Boatyard Good Humors

This is a worker at Grevelle's Moss Landing Boatyard, Moss Landing,

California recently, during conversation between tasks. Workers

there enjoy casual banter as they go ernestly about their work,

virtually self-directed, and most sport happy faces as they go about

their chores. Your ratings and critiques are invited and most

welcome. If you rate harshly or very negatively, please submit a

helpful and constructive comment/please share your superior

knowledge to help improve my photography. Thanks! Enjoy! John

John, this is a great candid. The spontaneity of the moment is brilliant. If I were to change or modify anything about this, it would be to lighten the image ever so slightly using the dodge tool in Photoshop (or similar). Just to bring out the detail a little more. Hence my 6/6 rating.

Best regards from Kenya,

Mark Anthony Kathurima

I took a variety of photos of this guy, who did NOT 'dress for success' in the business world, but who was surely 'himself' as he defines 'himself' -- there's surely no one else like himself anywhere in California, and probably not between here and the Ozarks. I particularly liked the animation in his face, although other frames show him with a range from happy, sad, dour and officious. This was the standout, hands down, and my choice was not to crop it, leaving in the backround, out of focus, to show off and highlight the in-focus face with its great expression.

 

Sometimes when reviewing thumbnails, I keep going back and back to one particular photo -- and this was the one.

 

Hello back to Africa. Maybe I'll see you there some time.

 

John (Crosley)

 

 

John, good choice not cropping this one. One cannot help but be drawn to his face. Marvellous shot. An irreplaceable moment forever frozen in time...

You're welcome to vist Kenya any time! Mark :]

With the late-mid afternoon sun in the background and in reflections falling on this guy's face, and with all the dirt and grime on his face and also with his multi-colored grey and brown/red beard with falling hair, this photo sheds a kind of luminescence on his face, accentuated by his smile and the position of his eyes, obviously recognizing a mate or in conversation with someone nearby. This is a photo that had 'levels' and 'contrast' 'auto adjusted' but only slightly as there wasn't much to adjust, and there was virtually no difference, as the D200 Nikon did wonderful adjustments. Nikon's D200 algorithms are almost perfect with Matrix metering for such 'mixed' background shots, and the exposure was almost perfect. I could have lightened the face, but felt that I wanted to make the viewer 'work' a little bit and be rewarded.

 

John (Crosley)

I'm glad I didn't crop this one -- it needed its environment, even if it is nondistinct, to contrast his 'sharpness' with its being out of focus and its many colors and varying tonalities. That way his face seems to 'snap' even more than if it were cropped tighter.

 

(that's a Travelift -- a blue boat carrying machine in the background which lifts boats out of the water and carrys them onto land -- it's gigantic, and behind them there are boat(s) in drydock shored up, but what they are exactly is of no importance -- they should be rendered indistinct for contrast with the sharpness of his features.

 

And Mark, I would love to visit Kenya, for the people as well as the game. It's a matter of money, however. (and security, with expensive cameras and diseases which are not easily guarded against by a Norte Americano.)

 

John (Crosley)

This is a phenomenal photograph, both due to the person's face and to the moment and lighting in which you captured it. The DOF is beautiful and frames his face spendidly. The blues of the T-shirt, background, and eyes work well. I really like the self-assurance and good humor conveyed in a face that has formed that smile thousands of times before. Bravo!

You would think that the highlight on his hat would compete with his expression, but these points of interest and the hair highlight simply reinforce the theme of who he is and where he is. The blown out background also should be a major distraction. It isn't. That's how compelling his expression is. Good to see a photo like this getting attention in the TRP pages.

If you view many of my photographs, you will realize I take many varieties of photographs, and as such, the 'rules' seldom apply, although later I try to synthesize 'rules' from what I have learned.

 

Here, the expression kept drawing me back to this particular exposure from the many I took of him, even the ones more up close where his face filled the frame, as his face appeared most joyful and impish at the same time.

 

It hardly seemed to matter to me that I had broken some 'rules' about framing, highlights, et al., although I consciously used Depth of Field to highlight his face and throw the background into confusion -- although it very well might have competed, since it is busy.

 

But with an expression like that, it's hard for anything to compete. I even left the face purposely slighly underexposed to make the viewer 'work' to view it.

 

It just goes to show you; you can press the shutter release, but you gotta keep pressing it, whenever and wherever the opportunity presents itself, until you get the 'right' exposure, and even then keep trying.

 

Thanks for the nice compliment.

 

John (Crosley)

 

You are one of the most venerable and venerated photographers on Photo.net and can make a great photograph out of just about anything where ordinary people would see little opportunity; for that you deserve great acclaim.

 

Accordingly I consider such praise from you very high praise indeed. I often 'break the rules' in posting photos, and often reap the reward of low ratings, but have the reward of knowing that I LIKE THE PHOTOS I POST, but in this instance I was not taken with the framing, the blown highlights, or any part of the composition, except this guy's mug was somewhere near the center, and it was in focus (not even sharpened), and it was a spectacular look, so much that all the rest simply didn't matter.

 

So I posted it, as is, with only slight adjustments for auto levels and auto contrast, without manipulation or cropping. I always have felt the best cropping is done before the shutter is pressed, and often have been rewarded by photos that don't need cropping and judgment that has been rewarded in less digital darkroom work. In fact, I hardly ever crop at all, unless a photo is simply askew or akilter and needs straightening or my lens wasn't long enough for the situation (or I had a rethink about the framing).

 

This guy had a good expression that lasted about as long as it took to press the shutter release, and this particular expression never reappeared. All his others were interesting but more documentary of his beard, clothing and somewhat good humors. This photo was a catch!

 

Thanks for stopping by and commenting.

 

John (Crosley)

This was taken at Gravelle's (cq) Moss Landing Boat Yard (not Grevelle's).

 

John (Crosley)

I sometimes go for an hour or so to a place like this boatyard, where I am known or other places where I am not know, and focus my cameras and my 70~200 f 2.8 v.r. zoom on people.

 

I have learned a lesson from compiling between 200 and 300 photos in my Presentation: "Photographers: Watch Your Background" which is, namely, always be aware of your background -- so you will see me literally 'dancing' around -- or more correctly -- tripping around my subjects from great distance with telephoto lens fully extended to give them great leeway and to not interfere with their expressions and not physically impose on them (I'm a big guy and don't want to disturb them).

 

So, I quietly move around my subjects from a good distance, always aware of my background, but never wanting to miss an expression like this one, firing whenever I sense an expression and always trying to place my subject in a good juxtaposition with others or with objects, colors, and out-of-focus or in-focus things in the background for emphasis one way or the other.

 

It's the opposite of just standing there, although sometimes it involves just standing there when the subjects are static, talking and kibbitzing, but when they move, having rapidly to move with them, from a great distance, often tripping over cables, wrenches, old wood, etc.

 

It's quite a 'dance' there at the boatyard to capture an expression like this and try also not to have a blank sky behind it, all white, contrasty, and dull.

 

John (Crosley)

Hi again John. You're probably right about the disease aspect of a visit to tropical Africa. But I'm sure the CDC can cook you up some cure-all to put into your travel kit ;) On a more serious note though, the security issue is really a non-issue unless you decide to take an unguided walk in the seedier parts of Nairobi. Just like I wouldn't take my kit with me walking through Compton, LA alone, for example. I for one use a Lowepro Orion backpack which leaves no clue as to what lies within!

For game-shooting, tour companies are a dime a dozen 'round here, and I often see many tourists with expensive kit flitting around, occasionally heading out of the city in tour vans. As long as you're with a guide/decent tour company, you're safe as houses...

Warmest regards from Kenya,

Mark Anthony Kathurima

I am absolutely devoid of knowledge of your neck of the woods; and if I ever plan on going to Kenya, you can expect an e-mail.

 

Thanks for the brief/but enlightening advice.

 

By the way, I enjoyed the beautiful, radiant female faces in your portfolio (among other things of note).

 

John (Crosley)

A great face captured perfectly. I think the off centre placing and landscape orientation give a nice sense of space. The blown highlights are not a problem at all, in fact I like the way the picture goes from dark to light from left to right.

 

Regards, Miles.

Nice to see you back. I hope you have sprouted a working 'wing' after taking that tumble and it hasn't interfered so much now with your photography. Faces like this are a reminder that we all have humanity within us, and falls like you took are reminders that we are all mortal.

 

Be well.

 

I hope you have been getting good nursing care.

 

John (Crosley)

 

This particular facial expression is one of the 'catches' that a photographer lusts after.

 

A photographer cannot make captures like this if he is reluctant to press the shutter release. To capture an expression like this, one must press the release a large number of times and then, among that large number of times there will be some successful captures.

 

It doees start with identifying a likely 'suspect' such as this guy with both an interesting face and an interesting personality who's in the right mood that he might produce an interesting face. For that you have to be able to pick faces out of a crowd and identify 'moods'. For me, that's not too hard, and if I fail, I'm rewarded with junk for captures or no captures at all, for who wants to take photos of uninteresting people (we'll leave that to newspaper photographers who take photos of public meetings and award ceremonies where they give away plaques for distinguised service to struggling civil servants, etc.)

 

So, part is the ability to identify the subject which means being able to spot 'the look' that might make an interesting photo, then stalking the subject in a way that doesn't offend him (maybe saying 'I saw you with a 'look' that was very interesting and flattering and I'd like to try to capture that, but I'll be quite some distance away and just ignore me and don't ham it up -- just be yourself', OK?)

 

Soon enough the subject will forget about you and 'be himself' (or herself).

 

I've tried to show kindness to several most interesting 'balck women' and request that I take their photos but have each time been rebuffed -- very huffily too, like 'what business is it of your that you want my photo' and am aware of racial sensitivities . . . but I guess I'm just going to have to forget abouty such niceties (I've actually been practicing reverse discrimination), and go back to snapping the photo first and apologizing later.

 

John (Crosley)

Thanks for the critique on the Hills. I Wrote a reply back over on the picture if ou want to check it out. This is quite a capture with the dirty looking,w work torn body.. yet still manages to keep his spirits. nicely done. God bless-

Look back at your own photo for further hints. Thanks for stopping by to say 'thanks' and for choosing such a 'timeless' and well-regarded photo -- by the way, this photo breaks a lot of rules, but still was successful (notice his face is partly in sun and partly in shadow, there's a blowout to his left (our right), etc. It's an example of where an 'interesting photo' (as I tried to explain) reigns, despite rules or no rules and in this case it was the facial expression.

 

'Photographic Rules' really, thus, are only general guidelines -- the true test is whether it 'works' or not, and that lies with the viewer as much as anything.

 

John (Crosley)