Election photography : please explain me why the light is not a problem

[myth0s]

Hi,

I saw the picture on the Election photography post and I wonder why it is such a good shot. While the subject (Obama) is perfect, I find the light on the right of the image to be really annoying. My eyes should be drawn to Obama, but the light is so intense, that's what caught my attention. It's really blown out and it even does something weird to the head or Mr. Obama. To keep it short, I don't like the picture.

So can someone that knows more about photography than me explain to me why this is such a great picture despite that light?



Cheers,
Alex

[dhart]

probably a different standard between photojournalism and portrait. Photojournalism is also more about capturing emotion and the event and any tensions. Besides it was the only angle where you could see both their faces, without blocking either. If the photographer had moved to the left. the lamp would have been immediately behind Obama, and if he had moved to the right, you wouldn't see his wife. At least that is the only thing I can think of. ::shrug::

[dhart]

Forgot to mention, the reason the lamp is blown out is because of the low overall light, and the wide aperture. The photog had to do that in order to get Michelle in the photo.

[oldwolf]

I'm not an expert and I don't know more than the next person but here's my analysis.

Art is personal. One person might like something and the next person hates it.

What might make this picture interesting to some:

1. His bent arm forms an upside down triangle.
2. His arm, trunk and the top of his leg forms a triangle.
3. The triangles lead the eye through the picture as you look at the picture. An example of this is the Mona Lisa. Yes, she's got a nice smile but look at how the lines in the picture are painted.
4. The time the picture was taken was probably election night and I'm just guessing this because I see his wife in the dress that I think she wore during election night. With that being said, it depicts an important moment in time and shows a little bit of emotion (anticipation in this case).
5. You can see his wife in the background with the same emotions as Obama is showing but she's blurred out enough so she doesnt' detract from the main picture.
6. Overall the picture tells a story.

I'd have to agree with you that the light is blown out. It doesn't do anything for me but as a photojournalistic style picture, I like it.

[wulf]

An interesting subject makes up for a lot of technical deficiencies.

Wulf

[myth0s]

Originally Posted by wulf

An interesting subject makes up for a lot of technical deficiencies.

Wulf

Thanks. Short answer, yet I totally understand what you mean.

Probably the best answer I could have hope for!

And cheers to Oldwolf and Dhart, I get the photojournalism style : tension, emotion. Technical perfection is useless is the photo does not carry one or the other.

I'm happy that I will be able to appreciate and comment these kind of pictures better in the future.

Thanks again

[jdepould]

If I turned in that photo for PJ class I'd get yelled at for the light. There's no reason not to crop it out. Maybe not the whole thing, just to keep his shoulder, but most of it.

[GEli]

Agreed- it could easily be almost entirely removed from the frame. I also don't see why they didn't straighten the shot - all the vertical lines are running a few degrees clockwise and it drives me mad. Art may be subjective, but you'd best have a really good reason to tilt your frame a few degrees off of proper horizontal/vertical.

[Darren Rowse]

the reason I decided to use this shot is simply that I found it compelling - particularly when I read that it was taken during McCain's speech on election night.

[superdewa]

For me the light actually does something for the photo -- how many people get to see Obama in this light (pun intended)? It helps the photo to feel unstaged and personal. For most people, you want a photo to look a little more professional, but for the next likely president of the United States, a little reminder that the photographer who is up close and personal is also in what looks like his living room with him is exciting.