Interesting Read

RSL · September 16, 2011

Benjamin, It's a good shot. Sometimes, though, a bit of selective enhancement with Nik's Viveza or even the dodging brush can help bring up a face when you made the shot in bright sunlight.

Richard · September 17, 2011

Nice catch, Ben. I agree that the face could use some brightening--in fact the whole thing seems darker than necessary. If it were mine, I'd rotate it to get rid of the tilt and crop it square and close. YMMV, of course.

RSL · September 17, 2011

Richard, Check Garry Winogrand's comments on whether or not a picture is "tilted" when the verticals aren't vertical. In this case, if you straighten it, the crop automatically becomes too close. Some of the background in this shot is important to impart a sense of place.

bfjr · September 17, 2011

thanks for input Gents.
I have pulled the shot and will look at exp/PP again.

Richard · September 18, 2011

RSL wrote: »

Richard, Check Garry Winogrand's comments on whether or not a picture is "tilted" when the verticals aren't vertical. In this case, if you straighten it, the crop automatically becomes too close. Some of the background in this shot is important to impart a sense of place.

One sees so many tilted street shots that it has become a cliché. When I see one I ask myself whether the tilt was intentional or not. There may be a good reason for it, but if there's one here I'm missing it. Dunno. You needn't lose the whole background with a square crop and the story remains intact.

Ben: looks like you lightened the whole thing. Looks a lot better IMO.

RSL · September 18, 2011

Richard, I agree that tilted street shots have become a cliche. Winogrand wasn't the first to do it, but he's the guy who really got it going. Interestingly enough, at least sometimes he did it on purpose with an appropriate result. But did you try downloading this pic, straightening it (the telephone pole behind her head is a pretty good standard), and seeing the cropped result? It crops down to the woman and the magazine, with two cars in the background. She loses a tiny bit of her hair at the top. It's not a bad result, but it's a very different picture.

Richard · September 18, 2011

Yeah, I tried it before I made my original post. To me, the story is the woman's appearance and the title of the magazine she is reading while walking down an ordinary street. The shopfronts that are lost on the right by cropping don't matter to me at all, and by virtue of the crop the magazine title becomes more prominent.

But, I should emphasize that this is only a rescue attempt, not an ideal image. Unless I am missing something, I think Ben would have shot it straight if he had more time to compose. Or maybe it was one of those pesky SoCal earthquakes that the residents manage to ignore.

RSL · September 18, 2011

Yep, I'd go with the earthquake theory, but I suspect you're right: it was the kind of situation where there simply wasn't time to straighten things out. She was off to Ben's left and he just swung to the left and shot. I'd rather have it be straight, but I've been into enough of Winogrand's work that the tilt doesn't bother me too much, and I'd like to see more of the street behind her. I agree that part of the story is the woman's appearance and the magazine title, but I think another part of the story is the fact that she's wandering down an urban street, reading. The stuff in the background emphasizes the "place" part of the picture.

bfjr · September 18, 2011

You guys are pretty close. It really is a good shot that just didn't work for me exp. wise.

I have read your prior replies and attempted a redo which is below. My own rules say if an image requires more then standard PP then it's not a good shot. There are exceptions of course but to few to even mention.
Basically I just follow this cliche "You can't make a Silk Purse out of a Sow's Ear"

Sadly I do feel this image falls squarely in that realm.

RSL · September 18, 2011

It was a good try, though, Ben. What bothers me is when somebody becomes less willing to try something like this on the fly after criticism.

Interesting Read

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