Alex_Es Posted February 29, 2004 Share Posted February 29, 2004 This was shot with an S3 + 50/1.4 wide open on ISO 800 color film. Check out the boke.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grant_. Posted February 29, 2004 Share Posted February 29, 2004 unfortunate placement Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bhk Posted February 29, 2004 Share Posted February 29, 2004 Beautiful shot, beautiful girl also. Very nice bokeh! Babar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerry_lehrer Posted February 29, 2004 Share Posted February 29, 2004 Alex Get that gaijin's head out of the picture and we will ignore thedouble images of the lights. Jerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex_Es Posted February 29, 2004 Author Share Posted February 29, 2004 Ah ha! I knew people would object to the placement of the out of focus image of the customer. So of course this is the image I had to post to stir up a little discord (things have been too peaceful in the last few days). I say that the placement of the custormer is most fortunate. Without the placement this would be just another picture of another pretty girl. It would be fun because pictures of pretty girls are ipso facto fun but would be ordinary otherwise. The blurred customer covering part of the pretty girl raises interesting aesthetic and social questions and thoughts. 1. What is been covered up by the customer? Is it important? I say it is not important. It is the continuation of the black suit and white shirt (sorry no exposed bellybutton). So there is no important information being covered by the customer. 2. What is the purpose of the pretty girl being there? What is the purpose of her smile? What is the purpose of her being pretty and well-dressed for that matter? The answer is work. She is dressed for work. She is smiling for work. She is dressed for work and is pretty for work. And she is working! (Surprise, surprise!) The out of focus customer blocking her well-covered mindrift reminds us that she is working. She is not smiling because she likes us but because she is being paid to smile. 3. The customer is female. Consider the juxtaposition of female customer against female server. That puts the server's charm and beauty in a certain perspective. I'll leave this open to further discussion and go on. 4. How do you know that the out of focus person is a "gaijin" (a discriminatory Japanese word for foreigner--the polite word in "gaikokujin")? This person might be a Japanese national. In fact, the customer is a very dear friend of mine, but I won't tell you who it is. And if you ask I'll have Brian Motterhead ban you (just kidding). 5. Do you assume that the server is Japanese? You cannot do that based on what you see here. 6. What about the background? I thought about cropping this shot but decided against it. It considered the blurred background to be important. It does several things. One, it tells you that you are in a restaurant. Two, by being blurred it makes you focus your attention on the server. Three, by being expansive it tells you that you are in an restaurant that has lots of space, a pretty elegant restaurant (which in actuality is in one of Tokyo's best hotels). This is in no way an expensive restaurant, but it is classy. Knowing what you now know (if you haven't deduced it already) look at the server. She has a certain pride in doing what she is doing. She is ramrod straight and her smile is a smart professional smile. 7. Words, per se, do not make good pictures. Is this a good picture? I believe it is a good picture or I would not be talking about it at this length. But let us see where the discussion goes. As the West African trickster said: "Spreading strife is my greatest joy." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanford Posted February 29, 2004 Share Posted February 29, 2004 a good old digital camera shot<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m_. Posted February 29, 2004 Share Posted February 29, 2004 Alex: I don't mind the blur image of the customer but I think if his head is placed a little off fromthe girl, preferably completely separated from the girl, it will be a wonderful shot. It's about moving a tiny bit with your camera angle and it would be a great shot. Beautiful girl, I should agree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex_Es Posted February 29, 2004 Author Share Posted February 29, 2004 Hi Wentong. I just held up my negatives to the light and saw that the photo you want exists. I chose not to have it printed. Hmmm-------! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donald_macklin Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 I agree with Wentong.Move camera right about 2 or 3 feet and allow the out of focus foreground subject to reveal more of the in focus waitress main subject.This movement will also allow more of the colour dominant far background subjects to futher delineate the pleasant torso form of your waitress.The ceiling lights are quite nicely rendered by this lens.Stunning in fact.This movement will also result IMHO a more interestingly balanced frame.I hope I don't sound too obtuse in my descriptions.I'm looking forward to seeing more of this series,you may have something here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougmiles Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 Interesting points, Alex... but I find the rendering of the out-of-focus background highlights unpleasant, distracting. My Jupiter-8M does the same, and I wouldn't be surprised if this is a typical Sonnar look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex_Es Posted March 1, 2004 Author Share Posted March 1, 2004 The most important thing I have to do now is to apologize to my friend for including her in this photograph though her face is turned away and blurred. She is a very dear friend and it is her feelings I care most about now, not any aesthetic questions. She is a lovely person in all ways. I hope she can forgive me. It's open season on strangers; friends are another story. If I am a hypocrite and a monster so be it: Mia cupla. A side note. I later read in the hotel guide that photography without permission is strictly prohibited. Had I known this I would not have taken this shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uhooru Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 Here's a good shot that got away. I had an M3 with the old Elmar 2.8 50 and she was fooling around while was in the drive through at an In & Out Burger, I held up the camera and she kind looked at me and did a ta dah! And I had to focus fast and shoot to get her at the top of the movement. I just missed it, but at least you can see her personality and the posture/pose.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h._p. Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 I like that one, Barry. Nicely grabbed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry_ting2 Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 Alex, that's why I always use caution when including any of my friends' in pictures on a public forum. Sometimes, discussion on picture quality can be misread in one form or another. Sometimes, any comments on the negativities of the picture itself, or wordings that are not appropriate could lead to a lot of misunderstandings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex_Es Posted March 1, 2004 Author Share Posted March 1, 2004 Quite right, Henry. A lesson learned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian1664876441 Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 Alex, What version of the Nikkor 50 is this; the original Sonnar design, Olympic Version, or latest version? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex_Es Posted March 1, 2004 Author Share Posted March 1, 2004 Brian: Latest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olivier_reichenbach Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 Love your reasoning, Alex. Love your shot, too. And don't forget to add the old wisdom: if it's out of focus, call it art ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travis1 Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 Alex, do you have shots of Sophia Coppola in Tokyo while she was lost in translation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sal dimarco Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 Alex, Sorry but no amount of rationalization will move our photo out of the category of "almost a picture." Happy Snaps, Sal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
igor_osatuke Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 Restaurant Server (Female), Ukraine (the closest to Tokyo I've made so far :-)<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougmiles Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 I regret to see you offended, Alex; I think all comments had positive intent. The OOF blur combined with your friend's short haircut make gender confusion easy. In the interests of composition I too would like to see the waitress and your friend displaced rather than overlapped. And the server's attention is clearly directed to another person outside the frame... Not that I hold it up to be better, here's my contribution to the theme of friendly professional restaurant server (female). :-)<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cd thacker Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 Alex, One of your best. Strongly reminiscent, to me, of some of Gueorgui Pinkhassov's strongest work, and yet all your own. Your explication of it indicates, just as the pic does, that you know exactly what you're doing. I, for one, would encourage to continue in exactly this vein.<p> In my view the best photography runs uphill. It is only on mass public ratings-centered sites such as this that photography is encouraged to follow, like water, the path of least resistance. Perhaps it would be better to say that the strongest work, rather than running uphill, doesn't know the pull of gravity at all. Like this wonderful picture of yours.<p>Of course it's your choice, but in the world away from the internet photography encounters gravity, in concrete terms, most often where it finds the "no photography" sign. It goes without saying that these should be noted, and then, like internet naysayers, cheerfully ignored. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean_marc_quach Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 Alex The lady's head in the foreground...that's Tuulikki, isn't it? Regards Jean-Marc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billsr Posted March 1, 2004 Share Posted March 1, 2004 The blurred head in the foreground is disturbing to me, bad feng shui. The disc shaped blurry highlights in the background look a lot like the "doughnuts" produced by my 500mm Catadioptric lens. Bokeh? "nokeh". The waitress is very pretty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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