Another Effort at PJ

chuckinsocal · September 27, 2009

In this incident, a driver suffering from a epileptic seizure ran through a red light and knocked over a FedEx delivery truck. These firefighter/paramedics are tending to just one of multiple injuries suffered in the incident.

More photos of this incident can be seen here.

Comments welcome. Thanks for looking.

chuckinsocal · September 28, 2009

Bump

Richard · September 29, 2009

My first reaction is that the colors are way more saturated than what one usually sees in PJ. Is Southern California really that saturated?

The other thing that strikes me is that there are a lot of people in the frame just standing there and not doing anything, which reduces the real estate dedicated to the victim, the guy treating him and the overturned van. Those should be the main focus, so you either need to get closer or compose and crop accordingly.

bdcolen · September 29, 2009

Richard wrote:

My first reaction is that the colors are way more saturated than what one usually sees in PJ. Is Southern California really that saturated? The other thing that strikes me is that there are a lot of people in the frame just standing there and not doing anything, which reduces the real estate dedicated to the victim, the guy treating him and the overturned van. Those should be the main focus, so you either need to get closer or compose and crop accordingly.

Dit Toe! Seriously. The saturation thing really needs some help here.

chuckinsocal · September 29, 2009

Thanks guys.

The saturation thing is the result of a LAB curves action I apply to most images. It enhances the colors and contrast. I kinda like it but I may have to tone it down a little for anything I want to call PJ.

The intended beneficiaries of this work are the responders themselves. They've never had access to images of themselves at work and the incidents they've responded to and they are very happy with what I do. They get to revisit the scenes, discuss the incidents, and share the images with friends and family.

As for getting up close, one of the reasons I have access is that I've committed to never getting in the way of, interfering with, or otherwise distracting the responders at work. If I violate that commitment I could lose my access and that would be a bad thing.

I guess I'll have to work a little harder on the PJ aspects of the work.

chuckinsocal · September 29, 2009

Is this one any better for composition?

You can't tell it's a FedEx truck, and you can only see the top of the victim's head, but everybody's busy with the victim and you have the paramedic bringing up the gurney.

Richard · September 29, 2009

chuckinsocal wrote:

Is this one any better for composition?

Yes, that's more like it, though the color is still over the top for my tastes. The group shot makes a bit more sense now that I know what your assignment really was.

bdcolen · September 29, 2009

Richard wrote:

Yes, that's more like it, though the color is still over the top for my tastes. The group shot makes a bit more sense now that I know what your assignment really was.

To be clear about the saturation, etc. If you did something like this at most newspapers you'd be fired. Plain and simple. The basic rule is that if you are doing photo journalism, you basically don't do anything in PS that you wouldn't routinely do in a wet darkroom. You might bump contrast, or reduce contrast; you would try to get the image sharp; you would want to use filters to make sure colors - assuming a color image- were as close to what you saw as possible might do some burning and dodging. But you would not remove objects from the image; you would not screw around with the colors. You would not burn or dodge in such a way as to change the scene. At least not if you're doing journalism.

chuckinsocal · September 30, 2009

Well, it's a good thing that I don't rely on photojournalism to make a living. I'd likely starve to death.

But, as I said before, I'll tone it down some for any image I try to pass off as PJ.

Thanks for your comments.