manwilde

O.k. this is a tricky one I´m getting into. First of all, I´d like to know whether the picture was posed or not. If it wasn´t, well, pal, you really have guts to hold your breath and document this. If it´s been set up, well done; the idea is clearly transmitted. I tend to think you used a trained model here because of the ellaborated post-processing and also because the composition looks so much on purpose, but I may be wrong. Anyway there´s something about the whole thing that bothers me... I don´t mean to be hostile, but what you say with this picture has been said a zillion times already, and nothing changes. This countries you´re doccumenting are now even worse than when this kind of pictures (processing matters aside) started to be around on the media. So at this point now whenever I see this kind of thing I can´t help but thinking that what really grabs our attention here has more to do with us as photographers than as human beings, and having this picture sooo well processed makes me feel emptier, as if it was more of a show-off affaire rather than a strong statement against "Third World" exploitation. I don´t know what your intentions are around here with this, and anyway it´s none of my bussiness: I just tell you that this makes me feel sceptical. And I don´t mean to tell you what you´re suppossed to do, but just to make myself clearer: I never shoot beggards in my hometown (or elsewhere) though/because I feel the pain and serves nothing good to the real problem.

I apologise for any inconvenience I might have caused you or others, just wanted to open up a bit of an exchange of ideas, or at least undestate the "wow, excellent picture!" thread a bit...

I wish we could see this kind of pics more often here at photo.net, pictures with a dramatical sense, pictures about life in all conditions. Congrats, and keep on puting that 14mm. to work!

I like the light on the three different subjects (the two street lamps and the portion of the road), but the composition would have been better, in my opinion, if you had moved a bit off left, so all the elements would draw a diagonal or something like that; what do you think?

This is really beatiful. I would like to know some more technical details about your work, specially the lenses and developer you use for Ilford films. I use mostly Tri-x and T-max, but I´m giving Ilfords a serious test this weeks, I think they give more gray details but are somehow not so sharp as Kodak´s.

Your work here is excellent, thanks for sharing.

Yes, it looks better as you posted. You know, I hadn´t paid much attention to the white patch because that´s my house, and to me it´s natural, it´s just like that. Good to be able to look at it with different eyes, thanks to you.

Regards,

Well, I think it's more a matter of playing with RGB balance; any software has such a feature, even if simple. Be patient and try different combinations (don´t forget to calibrate your monitor first!).

Regards,

What goood cropping can do to turn an otherwise "stock" photo into a great work!. Just one thing: don´t you think it looks better this way, in terms of composition?.

Regards,

 

Thanks, Isidro. I,ve posted a new cropping of the picture, and though I agree with your comments I´m still not sure of wich one I prefer...

What do you think?.

Regards,

Daniel Blanco

When a piece of art has what it takes to deserve being named so, you don´t need any story to get the message. It´s good to know what happenned, how the shot was taken, etc. but I felt the same about the photo before reading the cover story.

Great!.

This is a nice one, but , in my opinion, looks a bit too "soft". More contrast, more black and white, no sepia or a darker one would add drama to the shot.

By the way, about my gramma´s portrait in Astoria, if you go to 26th st. around 32nd.Av., eight out ten houses belong to people from the very same small fishermen´s village in Spain. You know N.Y., those things happen...

What else to say?. A typical subject perfectly executed. I will start to develope my Ilfords on Rodinal (mmmm..., those gray tones...)

I think the frame doesn´t work well for this one, it´s too much salmon, if you know what I mean. I would have liked the picture itself to be more black, white and gray, instead of sepia-like. It would fit better for such an intimate moment. Nice work, though.

I´d post some of this sort soon. Nice shot!.

To me, this should be B/W. I don´t like the bakground so-and-so out of focus, I´d like it either totally sharp or just pure blurry.

 

Well, Jim, you´re right about this picture being a bit blurry. I was hesitating about uploading it, but after a few weeks, I got to like it more and more, partially because of the blurriness (it looks more like an hyper realistic painting, as opposed to the 21st.century classical ultra sharp look), but also because of the melancholic mood it conveys.

Anyway, there was nothing else I could do to improve sharpness and DOF at the moment of the caption; as I remarked on technical details, that´s an f3.5@1/8sec., handheld.

Thanks for your comments. You have a very interesting porfolio, with some truly fantastic photos on it.

Regards,

The shot looks promising, but don´t you try to scan the negs, or fix this post on PS to give it "the shiny face"?.

Matt, the dark area is actually the sand!. If you look closer, you´ll see the sand line coming from her shoulder. Dou you guys think I should fix this, given the fact that it´s not a technical gap but a part of the scene?. I haven´t had noticed it ´til now, though...(it doesn´t look so weird on paper). About cropping and reframing...I´ll give it a try!.

Thanks for your comments.

Nice one, good framing. Compared to mine, yours works better for me because of the tigher framing. Color, b/w, that´s a matter of taste.

What do you think?. http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=1258069

I don´t know if it´s due to the scanning, the film´s grain structure, the developer, my monitor or even a matter of depht of field, but I would like it better if the leaves looked sharper, to add contrast. Anyway, a very smart and nice shot. I like it when the title works fine for the picture, as in this case.

Well, the clouds look better on this one, but I don´t like the darkening on the left, makes the standing observer not so noticeable, whereas on the first posting adds drama and gives us a sense of size.

Beatiful, anyway!!.

I think it´s just good as it is. Maybe her arm (is it man or woman? and what does it give?) looks hairy because it IS hairy. The background lights work well to keep the composition balance even, and the top light doesn´t bother at all. Same for the cup; real life is not a controlled environment, you just don´t have the chance to set everything right on the spot, it´s just a matter of having a good eye and waiting for the moment, and I think you did a great job in that sense. Now, if you wanted to toy around with the thing, you might do some PS to match face and cup colors, take some lights away and so on, and that is not wrong but simply another game.

Nice, nice shot.

I get to take a lot of my photos in bars, theatres or in the street

at night, using no flash. Still, I like pictures with different

textures, smooth grain. I use either a 28/70mm. f:3.5 and Tri-x

pushed to 1600 developed on D76 (mainly stock dilution) or a 50mm.

f:1.7 and Tri-x or Tmax 400, no pushing. Paper is Ilford glossy grade

2 or 1, and enlarger lens aperture is set to the narrowest possible,

usually f:16 or f:22. Any suggestions on achieving better results

(different films, developers, etc.) are very welcome, as well as tips

on quick light measurement when light is tricky. Thanks a lot in

advance!. Regards,

Daniel Blanco

Still figuring out how to post photos with a proper size...

To me, what really makes this picture a powerful one is, above all, the crumpled up paper on the poor man´s hand. It´s like the vortex of a whirlwind, with the rest of the elements spread around. Fantastic!

Obviously you set the focus on the screen´s raindrops, but the rest of the street remains sharp enough to tell. What was the aperture set?. ´Cause being it too small you could not have frozen the movement the way you did... I´m intrigued about this.