Please Critique One Of My Latest

Allentown Vintage Dirt Drags, Allentown Fairgrounds July 4 2021, Allentown Pennsylvania

 

 

This recent shot has a real old-time feel to it. Don't recall my camera settings offhand but I've been making a point to shoot more around f/4 ish lately although the depth of field here feels pretty limited- in general tho I don't shoot wide open very often these days. It seems to have a bit of a "soft focus" effect like maybe I missed focus by a bit? Whatever happened this is the only photo off this roll of film that has this "look" to it. There doesn't seem to be a lot here to give the time frame away, and to me that's the appeal of this image.

All the bikes in the shot were running so maybe there's some exhaust smoke adding to the general look of the pic...

 

Shot on my gifted Praktica LTL with its awesome Carl Zeiss f1.8 50mm Jena Pancolar lens- the more I shoot this funky East German Camera, the more I like it. The film could have been Tri-X 400, but a buddy gave me a roll of I think FP4 that day, so maybe it's that? Haven't looked at the negatives to see what was shot on what. I actually had thought this could have been shot on my 1930s Voigtlander Bessa- but a look back thru the downloads of my scans reveals this to be a 35mm shot in a 36 exposure set.

 

Anyway I love this photo for various reasons- which isn't always an indicator that it's a great shot, so I'm curious to see what you all think of it.

 

Thanks in advance for your time and opinions.

Tom

 

The hundred year-old grandstand and the not quite so old bikes and riders really pull off a vintage, nostalgic look. I understand the attraction. The modern helmets spoil that feel only slightly, but I still feel, "We're still here, still doing the same thing 100-years later." My only wish is that the front two riders were in a little better focus, but that might not be possible with that rig. It's not a big deal and may add to the vintage feel.

 

Thanks for sharing.

Nice shot. Yeah the focus may be ok or not depending. I'd get rid of the object in the bottom left corner and crop the right side to eliminate the wheel of the otherwise hidden bike.

I can see the sort of old timey feel you're taking about, but the bikes, helmets and riders do give it away, except for the guy with the mustache. He sort of looks like he migt've been transplanted from an earlier time period. Agree with Alan about the lower left corner and the right side, but think cloning or patching might be a better way to go than cropping.

The only things that give away the time frame are the full-face helmets and the three-line writing on the shirt in the front line. The stands look great.

 

I think from another post, you had someone else process the film and you scan for prints. This means that you have the full range of digital tools available to you: I would do two things. First, fix the sky in the upper right. You may be able to burn it and get more detail but it may require a scan with a different exposure and layering that in. The second thing that would do is burn the foreground and lower left to match the dirt on the lower right.

 

I almost always burn the bottom of an image (in a bit of an arch) to give some "weight" to the bottom.

 

Great shot . . . Did you do any action?

I think this photo is very evocative. The modern helmets don't bother me a bit. It's a really interesting image to look at.

 

On the technical side, you wrote:

 

I've been making a point to shoot more around f/4 ish lately although the depth of field here feels pretty limited- in general tho I don't shoot wide open very often these days. It seems to have a bit of a "soft focus" effect like maybe I missed focus by a bit?

 

This does have a very shallow DOF, and while the image is so grainy that it's very hard to see where the point of focus is, it looks like it's somewhere around the front tires of the two bikes in front. If so, that in combination with a wide aperture will through almost everything else out of focus.Even the front two riders appear out of focus to me, but again, it's not all that easy to tell.

 

It's all a matter of taste, but for my taste, the ideal might have been to keep the entirety of the front two riders and their bikes in focus and then let the rest fade into blur.

The only things that give away the time frame are the full-face helmets and the three-line writing on the shirt in the front line. The stands look great.

 

I think from another post, you had someone else process the film and you scan for prints. This means that you have the full range of digital tools available to you: I would do two things. First, fix the sky in the upper right. You may be able to burn it and get more detail but it may require a scan with a different exposure and layering that in. The second thing that would do is burn the foreground and lower left to match the dirt on the lower right.

 

I almost always burn the bottom of an image (in a bit of an arch) to give some "weight" to the bottom.

 

Great shot . . . Did you do any action?

 

I mean I'm at vintage drags somewhat often so I do shoot some action yes -but not super well ha ha ha. I have trouble quickly focusing my manual lenses so I pre-focus on a spot or zone and try to shoot when the subject enters the focus zone.

 

At this event I shot fewer photos and didn't end up with a lot of "keepers" as far as action shots go. Here's one I like tho.

 

 

If I'm far enough away, I'll set the focus to infinity and pan the camera which I did in 2019 at this same location to great effect. This was a different camera and different film- and the "look" is completely... well... "different". :)

(click to view large file):

 

I like that . . . But, if your going to pan, don't focus at infinity. Estimate the distance to where the riders will be. Experiment with longer shutter speeds. Even 1/15 and 1/8 can work with a little practice!