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I like this a lot, although I’m not sure I can put my finger on why. Think it might be the sense of passage from darkness into light, and also the foreground leaves hanging in from the top in a bit of a (good) disruptive way. Just a hunch (it may, in fact, be terrible), but have you tried what this looks like in B&W?
Thanks, everyone! Pleased the selfie is proving so popular. I look forward to seeing yours, @Cherylrob – and to planning more little trips away 🙂
@DanBourque – thanks! I actually brought in an ND grad filter in post-processing; the original was a lot more overexposed 🙂 I tried to bring the sky down some more, but any more and it started to look a bit wrong.
@Caimi – I’m glad you think so. The hiker is actually me – this is a selfie, involving a sprint for the ledge in the 20-sec time window my camera would allow me; bit sketchy stopping on the muddy ground…:)I prefer the second and third ones – in the second one I might be tempted to crop more of the top as it doesn’t add much (and maybe a tiny bit from the bottom as well). Really liking the lines, though, and how the wide angle (how wide?) helps lead us into the picture when used in portrait mode 🙂
@yogirajj – thanks for the edits! I see what you mean about desaturating the greens, although I might be tempted to desaturate it a little less and also leave the person a bit more saturated (ie keep more of the green to make the image look less like one of those tacky B&W-with-one-colour ones).
The bike I thought added a bit of atmosphere/interest to the picture, although I guess you could argue that it distracts from the main focus, the person; maybe even less DoF would have helped and blurred it a bit more – but I do also like your tighter crop of just the guy. Maybe I need to force myself to focus on a single focus in each photo, as I tend to try and put more points of interest into each to the point where they distract from each other.
Cheers,
Jon
@ed-aldridge sounds like a plan! If by technique you mean me blabbing at randomers! Be prepared :p
Nice. I might have been tempted to focus on the left-hand tree and the house and try leaving out the right-hand tree, but this way works really nicely as well. The strange clouds add a lot to this one – maybe if they popped a bit more they’d add even more?
Cheers,
Jon
@kalaman – Definitely. I always find myself wanting to rush and get things done to not inconvenience the subject further. Can’t help but feel like a bit of an odball asking to take pictures of random strangers with a big camera, particularly with women. Does this happen to you as well?
Hi Richard,
Lovely part of the world you’ve found yourself in! Photo wise, in my opinion the foreground clouds are too aggressively edited – looks out of sync with the white clouds behind. Unless there was, in fact, that dramatic a storm front coming in? In which case, kudos for not having run away yet 😉
I always have a hard time photographing scenes like this, or finding foreground interest to include on a hilltop without losing the interesting stuff below. Nearby foliage peeking in is one way, although might be worth looking around for anything useable.
Sorry if I’m not being overly positive just the first thoughts that popped in my head. Hope you don’t mind me writing them down!
Cheers,
Jon
Interesting! It looks a bit crowded in the insideof the arch (maybe lightening the buildings there might help?), but big kudos for getting to wherever you were! What’s your strategy for getting to rooftops/places not normally accessible? Would be interested in giving it a go myself.
Following the lovely words from @karamen and @ed-aldridge I attach the second photo from that session where I asked the person’s permission.
I only noticed back at home how well her lipstick and phone cover matched the door – I guess with practice I’ll learn notice such things straight away! Again, she was on her phone so I asked her to just carry on so I wouldn’t disturb her. Self-critique – shouldn’t have cropped out her shoes and jacket on the left…the trickiness of a prime lens.
Looking forward to your thoughts, bad and good!
Cheers,
Jon
Thanks – and good point. I’ll have a play and see if I can mute the red a little bit.
Regarding asking people – completely depended on the situation! I only asked 2 people who were sitting alone and a little away from the bustle down a quiet alleyway, stuff like that. In the busier parts, I shot away much like you would have – but the candid aspect is part of the fun, so that’s how I wanted it.
Both people I asked were on their phones, so I asked them to keep doing what they were and just ignore me. Definitely not gotten to the point where I’d ask them to pose for me…!
Definitely give it a go – at most, people tend to be a little bemused that you’d want to photograph them. I can upload the other photo where I asked, if you like – although I’m less convinced by that one.
Cheers,
Jon
Thank you both for your feedback! I will try to crop and adjust the lighting on the name tag – good point – and post my results. 🙂
I think I would prefer this without the child’s head/hair cut off. Personally I prefer the first, wider shot as it gives a little more context – this is nice what is not a “classic” portrait, if that makes sense. That said, I wonder if this would not have been a picture with really nice, soft colours if shot in colour? In B&W it currently lacks a bit of punch for my taste – maybe a bit more contrast would help?
Cheers,
Jon
Oops – photo doesn’t seem to have been included. Attempt number 2…
Hi @claudia-betia, thanks for your input.
I wanted the inner part of the gateway to be black, nothing else would have fit with the mood there. We arrived in the black of night and I was decidedly creeped out by the place. This was taken the next morning after camping next to the barrow, and I was surprised to find that the creepy nature of it didn’t lessen much in daylight. I suspect that no amount of exposure (short of minutes) would have shed much light in there, anyway! 🙂 That one sliver didn’t penetrate very far – in fact I was tempted to black that out, too, as it doesn’t add anything as is. But you’re right, more exposures wouldn’t have hurt to bring more depth into the colours.
Cheers,
Jon
Out of interest, how did you plan this one in advance? It seems very specific. Did you see a similar picture somewhere? I’d like to start doing this, planning out shots a little more before going places rather than just snapping away.
The selective desaturation, while a little tacky as far as my personal taste is concerned, works really nicely here!
Cheers,
Jon
I love the first one for the expression, and the latest one for the contrast and general setup. Amazing what you can do with a smartphone – I wish I could with an SLR. I’m in London as well, but I just haven’t worked up the confidence to go out and try my hand at street photos/candid portraits. Gonna have to give it a go sometime – any recommendations for locations? I’m thinking somewhere busy/potentially touristy, maybe around Westminster/Whitehall.
Hi @valeryp,
This one seems a little dark on the left – on the right it feels quite a bit like a painting, presumably with the light source over there as well. Is there any way of using a second light source for the bread, or a way to avoid the jug throwing the loaf into shadow?
On a side note, I’m also curious what your rationale was for going all the way to f29 – were you going for a soft feel? (Which I actually quite like here)
Cheers,
Jon
