please critique

June 14th, 2014
June 14th, 2014
Love the subject matter and the photo has a nice journalistic quality. I'd try to get rid of the overhead wires and take care to not cut off feet. Black and white is a good choice.
June 14th, 2014
Love your work as always Taylor, has it been a while? Maybe I haven't been very good at following people lately!

This is a shot with a lot of interest, that's for sure. I had a look at it large and still as I type I'm seeing more things. I like the perspective and wide-angle for their originality, but aesthetically I might like a more conventional perspective and longer focal length better. I agree with Nancy, perhaps the wires are distracting and maybe more feet and less tree would be a good thing. I have to say I find it quite busy, although the only area I actually find this problematic is around the head - I think his face and the hat (which I'm expecting you want to draw attention to?) get a bit lost in the tree.

All this is completely subjective of course, I'm no expert! I really love the person and the trolley … but I reckon they would look truly striking in a more minimalist image, perhaps with just one tree or something?

What do you think of it Taylor?
June 14th, 2014
@aliha @nanm Thanks for the input guys, good to keep in mind. For this shot, it all came to me quite quickly. I was walking down a Toronto street and had just put my ultra-wide angle lens on my camera with the anticipation and hope of getting some shots of the busy traffic, and perhaps some more of the very dramatic cloudy sky.

Out of nowhere, this woman walked by carrying her heavy load of cans and bottles, returning them to the liquor store (which you can see in the photo). I didn't have much time, and so as she walked by me I put my camera on the sidewalk (angled upwards to the trees) and quickly took one blind shot. To be honest, I was more suprised that I had actually got my subject in focus than anything. If I had time to plan the shot, and my subject was a cooperative model, I would have included in her feet OR cut her legs off at a more desirable spot (halfway in the shins, or halfway in the thighs), as I usually try to avoid cutting the subject at the knees or in the feet.

She wasn't very happy at me for taking her picture, but I enjoyed the result too much to delete it!

As for the wires, if I had planned the shot, I would surely have avoided them. Of course, they can be easily removed in Lightroom or Photoshop, but I ultimately decided not to. This part of Toronto is known for it's Streetcar wires over the street, and to me, removing them was taking a bit of the identity out of the photograph, though that's just how I was feeling at that moment; it really could have gone either way.

Thanks for taking the time to contribute,

shalffoto
June 14th, 2014
yep - she does look ticked ;p

the busy-ness of the shot doesn't bother me at all - i think it works great for a street shot, and somehow the tree and the garbage can all help draw the eye to her expression which i think is awesome..

and i actually really like the funky angle and perspective - gives it more interest than if it were shot conventionally... i know what you mean about the streetcar wires, but i still would've shopped 'em out to see whether it helped or hurt the shot... on the one hand i find them distracting to the eye... but on the other hand there's something about them that adds to the symmetry of the shot...

if there is one thing that i would change, tho', it's getting the feet in the shot... i realize you can't redo this, but to me, that's the only thing i'd really want to change...

but all in all, nice nice catch!
June 15th, 2014
@shalffoto Yes I hear you! So often the case of something awesome coming into view and just doing the best you can to capture it at all. I did suspect all of this as I was writing what I did, but I figured you were asking for opinions, so I gave it honestly :) It's definitely an image to be pleased with!
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