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Tilted shot - Does it work or not?
sabesh
Registered Users Posts: 194 Major grins
B&W and colour here: pick your poison. I'd like to know if the tilt works or not for this shot. Is a crop in order or is it fine as-is? Thanks.
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I think the tilt works because it is parallel with the sign he is holding. It makes it very clear that the tilt was intentional, and in my opinion actually changes the focus from the man to the sign.
Cheers!
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Using photography to pay for engineering school is a bad business plan.
The tilt also works for this shot, but it may be a little extreme. It may work better with less tilt, even though the sign would not be aligned with the frame.
And I also think this shot lends itself extremely well to a square crop. Most shots are better in either portrait or landscape orientation, but I think this is one of those rare ones that really would look its best as a square.
Tilt doesn't work because there's no apparent reason for it, other than to tilt. Horizons are horizontal. Nice street portrait otherwise, although I can't really answer the color or bw question because I find the tilt too disconcerting.
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
BTW, I did this particular tilt to make the sign horizontal & bring focus to the sign and his coffee cup, which is the source of his income; Also to align his umbrella with the lines on the door. Cheers.
Okay, let's think about this for a minute. He has a sign and a cup that are the source of his income. And they are tilted away from him at about a 45 degree angle, arguably making them less noticeable than they would be if vertical, and harder to read. Isn't the fact of their tilt part of the "story?" Does the tilt in the photo show us the reality of his life and his dependence upon that sign?
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
I read and can agree with both views, but I'd need to see a side by side.
So if your of the mind repost and let's have a look.
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Prefer the b+w over the color, hands down. Can't say I like the tilt, but a square crop would be interesting.
Not in my opinion - it seems entirely gratuitous! :nah
I personally find the aligned sign becomes more in focus than if they were tilted. The tilted man also symbolizes the "fall" of the man's life, and how the government leave these poor men "hanging" by delaying the diability pension. The tilt also made the control of the wheelchair more visible than if they were aligned horizontally to show that he's disabled rather than just another old man begging for money.
Great shot sabesh!
Of course, for all you know he's a Vietnam vet and has been on full disability since 1968 when he suffered a catastrophic
Injury during the Tet offensive.
Bottom line, in 98 percent of cases the crutch is the tilt. Don't know what to do with a photo? Tilt it.
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
The tilt makes me think that perhaps the photographer has tripped over the wheelchair, which may or may not have been deliberately driven into him/her…
…just look at that face, and those eyes (very slight cast in the right eye, if I'm not mistaken…)
…now there's the interest! …that face is a study in itself (colour or B&W)!
Nice job!
- Wil
(BTW - hope you weren't hurt too badly!
I agree that he has an interesting face. However, I am more interested in the story of that man, than just another picture of a man whose face has character.
Thanks,
Sabesh.
Thanks for the advice, I am going to try to tilt the shots that I sometimes not sure what to do with!
I agree that it's sad in this case because the picture is telling a sad story with emphasis on our poor government vs disabilities after the tilt :cry And other than that, it's an excellent street portrait!
P.S. Sorry to steer away from the topic Sabesh, but bdcolen, you got some amazing shots in your website! I particular like this tilted shot of yours:
Too much stuff for me to learn here at dgrin, what a great place to hang around
Cheers!
Glad you like the series . That is indeed a tilt on my website - A grab shot on a swaying train. And if you looked at the entire series of some 95 images, I believe you'll find well under a half-dozen tilts, all of them grabs, in spite of the swaying trains.
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed