Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/12/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Ted, Thank you very much for taking the time to look at my pictures and to critique them in detail. You are right about the angle. It was too high. It's inattention and a bad habit I got into from years of looking down into a rollei, and it is computnded by the fact that my bad hip prefers to work standing up. As i told Phong, next time I am going to sit in a chair, too. That should help with that. If I understand what you are saying I really want a line drawn through the subject's shoulder's to make something like a 45 degree angle with the camera as opposed to a head on 90 degree angle. I will work on that. I agree about the background. My intention was to shoot wide open. But, I also have a problem with the "inner game of photography" I need to solve. Mostly I take pictures of things. The reason I do this is that I get nervous and confused when I have to work with people and I forget all kinds of things, including to look through the viewfinder to see what I am really seeing. The fact that i meant to put the camera on f 2.8 doesn't mean that, in the "heat of battle" I did. It just means that I thought about it. I am also finding that f2/8 with my digital camera doesn't give me the same shallow depth of field id does with 35mm. Again, Ted, thank you for taking the time to look. Comming from you I consider that a fine compliment. Barney On Sunday, December 7, 2003, at 12:01 PM, Ted Grant wrote: > Barney Quinn showed: >>> Three Informal Portraits<<< > > > Hi Barney, > Your on the right track... and possibly this will help next go around. > > Photo 1: > Not bad although if you'd changed your shooting position slightly to > your > right and brought his head around to you it would've made a major face > body > line improvement by being slightly 3/4 angle and the light would've > become > an enhancing "Rembrandt from the shadow side!" > > It might have also eliminated the light reflection in the glasses. > Maybe. > > Photo 2: > I believe this is too high an angle, simply because if you compare > photo 3 > there's a marked angle improvement by going lower. Again, moving your > shooting position to the right, actually in all 3 photos moving to your > right would've improved every shot both for line of figure and face, > getting > away from the straight flat on angle, as well as improving use of the > available light. > > I think that covers all three for angle and light. However, you might > try a > wider aperture, maybe even wide open for a few to soften some of the > distracting background elements. > > I'd suggest having a look at Sonny Carter's latest post with musicians > as > they are beautiful in light use and composition. > http://www.sonc.com/christmas_fest_music.htm > > Keep in mind always look for the "shadow side" for the light effect > and in > most cases you'll have immediate improvement in your pictures if you > use it > in this manner. Actually Sonny's first photograph is a prime example of > "shooting from the shadowside" in a manner Rembrandt may have painted > this > situation. > ted > > > > -- > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html