Street Shot Critique

[S_Sanyal]

Made on canon 500D w 18-200mm IS lens
Exposure 0.033 sec (1/30)
Aperture f/8.0
Focal Length 70 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias 0 EV

Hello all...

Posting in this section after a while. Partly to share and more for critique..

This is one of the recent portraits I made of a barber on the street, I need advice on what can be improved in the composition.. some viewers have mentioned that it would be better to get the man who's being shaved in the mirror, but that was not possible at that point for me, I waited for the truck to pass, and with the barber's expression the scene came together for me..

Second, the skin tone looks ok to me, does it to you? Is the saturation ok?

Need your feedback on whether this overall scene works for you, how do you interpret the story...

[frydham]

Looks pretty good, the only thing I can suggest would be a tighter crop, focusing on the barber and his reflection.

[chicagojohn]

Originally Posted by frydham

Looks pretty good, the only thing I can suggest would be a tighter crop, focusing on the barber and his reflection.

Hi frydham and S_Sanyal,

While I appreciate your advice to S_Sanyal, frydham, for dialectic purposes I'd like to express the contrary view. As it stands, the barber and the reflection are well positioned in rule-of-thirds locations, and cropping to focus more on the barber and his reflection would alter that.

But that, frydham, would not be my major objection to your suggestion. I think that all of the rest serves to set this image in context. This is not entirely about a barber and his reflection, in a typical barber shop; it is rather about this event taking place in a context that is without boundaries on a chaotic street.

And so that is why the truck speeding by and the image of a man on the other side of the street seen through the window of the speeding truck in sharp focus, looking like maybe the next customer, in addition to the intense concentration evident on the barber's face and the reflection of his own hair in the mirror-image in sharp focus contrasted against the blurr of the speeding truck background -- that is why all of this is so integrally important to the overall import of this image, capturing a moment in time. And that is the real subject of it, in my opinion -- How this frozen moment can engage the imagination of the viewer as to antecent and consequent events.

I find this image to be remarkable and engaging on many levels. Thank you so much for sharing it with us, S_Sanyal ! Great lesson in composition for us all.

Postscript -- I would definitely NOT want to see the customer's reflection in the mirror; that would be a major distraction, in my opinion!

[dalmorloson]

I really like this photo, including the busy street and everything going on outside the seemingly relaxed barber chair. As you have stated, it would have been nice to see the client's reflection in the mirror. My eye is drawn to that mirror and is only rewarded with the back of a head. However, this still works for me...love it.

[Niresangwa]

Always enjoy your work Saptarshi.

I like the processing, and the shot as a whole. I wouldn't eliminate any of the components here.

There are two things I would try. As with other suggestions I've made for you, it's just a case of looking at something differently, not with a view to improving it, as it's already great.

The first would be to take room off the top (a little) and bottom (a more substantial snip) and try an letterbox crop (without the atrocious black borders)

The second would be to actually crop through the barber/client, and allow more emphasis to be placed on the reflection (as the strongest element) and more love to be given to the street backdrop.

[S_Sanyal]

Wow! Thanks everyone for your feedback. I have been traveling like mad and had not got a chance to visit this page since I started the thread(have hit base for less than 72 hours at the moment and all of feb I am home for a total of 3 more days after )

I appreciate everyone's kind words and especially Cjohn's very detailed observations as always! thankyou sir!

frydham, if you hit the image it will take you to flickr and you will get the story; it explains more about why i've composed the way i did. I appreciate your critique but this is truly about "the scene" more than "the subject"

dalmorloson, the barber's reflection in the mirror IS important, let me tell you why.. (i usually have less than 1 second to think of these things when I'm shooting in a scenario like this, and in hindsight I become more conscious of why i did what i did) its because the scene's central character is the barber..and his apparent nonchalance to the chaos around him, expressed by his concentration and expression when you see his face...and in the mirror by his body language - this was an opportunity to, in the same frame, see the front as well as back of a person...!

Niresangwa, Thanks for your suggestions, though I don't exactly understand (purely because of my own ignorance) what a letterbox crop means..it will help me immensely if you would please explain. Thanks in advance. Your second suggestion is quite radical and I'm tempted to try it out, will soon post what I do, so that this discussion goes ahead

[gunners67]

Love this pic as it is i would not change a thing. I think chicagojohn was pretty much right in that the background is a very important element of the overall image. I would have been proud to have taken this

[chicagojohn]

Originally Posted by gunners67

Love this pic as it is i would not change a thing. I think chicagojohn was pretty much right in that the background is a very important element of the overall image. I would have been proud to have taken this

Hi gunners,

I'm totally with ya on that. Moreover, how many of us ever manage to capture an image like one of his? It's got to be much more than being in the right place at the right time. It's certainly also much more than equipment or even technique.

magic

[TBrown00]

I think the composition and the components of this shot are great. I love the calm barber with the truck speeding by. As you've already stated, the reflection of the client in the mirror would add to this, but I think it's already pretty good.

A letterbox crop is when you crop the top and/or bottom without cropping the sides/keeping the original proportions so it's now much wider than it is taller (like a widescreen TV or movie).

[S_Sanyal]

Thanks TBrown00 for the explanation..
I tried it, it looks great in wide!