Occupy Los Angeles

Angelo · November 14, 2011

Not sure if I'm pleased with my attempt at capturing the essence of the "movement" but wonder if you are. And I'd appreciate feedback on my conversions. Thanks for looking.

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More in my gallery: http://angelo.smugmug.com/Street-Scenes/Occupy-LA/19791993_Zzh5zb#1581700790_ZFxVx7L

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M38A1 · November 14, 2011

I certainly have a better idea of what the OLA movement is about with the variety... I suppose the one that grabs me is #3 only wishing the greed sign wasn't there or the bicycle on the left. Which makes me wonder, what kind of bicycle that is? Looks to be an older fat-tire bike (yeah, i'm a bike guy...)

As for the conversions, I'm no expert but they look flat to me and about all I can come up with is, was the day somewhat overcast due to the lack of shadows in the shots?

Angelo · November 14, 2011

Thanks Scott

interesting observation on #3. I'm of the mind the sign makes the shot, otherwise it's just a campground :lol
yes that was an old fat tire - it was a good one!

it was very overcast, even drizzling at points and a heavy canopy of trees. i considered using my flash but wanted to stay as natural as possible

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richardman · November 14, 2011

re: flat light
Try burning in the faces a bit in PSD or the like, also raise the shadow (the 2nd 25% in LR curve)

rpcrowe · November 16, 2011

Good Job
We can nit-pick the pp all we want but, that doesn't take away from the fact that these are some pretty powerful images. They are more powerful than many other "Occupy" imges I have seen posted.

I am wondering if burning in the edges a bt would no have centered the attention on the main subjects in each image. This was commonly done by B&W phtojournalists of earlier years.

Angelo · November 17, 2011

wow, really? that's an unexpected endorsement. I was quite unsure of their worth. Thank you.

I am admittedly not very good with pp so I'm not sure how well I can apply your suggestion or Richard's

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RSL · November 17, 2011

I think they're excellent examples of photojournalism. Flat light? Cartier-Bresson loved flat light, almost insisted on it, and if you do a lot of shooting on the street you understand why. When the sun's out, the dynamic range overpowers even the superior equipment we shoot with nowadays. Look at the range of tones in these shots. The whole range is there. Love those midtones. I do agree that maybe a touch of the dodging brush or a Viveza U point adjustment of some of the faces would help.

Angelo · November 17, 2011

Wow! Really? OK, now I have to pinch myself - you guys aren't just toying with me are you? That would be cruel

Thank you Russ. I never expected such accolades.

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richardman · November 17, 2011

First of all, it's silly to say in any thread that "this is so much better than any other blah blah I have seen." Really? Well, then comment on the other threads to tell how other people can improve. Throwing indirect bombs at other people is just rude. Now everyone but Angelo would say "is he talking about me?"

Second: flat light. This is where I have to disagree with Russ. The HCB's photos are flat mainly because the film he and soup he was using. There's no telling what he would actually prefer if he had the choice!! Old Elmar, old Super X emulsion, old D76 all give flatter depiction that others.

Now of course one might prefer flatter light, nothing wrong with that, but I disagree using HCB's photos as an argument for it.

I myself prefer just a tad more contrasty and just a tad more nudge on the "clarity" slider.

richardman · November 17, 2011

Oh p.s. don't ever let what a single forum's assessment of your images be your guiding light. Within a forum, there are good and bad commenters, and various forum / lists / groups would also have their general preference. So show your best, take the constructive criticism and move on to take even better ones :-)

angevin1 · November 17, 2011

Wow! D70...Love that Camera! Thanks for the Occupy updates! I've been enjoying these photos from everyone on the Occupy event.

RSL · November 18, 2011

Richard, Here's a quote from Bystander: A History of Street Photography. The authors are talking about HCB's photography:

"Call it antigraphic photography..." "First, literally, the pictures are without the contrasts of bright light and deep shadow with which much art photography of the day created bold, graphic patterns in the prints. If there is sunlight in a Cartier-Bresson photograph, it usually falls on the background, while the foreground subjects are in shade. Preferably, there is no sun. Cartier-Bresson would rather photograph on a gray day. 'The sun,' he has explained, 'is very troublesome: it forces, it imposes. Slightly overcast conditions allow you to move freely around your subject.' Moreover, he has always liked the print itself to be gray and even in tone. He has wanted it to be, as John Szarkowsky once put it, 'a tapestry.'"

Have you ever done any darkroom work? If you have, you must be aware it's been only very recently that you could get the range of tones out of digital you used to be able to get out of silver. In the beginning HCB was using movie film, which is what the Leica was designed to test. Later on he was using various Ilford films, and, I believe, though I'd have to look it up, Tri-X. As far as prints are concerned, Voja Mitrovic, who was HCB's printer, was one of the very best in the business. He was able to bring out the whole range of mid-tones in a print. Find a gallery with some of HCB's work and check it for yourself.

sara505 · November 18, 2011

I prefer and am inspired by overcast and opaque skies. In fact, when it's sunny and I'm walking down the street, I consider myself to be off duty for the most part.

richardman · November 19, 2011

Oh I don't mind the midtones, I look for them myself. I am now using 2 Bath Pyrocat-HD on tmy film precisely because it gives me a s flat as a curve as possible, which the I can post process to whatever I like.

And I do have the pleasure of seeing some HCB prints in person, as well as Robert Frank's, and even the multi-generational interpretation of Ansel Adams. So I'm not against midtones, and I do 100% agree that "Sun is death," generally speaking.

OTOH, I can say this set of Angelo's pictures look too flat to me, without dragging in whether HCB could have been, or should have been "less flat shooter" :-) It's of course only my preference for this set of pictures only, and not a general opinion that everything must be high contrast :-)

RSL wrote: »

Richard, Here's a quote from Bystander: A History of Street Photography. The authors are talking about HCB's photography:

"Call it antigraphic photography..." "First, literally, the pictures are without the contrasts of bright light and deep shadow with which much art photography of the day created bold, graphic patterns in the prints. If there is sunlight in a Cartier-Bresson photograph, it usually falls on the background, while the foreground subjects are in shade. Preferably, there is no sun. Cartier-Bresson would rather photograph on a gray day. 'The sun,' he has explained, 'is very troublesome: it forces, it imposes. Slightly overcast conditions allow you to move freely around your subject.' Moreover, he has always liked the print itself to be gray and even in tone. He has wanted it to be, as John Szarkowsky once put it, 'a tapestry.'"

Have you ever done any darkroom work? If you have, you must be aware it's been only very recently that you could get the range of tones out of digital you used to be able to get out of silver. In the beginning HCB was using movie film, which is what the Leica was designed to test. Later on he was using various Ilford films, and, I believe, though I'd have to look it up, Tri-X. As far as prints are concerned, Voja Mitrovic, who was HCB's printer, was one of the very best in the business. He was able to bring out the whole range of mid-tones in a print. Find a gallery with some of HCB's work and check it for yourself.

Occupy Los Angeles

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