A cute couple

[W.Y.Photo]

This was one of those "saw it, had to shoot it" type situations and it was on the fly but I really liked what I came up with.

I guess what I want to know is, am I crazy to think this is good? I see a lot of flaws in it but its just so appealing to me at the same time.

 

[tirediron]

I can see the appeal.

 

[vintagesnaps]

Like the idea of it, but yeah, framing/composition needs cleaned up, too many distractions from the subject.

 

[mmaria]

Agree with Sharon... and it would be better if you post a bit smaller version of the picture. I have to scroll up and down to see entire scene

 

[MichaelHenson]

I can see the distractions (busy, framing, eyes pulled from the subject) but I can also see a story here...Like the old couple is facing the confusing, busy, bright, intimidating world that's so different from when they were young...but they're doing it together! Kinda cool in that regard! (You could probably do some PP to lessen the distractions but still tell that story? I'm not a processing whiz so I'm not sure how you would do that without heavy blurring, etc.)

 

[The_Traveler]

too dark, imo.
the couple is vague against the background and the top 20% of the frame is wasted.

 

[W.Y.Photo]

All good points ladies and gentleman. Thanks!! I'll come back with an edited version as soon as I find the time.

Agree with Sharon... and it would be better if you post a bit smaller version of the picture. I have to scroll up and down to see entire scene

Smaller version now in the OP

 

[MichaelHenson]

In line with what The Traveler said, I think you could crop to right above the traffic light and still have "the story" aspect of it.

 

[dannylightning]

good photo, but it does not really catch my attention that much.

 

[Derrel]

mise–en–scène

 

[sashbar]

I know what you mean

 

[W.Y.Photo]

Ahhh! Thats so good


I think I just found out I have a softspot for old couples. Haha

 

[otherprof]

This was one of those "saw it, had to shoot it" type situations and it was on the fly but I really liked what I came up with.

I guess what I want to know is, am I crazy to think this is good? I see a lot of flaws in it but its just so appealing to me at the same time.

I think the background works nicely. It makes their walk an adventure rather than a stroll. The linked arms add to the feeling of a couple of kids going off to explore a scary forest. Works for me.

 

[Derrel]

Not every image benefits from the common, knee-jerk TPF re-work approach we typically see, which is to crop the living $hi+ out of the OP's original image and somehow think that,"Makes a better picture." In cases like the first shot, the OP's night shot of the elderly man and woman, and the second shot, the scene of the elderly man and woman, each with a cane: how those people are relating to the real-world before them, and their place within a larger scene, THAT realtionship is the picture.

I find the same reflexive tendency toward very heavy cropping of street scenes leads to a lot of boring shot re-works where we see far too little, at too high a magnification, with the shots often stripped of their original context. Just as in a movie, there are long shots or "establishing shots", medium shots, close-ups, and extreme close-ups. One cannot successful live by bread alone, just the same way one cannot automatically take any image and think that cropping the living $hi+ out of it is the way to make it "better". Making everything into a medium shot, or a close-up, is not always the answer.

Some shots are meant to be "scenes", with people in them. There's a mentality here on TPF that in street work, there can be no 'scene' left in anything that's to be considered a good picture. It's time to start addressing that tendency toward cropping wayyyyy too much out, in a knee-jerk type of way that ignores the value of the overview shot, or the medium shot.

The original photo is almost perfect, as-shown originally. Same with the second shot.

 

[The_Traveler]

Since the maker does not allow editing, I can't demonstrate but in this picture as shown, the couple is rather muddy and indistinct against the background and there are three bright lights (and a red one) at the very top that pull the viewers' eyes up and away from what should be the center of interest.