The shot

Thank you for your time

Excellent capture. I like it.

Ya know I view hundreds of photos a day ... yours wins! I love everything about this photo. Great Capture - nice work!!

I agree with those before me, plus nice timing.

this image gets my 2000'th rating on photo.net!

 

You should get a material prize of some sort, but all I have for you is a 7/7. Fantastic capture, composition, the wind blowing his hair, the whole thing. Bravo Miguel!

Yes !! What Lex said.

Fantastic capture!

Great timing, DOF and composition. Well done.

Wow! Your timing couldn't be more perfect! This photo is beautiful: with great lighting, sharpness and depth of field, too. I love that I can see the crowd, and the picket fence: great composition. (I edited this: I just now noticed that this photo was in "Renaissance Festival" folder. I guessed as much) :)

This is what I regard as photography. As already stated straightforward, no special editing etc just pure photographic skill, bravo Miguel.

It is very well done. That said, how long does it hold one's attention?

--Lannie

Not sure "excellent timing" has much, if anything, to do with this shot. After you decide on your ISO and aperture, you pre-focus and set the camera for a high speed burst, and you'll pretty much nail it. And I doubt the archer is only making one shot, so the photographer will have another one or two chances to get it right. This could be the best shot out of a 10- or 20-frame sequence. Some photographers refer to it as "shotgun shooting". It's a good stop action shot, sure, but what it boils down to is that it's just another sports photograph...like the moment the bat impacts the baseball, or the football player caught mid-air going up for the catch with the football inches from his outstretched hands.

What does impress me about this shot is the image quality and the fact that it was made with a Canon 20D, undoubtedly the worst Canon camera I've ever owned.

Good shot? Yes, by all means. Good enough for POTW? No.

Sixty seconds or less?

Superb timing! The fact that everything is in sharp focus is commendable.

Regards.

It would be an excellent photojournalistic shot. It grabs attention, is unambiguous and compels one to read the associated story. Good job.

Shotgun approach? I suppose it could be but I wonder if you would get more than one frame--or any-- with the arrow actually in it and in the air? At the average speed of 225fps from a non compound bow, as here, that is 45 feet between bursts for this 5fps camera--not likely to get your shot without some good--or even lucky--timing. Probably better off developing your "timing" of a single shutter press over several shots of the bow. I never shoot action with the "shotgun" approach for this reason, it is better, IMO, to develop the rhythm/timing needed to get a shot (even with mf camera's and mirror/shutter lag, I found it more reliable--but that may just be me!).

My original 2008 critique on this photo vanished in 2010, along with all my photo.net critiques, during a system glitch. But I still remember this photo vividly. It remains an excellent example of a "pure" photo. It's been in my list of photo.net "favorites" for a few years.

And it takes more than a camera with fast framerates. Look at the rest of Miguel's portfolio. He got the shot because he knows the event, this archer and the timing. No special access, no special equipment. It's the sort of photo many folks aspire to and seldom quite get. Even with his newer, "better" equipment, I still prefer this 2008 photo over his more recent efforts of the same archer and event - although the more recent versions are very good too.

Let's see... I first saw it in 2008. So it's held my attention for five years.

I would agree that how this was achieved and why it was undertaken have some effect on how photographers critique the image. Maybe that isn't fair. If asked to do whatever is necessary to get this shot, a photographer should be able to do that as Jim describes. If asked to cover an event where this among other things is going on, and you get the idea to try this even though nobody is expecting you to come back with this shot, and you pull it off, then it is really remarkable. If I went to an event like this for pure enjoyment with modest camera gear, especially if it were film, and I took a couple shots at this thinking it would be cool to capture that moment and later developed my film and found I got this shot, I would be ecstatic. ...so I guess this is where some of the comments from a tough crowd are coming from....As an image in itself regardless of all those other considerations, I like it a lot. I don't like his elbow being cut off, but one could argue that this helps put the attention more towards the release area and the arrow itself. Miguel, I think it is a very satisfying shot and a well captured moment. It might not compel repeated musing about the human condition, but it shouldn't have to. I am drawn in to look at every aspect of what happened in that moment.

Skill definitely required. Unfortunately, this has the single virtue of being accurately timed. No sense of motion, no expression from the archer, no sign of a target. See, for example, this one.

Every photo doesn't have to be a masterpiece to be a well done image. Photographs exist for different reasons and can be excellent--or not or somewhere in the middle--based on their purpose. In this case, this is sort of a PJ/documentary image. I would almost suggest it functions more as, I think someone said, that intro photo to an article. It reads quickly, it isn't ambiguous or deep, you just know what is happening but, if you care, not maybe why--so you read the story. if one were creating a book or a slide show, it might be a needed image to tell certain stories. Often, books include images that might not stand on their own but are crucial to the story.

On the wall, I don't think this would do much for me but I think it is a fine photo for many contexts. (I will say that I think the image could us a little containment--edge burn--which I think would help the read a bit more--not a visible vignette, just some containment)

Les, I have to disagree in one respect - the expression of the archer. To me, it is one of total concentration. But I don't like the archer's elbow having been cut off, since his arm is an important element in the frame.

I really like this. Having the elbow break the frame allows for continuity in the sensation of the lateral motion (rather than it being stopped by the crook of the elbow, if the arm is complete). The photographer had some good fortune (and probably a good eye for his "good fortune") in the splashes of color in the background. The two greens and then the red right behind his head (red/green = complementary colors make each other buzz)-- with the two pastels of pink and sherbet-orange in the lower right to give a extra fizz of contrast to those primaries.

He's got just enough pointedly attentive out-of-focus faces, he's got the hand on the left (the archer's right hand) just clear of the chin's shadow line, even the rope under at arm is on angle ...

Then there is the classic contrapposto, and the fact that our archer is very easy on the eyes (i.e. he's a stud).

Negative: the man in the background at the top who is not paying attention. Probably jealous.

Finally, an honest comment about how a male subject looks. It's about time!

And, yes, the break in the elbow. Bravo. Adds dynamism.

I like that he's an archer in the crowd. It's a watched game. He's not an icon and, handsome though he is, he's not treated as a Greek God. He's a man among men (a few of whom are even headless).

A good action shot, not one for aesthetic contemplation.

My reaction is that this is a kind of pure, even ancient archery. Look at the bow. It is not fibreglass,no pulleys ,probably hand made of yew, --an old fashioned archer doing his sport in a simple and no shortcuts way. His hair and smock add to the almost medieval quality. No arrows on the bow, no techno asssists. So purity is apt word compounded by his dress style, smock, long hair locks and the old simple bow. A solid presentation. He looks real and serious and confident. Gnarled hand in release arm. ( Nice full beard too, almost as nifty as mine:-))

This is exactly the kind of thing I enjoy most and probably what I do best. If it takes more than one try, so what? There is an element of luck involved no matter your frame rate, timing or other skill characteristics. This one was done well and I like it. If I were to change any thing about it I would have dropped the background even more out of focus and isolated the archer and arrow more.

Rick H.