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Bagpipes
divamum
Registered Users Posts: 9,021 Major grins
Disclaimer: first attempt at anything even vaguely street or pj-ish, and to say I feel out of my depth is an understatement!
Had a day off yesterday, so went walking around this cute little town I'm staying in right now. There was some kind of anniversary celebration at the tourist office, and they had a bagpiper outside. This little girl was mesmerized...
1.
2.... so when he finished playing, he acknowledged her
Only pp was a minor crop, conversion to bw, and an attempt to burn down some of those $&!#!! window reflections.
Which leads me to some questions.
- how the HECK do you brilliant street/press togs manage to work with what you've got and still get such technically sound shots? This was a grab shot - I had the wrong focal lengt and was on the wrong side of the scene so I was shooting into the light (hello flare!) and couldn't do anything about the reflections (no polarizer on that lens, and there wouldn't have been time to adjust it anway), but that's where I was when it happened and I simply had to take the shot as it presented itself - no time to switch.
- how much post is "reasonable"? I could do a bit more with those blasted reflections (like work on cloning them out), but felt like on this occasion I should invoke "it is what it is". But aesthetically, I find them a real distraction from the main subjects rather than an enhancement.
Had a day off yesterday, so went walking around this cute little town I'm staying in right now. There was some kind of anniversary celebration at the tourist office, and they had a bagpiper outside. This little girl was mesmerized...
1.
2.... so when he finished playing, he acknowledged her
Only pp was a minor crop, conversion to bw, and an attempt to burn down some of those $&!#!! window reflections.
Which leads me to some questions.
- how the HECK do you brilliant street/press togs manage to work with what you've got and still get such technically sound shots? This was a grab shot - I had the wrong focal lengt and was on the wrong side of the scene so I was shooting into the light (hello flare!) and couldn't do anything about the reflections (no polarizer on that lens, and there wouldn't have been time to adjust it anway), but that's where I was when it happened and I simply had to take the shot as it presented itself - no time to switch.
- how much post is "reasonable"? I could do a bit more with those blasted reflections (like work on cloning them out), but felt like on this occasion I should invoke "it is what it is". But aesthetically, I find them a real distraction from the main subjects rather than an enhancement.
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I'm going to take a bold leap that you'd include me in the technically competent street photogs. Simple answer, I shoot in the dark most of the time.
Seriously though, I don't do a lot with my shots even when shooting in harsh daylight. But I do have a simple workflow I'll follow for either B&W or colour. 99% is done in Aperture so not much opportunity to manipulate too much.
Great first attempt.
I like #1--Only a kid could get that close:D . Imagine an adult standing that close to enjoy the music? It just kind of captures the innocense of children--they don't have that "intruding on personal space" dilemma that adults have.
Just wondering where you standing back and zooming in?
As for the reflections, they do not bother me at all, you captured a street shot and cars reflected on windows is part of what you saw. I'd say no on the cloning out--doesn't seem right for street/pj--my opinion anyway.
Can't wait to see what you get next
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Nice shots! As to the cloning out question - don't even think about it. What you get is what you've got!
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
And now that I think about it, the reflection in the first image adds a wonderful, surreal element to an otherwise almost-too-cute image - how did those cabs get stacked that way?!
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
You caught a nice moment in #2, so be happy. All the technical perfection in the world doesn't help if the scene is without interest. That said, the flare is more of a problem than the reflections, I think. With a little practice, you can learn to be more aware of reflections when you are shooting. Moving your position just slightly can make big changes, either to reduce them or sometimes to enhance them when you want them to be part of the image. I haven't shot with a CP yet, but it's on my wish list at the moment. I'm thinking it will help with some situations, but mostly there just won't be time to mess around with it.
As for post, I spend less and less time there. My main tool is the delete key.
As to post, the same sort of thing that worked for Richard in this post will work wonders for you here. The curve will be a little different, more "S" sharped. You want to get the steep part over the faces and the light beam. You want to set true black and white points. And them B.D. will allow you to burn in the reflections a little even if he won't let you clone them out. I cropped a bit, which I know you also know how to do, but I couldn't help myself. I'm sure you can do better if you start with the raw image, and take the green channel as a starting point for your conversion (I know I sound like a broken record about this.)
Don't know if it was possible but you might have moved to the other side (after grabbing these shots first, of course!) to see what you might get. I'm not too good at doing that but am trying to do more "working the scene" when the opportunity arises. Bottom line, though, is that if you have just a moment to grab the shot, grab the moment.
Virginia
"A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know." Diane Arbus
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Thanks everybody. Liz, I had the omg-can't-stop-using-it-how-do-you-take-a-bad-picture-with-this-thing 135L on my camera at the moment this happened. I was also shooting with the 50 as I wandered around town, but during this little exchange the 135 was on the body and there was no time to change it and the landscaping/street/buildings etc made it impossible to footzoom significantly in or out and still keep the subjects in the frame.
Misch, of COURSE your included in that! Sheesh...
BD, I believe it was actually a police car rather than a cab, but yeah - that's hilarious - hadn't even noticed that! I'm glad you like it. The whole flippin' time I was out yesterday I kept thinking, "GET CLOSER! If it's no good, you're not close enough!" Hey, at least you know that I hear what you're saying even if I'm not very good at *implementing* it yet
Rutt and Richard, thanks for the processing tips. I have your BW action, Rutt - should've thought to run that on it (I was processing fairly quickly, so I just used a LR preset that looked pretty good and didn't even run it through PS except to do some dodging and burning, since PS plays nicer on my computer than the LR brush). I'll play with them further at some point; I"m trying to put together a little set from this two-week sojourn, so we'll see what I come up with in the end
Thanks for the encouragement!
Who is wise? He who learns from everyone.
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