street The Wind (II)

... Exceptional

Wonderful! Great capture of the textures in the cape blowing. Nice contrast against the light colored stones too.

I like it.

Special the composition is very good.

Magnifica composicion y tratamiento, carlos.

Cordial saludo

Carlos... super... like a fairy tale..BB

Excellent work!

Wonderful shot!

You got everything right on this one - composition, patterns, tones - all excellent. The wind, her holding her hat, and the walking stick and make this a great photo.

Marvelous shot, a true street photography classics! 7/7 and best regards, VA.

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What an appropriate image, given the end of October. I like it very much, as it is strong, visually, and great texture.

Anyone else see a profile of a chicken in this figure? Maybe it is just me............

In any case, when I first saw this image, I was kind of hoping for something more than it has given me.

There are a lot of ways to handle overall tonality in a print and here, while there is good detail throughout, a decision was made (and probably a good one) to keep the whites a little depressed. The blacks have some good detail in them, but I do feel that there is some clarity, or flattening, of the image where I think there could be more depth. After a few minutes trying to figure this out, I think it has much to do with the slight green cast in the image. The color is not much different than one would see with some b/w papers before selenium toning, which was many times used specifically to remove this byproduct of development. Of course, the longer lens used here (and crop into the image) flattens the image as well, but in a different way than does this color effect--which is more internal to the image than the flattening of the picture plane by the optics.

This all may have made some difference, but what I found for myself was that the image just seems to be very static and frozen. The person being centered in the square frame, both of which generally work to solidify a subject, seems to counter any movement the bracing against the wind might have introduced. There doesn't seem to be any action here or mystery introduced, except maybe the clothing. The stone plaza sort of takes away that mystery, as we know this is an old world setting and maybe have come to expect more exotic wear in these sorts of images.

I guess what I am saying, bottom line, is that the image just doesn't take me anywhere and I feel stuck in the middle with this person. It feels a bit like an opportunity lost as there must have been a more dynamic and interesting image than this with this subject, the wind and the location.

Very nice, very expressive. The two path-like areas of larger blocks keep the ground from seeming too monotonous and provide a horizontal and a diagonal to balance the vertical figure and the near-vertical diagonal of the walking stick. The deep focus and telephoto perspective work well. The tones and textures are very nice too, with the dark figure standing out against the light stones. The wind-blown cloak and the hand holding onto the hat really make the image.

It's remarkable how well something beyond the visual is communicated through this image- namely the bracing and seemingly cold force of the wind against this lonely and frail figure. I think the tones are very good as well - communicating contrast of fluidity of the cape and hat against the unmoving firmness of the earth. The details of composition - including the akimbo feet showing effort to even stand and the hand holding the hat as well as the walking stick are really superb.

I like the image but I would not centre the figure, in fact it looks to me slightly closer to the right where the figure is hidden to, thats what did not work for me, other wise I like this image for its even exposure and he sort of details maintained all over the frame work.

I feel that a slower shutter speed, allowing the cloak to blur a bit, may have made a stronger image.

My first thought upon opening this image was to wonder how many hundreds of times I have seen similar images of semi-silhouetted lone figures photographed from above while crossing cobblestone roads. I suppose that the element of wind is a bit of a twist however as has already been noted the shutter speed chosen pretty much sucked the life out of that breeze, leaving it static and boring. The light does nothing to elevate the image above the mundane subject matter. The B&W conversion is drab and lifeless. The greatest let down in this photo is the awkward composition. If one is going to go for a cliche subject then one may as well go all the way and conform to the cliche composition for this type of photo. John summed up my opinion of the structure of this photo succinctly so I will borrow his words here " there must have been a more dynamic and interesting image than this with this subject, the wind and the location." .

Well..when I saw this photo I was amazed. The fact that you can barely see any shadow, the long black clothes and the hat covering any human detail. The air, the emptiness of the picture, the empty space accompanying the figure, they are elements that allow the photograph to be, according to ones thought, transformed from something very human to an element of fiction. To me the absence of intense photographic elements (such as the light/contrast that would affect the shadow), conspire in order to give a photograph of pliable interpretations. I very much like it.

John A. I also saw the chicken profile, as well. I like the shot & tonality. It really needs no title. It stands pretty much on it's own in teling a story.
I think I would have her off-center in the frame. Centering sometimes works. I'm not sure it does here

I downloaded the large size from the original post in August, used PhotoShop's Auto Tone, Auto Contrast and Auto Color and removed the black frame. The result is a slightly improved but still rather predictable capture. At least without the border, the road and chicken lady's path is unending lending a bit of mystery.

Composition is perfect. Contrast and exposure are excellent. Good eye.

I especially like the feeling that her long, arduous journey is almost at an end. Where the roads converge ahead is her ultimate destination.

This is lovely. My first impulse is just to say "Thank you." for bringing something so beautiful into my life. Strong and complex; the textures are spectacular.
When I step back to look at it critically, I think that it might be possible to wring a little more richness out of the tonal range. I see that when I look at many of my images, but, as I am relatively new to digital photography, I can not say how to do that. On paper, i would try running the print through a very dilute selenium toner... Maybe someone here can make some suggestions... jt

The vibrancy of colour can, at times, actually detract from the desired photographic effect. The subtle effects of texture and lighting that can be lost in colour photographs stand out in this black and white photograph by Carlos Miguez Macho, [i would like to guess, of a pilgrim approaching the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela]. The picture captures the moment beautifully.
Colin507