Candy Maker, Wuhan, China 1975

The person in back could be just a little more blurred.

Talk about candy! Would be nice to use light through the transparency of the candy to create a colorful effect. The color of the subject is a monochrome compared to the foreground subject.

 

Regarding ratings, roughly I'd say they are worthless. I sometime read them after, sometime before I look. What do they mean? Are they suppose to make me enjoy the picture more if the rating is above 7? You either enjoy a photo emotionally or you try to analyze it intellectually, but the rating wont help in either case. I personally think they destroy the effort of making your own opinion and to believe in yourself about what you create and perceive.

 

I will eventually create a user and I will post some of the most unknown picture from famous photographer and try to see how people rate them, I hope this will be conclusive to prove my point. Be aware everyone when you rate a picture from John Smith, you might be rating Man Ray.

 

Technical question. Is this a studio shoot or is it natural light. The background looks like a backdrop, but it's mostly the light that tipped me.

Olivier: Many thanks for the response to the ratings note. As a viewer you're right -- for viewers unconcerned about the ratings they are probably a distraction from the appreciation of the photo. But, speaking as a submitter, I place my photos on photo.net because I want to know what other photographers think. It would be pointless, arrogant or ingenuous to offer them for public review and then to say I don't care what the viewer thinks. The ratings are instructive. Not only do they deflate my grandiose opinions about my talents but they let me evaluate differences in the quality or technique of my various photos that I am too close to see. And most important they let me place the quality of my photos in relation to the work of other photographers - a real incentive to push myself in different directions. The system isn't perfect (the ratings diddlers will probably always be around) but with enough ratings on enough images I think it works fairly objectively. You may be able to get some low ratings on 1 or 2 Man Ray photos but with a portfolio of his best 20 works he would be right on top of the top-rated list.

 

The photo was taken in waning daylight with a gaggle of kids crowded around behind me. The candy maker's table was on the street in front of a grungy white wall.

Bill, thanks for this nice photo from my home city many years ago. In that year I probably didn't get the candy ...

The candy is beautiful. He looks so proud of his creation. Great DOF - the focus is on HIS artwork, as he would want it. What a great portrait and artful image together!