alt.street Le Chapeau (The Hat)**

I spotted this woman and her hat three times and three times tried

to photograph it, but she moved quickly before I could focus on it,

until finally, I employed the 'pan-blur' technique to isolate the

chapeau (hat) only, while blurring everything else. Your comments

and critiques are invited and most welcome. If you rate harshly or

very critically, please submit a helpful and constructive comment;

Please share your superior photographic knowledge to help improve my

photography. Thanks! Enjoy! John By the way, that's some hat,

isn't it?

Hi John,

I am a fan of your photographs. I was more of a landscape shooter till i came across the magnum site which has the works of one of the best street photographers. My favourites are Alex Webb and David Harvey and i also admire the works of the other listed magnum photographers. Since then I have swtiched to street photography and enjoy it.

I have always believed in knowing the though process of the photographer rather than the technical aspect of what camera,lens etc. You have given us all on photonet the opportunity to have a closer look inside the mind and workings of a great photographer (and writer) as you... thanks so much.

Back to the main topic, which is the above pic.. i like the colours (Orange, Red , green) which surround the hats colour.. the other colours of the cars and buildings are nicely muted and act as a nice backdrop for this pic.. I would have loved the hat to fill the frame a bit more and have her facing the camera instead.

just fyi, I dont (try not to) rate pics on photonet but leave my comments instead, which in my opinion are more helpful.

Thanks and best of luck John

A Saturday night surprise, and not the firing of the U.S. Attorney General (reference Dick Nixon and Watergate).

What a pleasure to find I have a hitherto unknown admirer; it fills life's little lonelinesses somewhat and rewards me for my little peccadillos with photography.

Thank you so much.

You suggest that the woman might be facing the camera and the hat might be bigger.

How about this.

Blow this photo up real large, so large it fills a wall in a room or just very big.

Then the woman's head and hat would be of great size -- at least not a trifle. In fact, one might even wish for a capture in which the head were smaller and the woman's hat more remote.

Keeping her face (with beaucoup maquuillage -- makeup) out of the photo, probably increases the emphasis on the 'subject' -- the hat, and for that ultimately I am thankful. I urge you to reconsider. I lusted at first for her face, but on retrospect, I like it as it is. It has grown on me in seven months awaiting posting.

(In fact, some 'people/bots' seem to have anticipated its posting so much they rated it before it appeared -- some great trick, for which I have made a site feedback posting requesting clarification on how that could be. (I think I know, don't you?)

I have posted a great number of photos in which 'blur' plays an important part -- here it's motion blur, but in others it is out-of-focus blur, which effectively directs the viewers' eyes towards the 'sharp' object -- the subject which here is the hat (chapeau).

It was after sunset, the shutter speed was very slow, and I was panning her; it was the last chance to photograph her hat (and she didn't turn toward me and was walking away from me for the last time), and the technique used here is called the pan-blur technique, I read in a prominent photography book. (I didn't know that when I used the technique, but find the technique has a name.)

Here, roughly 85% of the photo is blurred; all the more to focus the eye on the hat; and the after-dark blueness of the bokeh helps to emphasize the hat which is purple (a color which has a substanttial amount of blue in it).

You are always welcome to stop by and comment; whether I accept your suggestion; contest it; or ultimatly try another way is less important than the fact that you ARE HEARD, and it is clear you have an important contribution to make. Ultimately I make decisions, and don't take every suggestion, but I am genuinely grateful for every considered suggestion/especially those thoughtful ones such as yours.

John (Crosley)

Is this technique (pan-blur) mainly effective where the subject is located at the center of the photograph (the subject is NOT being zoomed -- I have one recently in which I was zooming on a couple kissing as I was using motor *continuous* drive and it has the classical 'look' associated with such captures).

Look at the green streetlight, upper left, and its elongation, which shows the left to right panning technique I used as I followed her as I panned.

The wonder is that her 'step' did not cause her head to 'bob up and down' and throw her hat (chapeau) into blurriness, so I must have caught her stride at a special point (one such photo only with this technique, as I recall).

Your answers to the 'centering' questions are invited, along with any other observations.

John (Crosley)