He'll never by 7 again...

rutt · February 13, 2005

I'm playing around with some shots for the FM WA, "cars". I've posted these on "Wide Angle", but I thiough I might get more help/feedback/critique if I posted them here in their own thread. The deadline is tomorrow night, but I'm going to submit something today and not look back. I've never been a FM finalist and the odds seem pretty long this time, so I'm just having fun. Still, I'd love feedback.

Oh, I should say that Andy's macro+flash experiemets definitly inspired this line of thought.

Michiel de Brieder · February 13, 2005

Rutt,
2, 3 and 4 are very good IMHO! The lighting is spot on and the sharpness and colour very appealing.
Now for tha 'bugs'

The first shot, my first reaction and final reaction is: disturbing DOF. The first car being OOF is a real dealbreaker for me... It is just my taste

but I really would have liked to have either the first car sharp and the DOF gradually blurring towards the back, or everything sharp (which is probably quite difficult due to the distance camera-subjects.
Hope this helped to add to the confusion :lol

ginger_55 · February 13, 2005

Hi, Rutt. The first one bothers me, too, and the first thing I thought of were Andy's burst of shots on white paper. This is sooo his thing, he would know about shadows and stuff.

I didn't notice all that was mentioned about the first one. To me it was missing something that Andy had...........my thought was shadows, I don't know?

I like the green car better, but I prefer the red car, simply because I like red better than green. I am not fond of tractor toys, so I prefer the red car.

Now, as a critique that is probably not too helpful, but these things, unfortunately go, as do Presidential elections, for all the wrong reasons sometimes. "Feelings" are definitely a factor.

See if you can get Andy to critique, especially on the shadows, they were, I think, a large part of what made his stuff work.

ginger

ginger_55 · February 13, 2005

Maybe more saturation, just got that feeling when I last saw them.

g

rutt · February 13, 2005

One more attempt at the car lineup.

pathfinder · February 13, 2005

rutt wrote:

I'm playing around with some shots for the FM WA, "cars". I've posted these on "Wide Angle", but I thiough I might get more help/feedback/critique if I posted them here in their own thread. The deadline is tomorrow night, but I'm going to submit something today and not look back. I've never been a FM finalist and the odds seem pretty long this time, so I'm just having fun. Still, I'd love feedback.

Oh, I should say that Andy's macro+flash experiemets definitly inspired this line of thought.

First of all, John, I am not a studio photographer so take any comment I make with a fistful of salt. All of the images are in reasonable focus and reasonable sharp with good color accuracy as I would expect coming from you.

The first image of the four vehicles does not evoke any real emotion in me - I see the them but I cannot connect each model to the others, whether by color or model or vintage or what. Not sure how they are related. Technically it is well executed, but maybe I'm not a model car guy.

The second image of the green car - Austin-Healey or a Morgan perhaps - I like better - the closer view gives my eye more to explore. I am bothered by the shadows beneath the vehicle - it looks like it was lit from behind as the tire shadow is angling into the foreground from the backside of the car. The image might be sharpened a little more also.

The orange Sprint Car is a simpler model with less detail. There is a glare on the front side coming down from the cockpit. Again the shadow from the back wheels is coming foreward beneath the car. This looks kind of like the derby car my son made for the Scouts. Maybe the image of the car does not have enough background around it too - too closely cropped perhaps. I think this is true of the tractor also.

The tractor is also lit from behind with the shadows of the tires coming forward into the foreground of the image. It is in focus, but not really sharp - could be sharpened more perhaps. Again a technically good image, but one that does not engage me for some reason. Not sure why. Reminds me of the shots I made of the tractors in the Barton County Kansas museum which I shot for memories sake - not arts sake..

The backgrounds are nice and white - I did check the numbers to verify the whiteness. Perhaps the background is part of the difficulty - too stark, too clinical, not sure but they end up looking like images for a catalog to me. Maybe if the light was more from the side to cast better and longer shadows from the left to the right or something. Strong side lighting might introduce some needed drama I think. These models are fairly simple and too close an inspection may be less interesting than an image where less detail is visible and some is hidden in shadow. Mayb even a graduated background rather than the stark white one. The simplicity of the background is appealing, but I am not sure it is working here. As I think about it I think the lighting is too revealing and needs more directionality to introduce some drama or menace or something.

I shoot images like this frequently John, technically good but not engaging. Maybe you need the hand of a small child pushing the car across the carpet or the white background. Maybe the model should be moving and panned - or a radial blur of the tires and a linear blur of the car itself - kind of like this....

I hope my comments have been helpful - I have tried to offer suggestions rather than criticisms. I hope I have been successful.

Andy · February 13, 2005

rutt wrote:

One more attempt at the car lineup.

technically fine (exposure, bg, etc) but what i'm thinking that may improve this shot is some breathing room in the compo - no need for a reshoot, just increase the canvas size and give some more room on my left and top.

i guess my other comment would be to change the perspective, make it lower, i'd feel much more part of the shot. at this height, it gives me a sterile feeling, do you know what i mean?

hope this helps

fish · February 14, 2005

Hey rutt...you're definitely onto something. My only suggestion would be to replace the yellow car with a different color. It's kinda fading into the white with the bright lighting.

He'll never by 7 again...

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