[JMitchell]

For part of my photography exam, we have to choose a topic and take pictures that are all connected with one another ("links and connections"). Perhaps it would be best if you lot didn't suggest anything, just in case they find out and say I'm cheating
But anyway, the late afternoon sun was casting some great shadows, so I thought I'd do my first foray into my theme "Creativity with Light".
Not sure about the old lady shot, but would appreciate comments on it and the tryptych.
The other one was something I saw whilst looking out of the window waiting for the right combination of people and sun, and I thought it was really worth getting. I'll let you figure it out but if you can't then say so and I'll give a fuller explanation, but that probably indicates that the shot isn't very good anyway.

TFL, and comments welcome as mentioned

Jack

[Markulous]

#1 Too much shadow tho' I guess a crop would help there but I'm not really inspired

#2 Rather like this - be better if it was tidied up (bar along the base in middle and part shadow in right, bottom right corner)

#3 Creating a light (with lighter) - do I win a prize?

[JMitchell]

No, no you don't
I just thought the image could be classed as 'significant' ie: youths of today, smoking etc. plus it has the nice 'lighter light' as it were.
Agree about the tryptych, it's not finished, only took these a fews hours ago, but wanted to get them posted and get thoughts on them.

Thanks

[b.van_der_dylan]

I like number 2 ,has some great potential

[Charlotte]

#1 Not keen on the composition; maybe if you cropped the top bricks out. Old lady is walking out of the frame - too near the edge which she's facing.

#2 Seems a bit disjointed to me. I might like it if it were a proper sequence, like from a burst of continuous shooting.

#3 Not bad! Colours, compo, detail, DoF, exposure are all very good

Jack, one thing I've noticed with the last few shots you've shown (that I've seen) is that you seem to be photographing people from behind, so that we only ever see people's backs Is this a conscious decision on your part?

[JMitchell]

I wont say it's conscious, but I do think there's a reason I don't have a problem with it.
I think that even though we get a lot out of people's faces in photos and in reality, there is as much potential, if not more - in a photograph - in photographing a subject from behind. You can create your own story, and your own meanings, and especially if they are not the main 'focal point' of the picture. For example, the mother and child, and the old woman are important in the shot, but not what I am trying to show in the image.
I was not trying to take a picture of an old lady, in this instance. I was using the old lady as a vehicle to portray relationships between shadows and objects. As arty / arsy as that sounds, it is true, and is exactly why I let her be walking out of the shot. I actually remember thinking about how I would compose it as she trundled along, and I decided to do it like that.

Thanks for the comments, I hope that helped explain it a little, but it was really a stream of consciousness, and in explaining it I think I have made it a bit clearer to myself.

[Charlotte]

The fact that you had to explain it ... you know the rest

I hear what you're saying about the person being a 'vehicle' rather than the 'subject', but I do feel that viewers like to see faces rather than backs. Of course we're all going to get some backs when we shoot street photography, but I raised the point with you because it seems to have become a trend with your recent shots, and it is especially noticeable when there is only one person in the shot.

I agree that the one with mother + child walking away worked well, because there was other interest in the shot, i.e. the scenary + the lighting. But the old lady shot doesn't work for me, for the reasons in my critique. Also, I've just decided, the large shadow cast from the building is distracting; if you had shot the old lady before she reached that shadow, I think that would have greatly improved the image. As it is, the huge shadow casts a dividing line across the image, effectively slashing it into a dark 'half' + a light 'half', which makes the image as a whole very contrasty + which I find is distracting my attention away from the message which you are trying to convey.

[Markulous]

I know what you mean, Jack - a subject becomes the excuse for taking the shot (much like a tree in a shot of a sunrise - more of that elesewhere!)

Strangely, I would've preferred the mother/child to have been facing - I think because their role is so important to the image. Whereas the old lady, because the shadow is significant and she's so close to the frame, there's an appropriateness to the image as a whole

[fionaB]

am i missing something here? i cant find a mother and child

[JMitchell]

Sorry Fi, it's in another thread in critique, taken at a different time and place, but I think this was one of the 'back' shots Charlotte was referring to.

It's here:
Shady Walk