"Afghan girl"

[Josh66]

So I included the photo (with a description similar to the above) in my first post - - and the thread quickly deteriorated from that point on.

Some have already posted here that the shot is not of any interesting technical merit. And yet, something tells me there is more to it than just a nice snapshot.

If I remember correctly, the version that you had originally posted in the opening post was a square crop? I very much prefer the uncropped (I assume) portrait orientation version...

Also, I'm sure that 90% of the people on this forum knew what photo you were asking about just by reading the thread title... I actually Have Steve McCurry's book "Portraits" sitting on my desk right now, with this photo on the cover. (Which is an excellent collection of portraits - I recommend picking it up.)

Anyway-


What is "technical merit"? Does a photo have to be technically challenging to be good?


I'm sure this is natural light (would he really be dragging lights around in Afghanistan?). To me, the catch lights look like a window.

You can clearly see the ground, a mountain range on the horizon, and the sky.

To me though, the catch lights are of no importance in this photo.
What makes it great (to me) are the colors, and the tattered garb. And those eyes, lol.

 

[Chuck]

What is "technical merit"? Does a photo have to be technically challenging to be good?

I'm sure this is natural light (would he really be dragging lights around in Afghanistan?). To me, the catch lights look like a window.

You can clearly see the ground, a mountain range on the horizon, and the sky.

To me though, the catch lights are of no importance in this photo.
What makes it great (to me) are the colors, and the tattered garb. And those eyes, lol.

I certainly did not mean to imply that a photo has to be technically challenging to be good. Not at all. But as an experienced NatGeo photographer, I would bet the McCurry approached this photo with purposeful professionalism - - which certainly did contribute to its outstanding merit. I'm not saying it had be to technically challenging - - but I would be interested in what (professional) efforts he did take to make this photo.

Hmmmm, to me, anyway, the nice catch-lights are very much part of what makes "those eyes".

Original Cover

Cropped Close-up with catch-lights visible
​

And I was interested, for reasons given above, as to how he got such nice catch-lights while running around a refugee camp. I think he knew what he was doing - - and I was curious as to how he did it.

One pic. Some interest on my part. That's all.

 

[Josh66]

I certainly did not mean to imply that a photo has to be technically challenging to be good. Not at all.

I didn't mean to imply that you thought that - I was just wondering what could have brought that comment about it "having no technical merit" on.
That comment is pretty much meaningless to me... It kind of sounds like "meh... I could have done that". But, "you" (whoever made that comment) didn't. It's probably one of the most recognizable photos ever taken... Let's see something you did that everybody immediately knows just by uttering the name of it...

I think he knew what he was doing

Oh, I think he most certainly did know what he was doing. He may not have known that this photo would become such an icon, but he knew how to achieve the results he had envisioned.

and I was curious as to how he did it.

I think there are a few reasons this kind of information is scarce.
Those were the pre-digital days, maybe he didn't write his settings down. He likely didn't even care what his settings were. He just knew that it was good.

You can't just right-click it and select "properties"...

I think you'd be hard pressed to find the settings of any of the great photos of the 20th century...

A lot of it is just being in the right place at the right time. (That applies to most of the photography in National Geographic...)

He had to go to Afghanistan, a war zone, to get that. It's no something you can just stop by the park to shoot.

 

[wescobts]

Sometimes some of us are granted a little magic, I believe S. McCurry found some that day .