of the bunch.

Thanks for commenting, will repost crop later.

lizzard_nyc

Flowerman wrote: »

Liz: They all tell a story - IMO great PJ. Perhaps all B&W would solve that distracting pop in the color shots. Great set.
ED

Hi Thanks Ed,
Wasn't sure how the color would be received, especially the crazy pop of color. I processed them right after the party and maybe it was a leftover sugar, caffeine high combined with the recent screams and bright colors that lead me to process this way. Everything was just so bright--then if you look closer you can see the dirty walls, scuff marks--same for the relationships, it's all smiles up close then the underbelly. It's like that everywhere I guess. Glad they tell a story for you.
Thanks Ed.

Flowerman

Liz: This is what this old man does when he views Street Photography. Here are my stories as I see them:

#1: Get in with the other kids - now.

#2: Hon, Should I take some pics?

#3: Loosen up, you are so tense - its only a kids party.

#4: What the hell are they doing?

#5: Should I go in there and break it up? But it looks like great fun.

#6: It's healthy Mom - right?

#7: (This the best shot and my favorite of the group.
From left to right):
Smile honey
Gotha
I see it.
My kid is there also, be certain to take his picture or E L S E.

Sorry if I interrupted your reason for taking and posting - I just had to vent.
ED

www.photoman74.smugmug.com

lizzard_nyc

Croped version.
What do you think Jen?

lizzard_nyc

Flowerman wrote: »

Liz: This is what this old man does when he views Street Photography. Here are my stories as I see them:

#1: Get in with the other kids - now.

#2: Hon, Should I take some pics?

#3: Loosen up, you are so tense - its only a kids party.

#4: What the hell are they doing?

#5: Should I go in there and break it up? But it looks like great fun.

#6: It's healthy Mom - right?

#7: (This the best shot and my favorite of the group.
From left to right):
Smile honey
Gotha
I see it.
My kid is there also, be certain to take his picture or E L S E.

Sorry if I interrupted your reason for taking and posting - I just had to vent.
ED

www.photoman74.smugmug.com

Ed,
Thanks for telling me exactly what you think about each shot.
It's funny because I know the players so I know pretty much exactly what is going on in the shots, so certain things stand out to me.

This was a fun exercise of sorts to see what people "see" in the shots and if I wanted to convey something, if I hit the mark or missed the boat.

Thanks for taking the time to comment like this.

misterb

Great series.. it's hard to shoot indoors w/o a flash.

Just an FYI.. you had mentioned about thinking of upgrading your Olympus recently, and I just read on another forum the new Olympus E-5 is out!

Much better ISO, new processor, and lots of new goodies.

The best part is that the *awesome* E-30 (and E-3) will be priced to move!

Check out the IQ of the E-30 with kit lenses here:

http://www.digitalgrin.com/showthread.php?t=178030



Better link:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/1009/10091415olympuse5.asp

I paid $829 for my E-30 body, and I can see the price dropping another 10-15% now that the E-5 is out.



I just

lizzard_nyc

misterb wrote: »

Great series.. it's hard to shoot indoors w/o a flash.

Just an FYI.. you had mentioned about thinking of upgrading your Olympus recently, and I just read on another forum the new Olympus E-5 is out!

Much better ISO, new processor, and lots of new goodies.

The best part is that the *awesome* E-30 (and E-3) will be priced to move!

Check out the IQ of the E-30 with kit lenses here:

http://www.digitalgrin.com/showthread.php?t=178030



Better link:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/1009/10091415olympuse5.asp

I paid $829 for my E-30 body, and I can see the price dropping another 10-15% now that the E-5 is out.
I just

Thanks for the info.
I was looking to upgrade my glass not my camera just yet. I will likely give it another year before I upgrade my camera, either to the E3 or the E5.
I seriously love my little E620 and I think in the future it will be my back up camera.

misterb

lizzard_nyc wrote: »

Thanks for the info.
I was looking to upgrade my glass not my camera just yet. I will likely give it another year before I upgrade my camera, either to the E3 or the E5.
I seriously love my little E620 and I think in the future it will be my back up camera.

The E-620 was rated best value by dpreviews.. and the good part is the lenses will work fine with the E-5. Might want to consider the E-30 also.. similar specs and less of a handful.

bdcolen

misterb wrote: »

Great series.. it's hard to shoot indoors w/o a flash.

Just an FYI.. you had mentioned about thinking of upgrading your Olympus recently, and I just read on another forum the new Olympus E-5 is out!

Much better ISO, new processor, and lots of new goodies.

The best part is that the *awesome* E-30 (and E-3) will be priced to move!

Check out the IQ of the E-30 with kit lenses here:

http://www.digitalgrin.com/showthread.php?t=178030



Better link:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/1009/10091415olympuse5.asp

I paid $829 for my E-30 body, and I can see the price dropping another 10-15% now that the E-5 is out.



I just

Let's wait and see how much better the ISO and images really are. Jacking up the top ISO is no trick; reducing the noise while keeping detail is. I hope they've gotten at least another stop out of it.

misterb

bdcolen wrote: »

Let's wait and see how much better the ISO and images really are. Jacking up the top ISO is no trick; reducing the noise while keeping detail is. I hope they've gotten at least another stop out of it.

I think they have (Olympus) gotten pounded by Canon's that perform was better in that area, so I'm sure they addressed this substantially.

If you look at the shots in this thread, you can see the noise (ie, shot #1- look at glass window and blue door) which the E-620 is giving it's all. The E-3 is a bit better, and the E-30 is better yet. I'm sure the E-5 will address this. I'm not sure if the noise was turned down in LR3 in #1 either.

rainbow

First and last are the most interesting. #6 is busy, but ultimately unsatisfying. Probably had to be there and know the people in the other shots.

Processing looks like faded old polaroids or very old color prints...

lizzard_nyc

rainbow wrote: »

First and last are the most interesting. #6 is busy, but ultimately unsatisfying. Probably had to be there and know the people in the other shots.

Processing looks like faded old polaroids or very old color prints...

Thanks for commenting Rainbow.
Glad you liked some shots--did you see the new cropped version of #1 as suggested by Jenn--it's very strange.

I am experimenting with color at the moment, thought I love the b& conversion on #3.

StueveShots

Liz,

That last shot--the mother taking a picture--is absolutely priceless and such a funny and sharp commentary on the way we parents dote on their kids. (I immediately thought to myself...ooh, I bet I've done something like that before!)

lizzard_nyc

StueveShots wrote: »

Liz,

That last shot--the mother taking a picture--is absolutely priceless and such a funny and sharp commentary on the way we parents dote on their kids. (I immediately thought to myself...ooh, I bet I've done something like that before!)

Up until about a year ago that was me--"say cheese! look here" lol, that's why I enjoy taking shots of the people taking shots these days--cracks me up too.

rainbow

lizzard_nyc wrote: »

Thanks for commenting Rainbow.
Glad you liked some shots--did you see the new cropped version of #1 as suggested by Jenn--it's very strange.

Sounds like what she is suggesting is like when old TVs with rabbit ears would have the picture start going up on the screen (thus top of pic on bottom of screen) and you had to adjust the vertical hold. Great thinking outside the box, but does not quite come off here.