gerrymorgan

Thanks for the translation, Meir. And for the explanation, John. You two certainly have a complex relationship and I look forward to sharing some threads with you in the future.

It was supposed to be "liberty for photographers!" But I guess I need to find a different online translation site. Or perhaps you can help?

Well, I didn't realize I was stepping into you guys' ongoing mutual admiration critique fest :) But I must say it has been fun. I had to resort to machine translation of your Hebrew, by the way, Meir, but I will reply in Hebrew, not Farsi: חירות עבור צלמים

 

 

To be clear, the comment about portrait depth of field rules was Meir's, not mine. I tend more towards John's mistrust of photographic rules (or, at least, I do not think we should follow rules unquestioningly). My name has somehow become the title to many posts here.

 

Meir, perhaps we are at cross-purposes here. If I understand the logic of your second post, it means that he is likely to be Iranian because of his facial features and the fact that he has 'liberty' in Farsi written on his face. In any case, we know from John's description of the photo that he is Iranian-American. However, my point was that he has every right to demonstrate in support of liberty in Iran and that his right to do so is not diminished by whatever the story of his life might be, nor by whatever his ethnic background might be. I also disagree that this protest is misguided, whatever the ethnicity or background of the protester.

 

I know Meir's portfolio well and have commented on several of his photos in the past. I'm not aware of any instance in which he has broken the portait "rule" he cited. But nor do I think that his photos are in any way inhibited by rule-following.

A fun photo! I like how the ripples and perspective have softened the lines of this house.

Nice shot. I like the look of concentration on his face. And the reflections from the bubbles are great. The vignette focuses the eye of the viewer on the subject very effectively, but I think it is too strong.

A decisive moment indeed! Agreed about the diagonals and angles -- a very strong composition!

A million every 25 minutes is $57m per day, which is quite significant after adjustment for inflation. And the money is going to line the same pockets as before, so perhaps very little has changed.

 

Nice photo, though.

 

This is fascinating partly because I never imagined people doing this type of work to wearing only a t-shirt and shorts. I like how the red of the hot glass is reflected in the man's face. It suggests that he is very focused on the glass. And it was a good idea to show only a part of the opening to the furnace -- it avoids the white furnace becoming the dominant item in the photo (by virtue of its brightness). Cropping out the furnace entirely would not be good either because it provides context for the photo. So this seems to be a great solution. Nice shot!

This is a good portrait. I like the juxtaposition of colours and how his arms frame his face. Meir suggests more depth of field, but I would not want to see anything more than the protester's face in focus. And you have really nailed the focus on his left eye. You have also managed to avoid bad reflections from his glasses.

 

This portrait makes me wonder about the man's past. Was he old enough to have participated in the 1979 revolution? Are we seeing the passion of someone who once believed in that revolution, but has now changed his mind? Or is this a man who always opposed it? Is he perhaps a second-generation Iranian-American or Canadian (the details of your photo are currently vague as to which country he is in) who has never lived in Iran? Or perhaps not even an Iranian at all, but someone who strongly supports the cause of liberty and identifies with the protesting Iranians for that reason?

 

In response to Meir's point about the man's credibility as a protester for liberty in Iran, must we all remain in our country of origin or risk being accused of not caring about those who remain there? Does that mean that we must refrain from publicly supporting the cause of freedom in countries that we do not live in, or have never lived in? On both counts, I think not.

 

Thank you for this colourful and thought-provoking portrait.

 

This is a nice abstract. I like the textures in the brickwork and the old glass. In a perfect world, there would not be the white area in the 'V' of the roof in the foreground because I find my eye is attracted to it too much. Perhaps a little burning in in that area?

Wonderful. I love the drama of the sea and sky!

This is great. Beautifully lit. And I love the clouds and the the birds -- they really make the shot.

This is a very nice double portrait. You've managed to catch these two people in a very natural pose, as if they are in the middle of a conversation (which perhaps they were). You've also managed the window light very well. The subjects are perfectly exposed, yet you've still maintained detail in the shutters (visible through the curtains). Great shot!

Quite a sunset! I like how the orange cloud follows the line of the crane.

Works very nicely with the high-contrast processing that you have used.

Nice light on the sculpture. Great clouds.

I'm now pretty sure that this is an Indian fig opuntia (opuntia ficus-indica). The fruit looks like other photos I have seen, as do the flowers. It's also the right size (about 10 feet / 3 metres tall) and has smooth, spineless pads, just like the Indian fig opuntia.

It's a beautiful composition that has a lot of tension in it. My eye starts at bottom left and heads towards the flowers. But there is a strong diagonal from bottom right to top left (following the tops of the cactus pads) that takes my eye towards the caption ("Fischer Photography"). So my eye ends up moving from the flowers to the caption and back again.

 

I tried covering up the writing with my hand and the space at top left immediately looks too empty. So I think this composition is perfect for advertising or some other purpose that would require a small caption. Making the writing the same colour as the cactus flowers was a great choice. If the writing were, say, red, I would tend to focus more on the flowers. If it were a more vivid colour than the flowers, it would completely distract me from the flowers.

 

You must have shot this under partially cloudy conditions, which is perfect for the subject. And the (very!) long lens has helped to blur out the background.

 

For my taste, the colours are too saturated. It looks as if you have either overdone (again, to my taste) the saturation setting or added a soft light layer and left the opacity rather high. This look is quite fashionable at the moment, but I think one day we will look back and say that colours like these look dated and rather "early 21st century". Especially the flowers (even more than the pads) would have benefited from masking out some of the added saturation because it makes it harder to see the crystalline structure of the petals.

 

Still, it's a very nice photo. Well seen, and very well framed!

 

You have some great portraits in this section of your portfolio, Takuji, and I think this is my favourite. I love how the other three guys are partially hidden behind the main subject. And I also like the intensity of their facial expressions.

Thank you very much, Takuji. Yes, Joshua Tree National Park is a very special place. I love the combination of unusual vegetation and beautiful scenery.

Thank you, Sam. I know what you mean about the flowers. It often looks like the saguaros are holding a bouquet of flowers at the end of their arms. Funnily enough, I'm in the middle of photographing saguaro flowers again at the moment (it's that time of the year again).

Nice photo... I like the sense of space, from the chair in the foreground through to the man on the patio. I browsed your portfolio after seeing this photo in the No Words forum. Very nicely done!

Nicely seen -- I like the various colour contrasts.

This is a great shot, William. Congratulations! I like the sense of movement you have captured. The timing is perfect.