People as the secondary subject

An experiment... using the people as a reference of scale and context

rather than as the prime subject. I liked the leaves, but on their

own they were really nothing special. I went up on a roof top, chose

an angle where people would intersect, and waited for the right

subject(s). I used a wide-aperture to selectively blur the people,

and tried many examples with this being the most close to what I had

envisioned.<P>

 

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I think it is common knowledge that adding people to a scene always makes it more interesting. In this photo I also waited for the right subjects to enlighten the scenery and to give it somemething extra (unfortunately when i came home i saw i cut them in half on the edges:))

 

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<i>I think it is common knowledge that adding people to a scene always makes it more interesting.</i>

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Hehehehe, you can easily tell this is a people photography forum. The nature photography police would confiscate your equipment for saying that.

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I think you overly generalized; even we can take an interesting photograph without people, don't you think?

we could try to do that, but it wouldn't actually prove that the same scene would'nt be better WITH people in it. :)<img src="http://www.photo.net/photodb/image-display?

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sorry i was referring to Emre's last line

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Adding people to a structure makes it more interesting...such a simple concept! I usually wait until people leave...doing that is not a creative decision. I appreciate the suggestion. Thank you.

I think Albert has a good point. The photo of the beach above better proves

his point though.

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Albert, I think your experiment is a worthy try, but I'm not sure it succeeds in your stated objective, i.e., making the leaves more interesting. The leaves and the people seem to distract each other as subject matters because there is no interaction or connection between the two. Look at Simon or Brad's photos; in both cases the human element may be secondary, but it complements the main subject.

Introducing the "human" element into a scene sometimes helps in terms of scale, as well as giving viewers something to relate to. I have other shots of this scene without the people, but I felt their inclusion added interest.<div></div>

I like the beach scene and I like the view of Florence. For me they are not people photography, because I can't get really involved and hardly see and engage with the subject,the person(s). If a person becomes a frame,then its not quite an environmental portrait.What is it? A document of something,a mood shot. At some point the environment becomes the main. Which is OK of course,no argument. But then is it a people photograph? Or a parrot photograph. Is a puzzlement.<div></div>

I like this thread because it reinforces the importance of being open-minded. Is it a people photograph, or is it not? Where do you draw the line? I say: what difference does it make? I am quite happy to leave the gray areas gray.

 

I would like Albert's picture more if the people's heads were not obscured. I encourage you to continue your experiment.

Let me try ;-)<div></div>

Sometimes, I think most of the time, in family travel photography at least I aim to balance the subject and the people,usually unthinkingly. If I shot the best angle and light in the world of the Lincoln Memorial it would be just another postcard but might be a good postcard. And I think that is something I learned to try more over the years since this early shot. With some people I know and want to recall, it becomes a people/place/time/scale of distance shot. So it may be,granted,measly aesthetic,non original like most but it gets the job done,what job?- a question of what one is aiming for in the grey area of the self. A more "artful" pose would take more time I guess and be a better people photo. Giving something more to people and the rest.Posed,standard,unassuming but worth a place in a family album. One big marble person seated, three smaller people standing. As Emrek says it matters not, most shots by tourists are like the shot I took. I am a tourist,with a tripod though and that makes me a serious guy:-). GS<div></div>