Hi Igor! Thanks, and of course I appreciate observations; I did say "comments welcome" after all. :)
I've been consciously practicing to be more loose in my shooting. I have collected and devoured a number of photo books lately, and I've been studying a lot of work from photographers I greatly admire. My most recent acquisition is Fräulein by Ellen von Unwerth, just reprinted. If you don't know von Unwerth, she's a former model turned fashion and editorial photographer. Her esthetic is rough and tumble. The book is filled with examples of imperfection: variously grainy, soft, with odd background clutter, low contrast, or overly high contrast, and ultra saturated colour. But the shots are compelling and strong. All fascinating to me. And I've learned that in portraiture in particular, expression is most important. A soft, low contrast, grainy shot with camera shake and poor exposure will 100% trump a technically perfect one if the perfect one has a flat, lifeless look in the subject's face. Some energy, a great smile, an engaging look, all these are way more important than if the focus was nailed. So I chose the soft shot with a bunch of camera blur because the singer shot me a radiant smile. And the shot of the guitarist framed (crowded) by the singer's arm and the mic stands is fine in my book because it gives context, and again, expression. I couldn't help myself from trying for a few technically perfect shots too, but stuff like OOF intruders were not only allowed in, but encouraged. :) I even introduced some grain -- ISO 800 on the K-3 is way too clean. :) On Mon, Apr 6, 2015 at 2:41 PM, Igor PDML-StR <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi Bruce, > > Those were indeed hard light conditions. > I particularly like the 2nd and the 3rd (the brushes) shots. > > I also like the 4th, - with a nice smile on the guy's face, but the > perimeter of the frame is too crowded. I understand that you were shooting > through the "shrubbery", but if if it were my photo, I'd consider trimming > some of it off in post. > > #6 is also interesting, with a nice facial expresion, but that white OOF > spot at the bottom is rather distracting. Again, if it were mine, I would > trimm the bottom portion, - either right above that white spot or, maybe, > keeping just a tiny notch of it. > > #7 seems to be too soft. > > I hope you don't mind these suggesitons. > > Igor > > > On Apr 6, 2015, at 9:32 AM, Bruce Walker wrote: >> >> >> Dropped into a little indie restaurant & cafe in Toronto's Junction >> Saturday afternoon for some music and an early dinner. >> >> I haven't been shooting live music gigs much lately, but this place >> challenged me. On my previous visit I could see that the musicians >> played in some pretty difficult light: squeezed into a nook in the >> front window with powerful north-facing backlight, a view onto parked >> cars, a cluttered sidewalk and an intersection, and very low inside >> tungsten light. I tried a smartphone shot and the results were >> unusable, as you'd expect. >> >> So here's what I managed this time with this little jazz & blues duo, >> Fraser Melvin and Indira Nanavati Cadena. Sitting at the closest table >> to them along the wall, I over-exposed by a stop or so in Av mode and >> blew out the ugly street view. >> >> K-3, DA* 50-135/2.8, ISO 800. Some shots at f:2.8 (closeups), some at >> f:5.6 & f:8 (the duo). A touch of adjustments in Lightroom, but >> basically sooc for most. One portrait of Indira I retouched more >> completely and one I did as b&w. >> >> https://flic.kr/s/aHsk9hgRwM >> >> Sorry, it's a Flickr gallery. This link might make you happier: >> >> http://flickriver.com/photos/bruce_m_walker/sets/72157651335769077/ >> >> >> Comments welcome! >> >> -- >> -bmw > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > follow the directions. -- -bmw -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
