Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/12/06
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi Ted, Thanks for your comments, I always appreciate the time you take and of course and praise from you is really a compliment! Now to some of the specifics: > > First, a side street to Calle Betis in the old part of Seville, called > > Triana: > http://www.wajsmanphoto.com/2003_48.jpg > > The balance in this picture is quite interesting as most elements are in odd > numbers whichever direction the eye goes. But for me one very interesting > point is........ the camera is held straight!!! ;-) In this situation with > so many verticals it would be a shame not to have the camera as close to > perfect as possible, even hand held. Any tilting the slightest bit and the > feel of the picture would screw-up. CONFESSION: this is a picture where I really took the time to think about the composition, and I knew that it had to be absolutely straight-on. In the end I succeeded in holding it straight vertically, although there is a slight sideways tilt in the original slide. I corrected it with a 1-degree "rotate canvas" in Photoshop--this is kosher for me, as it corresponds exactly to moving the easel around on the enlarger base in the good old days of wet printing. > The person walking in against > the sign direction was the "lucky factor" ;-) we all need. :-) This is the kind of "luck" you plan for and wait for... > > A lady cleans her balcony on Calle Niebla, along which I walk in the > > morning on the way to my office: > > http://www.wajsmanphoto.com/2003_48alt1.jpg > > The unfortunate element here is it's "a little bulls eye" with the sweeper > almost dead centre. But shooting people, one doesn't have the luxury of > "non moving peeling paint" and the photographer usually gut reacts to the > scene and shoots by instinct. It's still has a nice feel. CONFESSION 2: You are right, she is too centered. This is a cropped image. In the original, she is better placed, off-center, but when I looked at the scan, I decided to crop it because there was too much junk along the sides. > > A side wall of a church in the neighbourhood called La Macarena: > > http://www.wajsmanphoto.com/2003_48alt3.jpg > > Bingo!!! You win the prize on this....almost. :-( However.... yeah here > comes the nit-picking! ;-) > > And I bet you know exactly what it is considering the million dollar > potential of this situation, "If only a split second " and the lady wasn't > looking at you would be 100% perfect. And even if she's not looking directly > at you it appears she is and that turn of the head takes the perfect edge > off a perfect photograph. Like it's only 99.9999% perfect. > > It maybe nit picking on my part but that's life in the hard and fast lane of > photography. It's still a damn fine picture though! :-) And a very good eye > to see and re-act immediately. Fast lane indeed. Whereas with the main picture I had to wait for quite a while for a passer-by, in this spot there were many people walking by, and I wanted an isolated person or family. The light was fading fast, so this was the best that I could get in the circumstances. Once again, thank you for the critique! Nathan - -- Nathan Wajsman Almere, The Netherlands e-mail: n.wajsman@chello.nl Mobile: +31 630 868 671 Photo site: http://www.wajsmanphoto.com - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html