On a mission

[emelemkalapom]

Hi everyone!
My first submission for critique, do be harsh on me if you feel like it

I like this image because of the colors, obviously I played around with it a lot to get this honey-ish effect.

I enjoy the way the fence leads down in the picture, and how determined the old lady is to get down... I would prefer not to have the blue car in the bottom right corner, but what can I do - I have nor the skills neither the intention to do such serious modifications. Cropping it out is not an option as the lady would be too close to the edge. Also it would have been better if she didnt have the green plastic bag, but it can be seen as an advantage. It shows how fragile the image of a proud and stylish old lady with the coat matching the cart can be. The plastic bag takes "reality" closer. I can not explain it properly, it might be an eastern european thing.

Now that I look at it once more it could use a liitle more blacks, maybe?

I used Lightroom to crop, straighten, play around with colors, gave it 100 Recovery and thats it...

Sorry for so much blah-blah!

f/2.0, 50mm, iso100, 1/800 sec, no flash with a d3100.

I didnt have time to fiddle with the settings or even to focus properly for that matter as the lens I was trying out doesnt autofocus on the d3100 and however slow old ladies are in general, it was still kind of an action shot

Again, all comments are appreciated!


Cheers

Tomi

 

[Carolina Photo Guy]

This shot was BEGGING to be B&W! That way, the color difference between the jacket and the pulled cart is no longer clashing.
Also, the car is now relegated to obscurity as nothing more than a shadow. I also straightened the horizon just a touch.
This is a really nice composition. All of the converging lines really help to give dominance to the old lady without making her the only interest point.
I like this shot.

With this critique and five bucks, you can get a cheap cup of coffee at Starbucks!
Just tell 'em that Pete said it was okay!

 

[emelemkalapom]

Thank you!
Balck and white is a good idea, I am currently playing around with some BW variations. Honestly, I dont have a lot of experience with it: probably because of those awful annoying people back from high school who took boring "artsy" black and whites all the time. The technique kind of connected itself to cheap mockery of self expression or something in my mind. This is a great example telling me it is time to grow up and start using it again

I didnt get the starbucks part though?

Thanks again!
T

 

[Carolina Photo Guy]

I didnt get the starbucks part though?

That was just a bit of local humor. I didn't notice that you were in Budapest.

The shot actually looks like it could be in Chicago or New York! I think that

the location neutral aspect will be the most attractive part of this shot. It literally

could be anywhere in the world!

 

[PhotoAV8R]

With this critique and five bucks, you can get a cheap cup of coffee at Starbucks!

I didnt get the starbucks part though?

T,

We use an idiom here, "With xxx and 10 cents, you can get a cup of coffee." Meaning, since the coffee costs 10 cents, "xxx" isn't worth anything. Obviously, "10 cents" shows this is a very old idiom.

Pete used "five bucks" and "Starbucks" since that's about what coffee costs here at Starbucks.

OBTW, always take what Pete says with a (very large) grain of salt. (Another idiom.)

Welcome to the site. Great shot, too!

 

[hotrocks]

I like the shot, but it's a little too warm for me... Did you post edit the white balance? It seems overly warm.

Depth of field: It may have benefited to have the railing and and sidewalk lights more in focus. It gives the subject a path.

I don't like this picture in B&W, because part of the charm is in the colors, however, the horrendous colored bag she is holding makes me want it in B&W :X Lowering the luminescence of the green might draw attention away from it.

How cool it would have been if she was carrying a classy leather bag or something like that.

 

[ohkphoto]

Hello, Tomi, and welcome to the forum.

I think the subject of your photo is very clear --the focus is on the brisk stride and determination of the lady to go down the stairs. I love the BW version, but then I also tend to be partial to BW. As Pete said, in BW, all the distraction is gone and the focus is back on the lady.

However, as I reread your comments, there was something about the colors of the bags and the repetition of the patterns in her jacket and bag, that drew you to make the photo. so you may want to do some "selective desaturation" of the environment, and keep the color combinations of the lady's clothing. My parents are from eastern Europe so I do appreciate what you captured in this photo.

There's a lot you could do with this photo in post processing to enhance your vision here. You have to play around with the settings and decide what you want. But the foundation, the emotion and story is there.

I hope you will post more photos

 

[NikonThom]

I really like your photo. The composition is good, and personally, I like the color version better because with the black and white version it becomes too cluttered and busy.