Picasso's Coffee | Street-esque

[MichaelHenson]

Met a buddy for some coffee the other and on the way in I noticed this girl chatting with a friend. The lighting and her energy as she talked were interesting so I snapped on on the way in and then another from inside...Thoughts?

 

[MichaelHenson]

Any C&C? Any thoughts, preferences, likes, dislikes, etc. appreciated. I'm always looking to grow and improve my eye!

Thanks!

 

[limr]

The first one is better than the second. I also think for more of a 'street' feel, you'd want a wider crop, more context. Otherwise it becomes more of a portrait, and if it is a portrait, what are you capturing of this girl?

In the first one, she's clearly in mid word but her eyes are sort of mischievous, so that's why the first one is more interesting than the second one. The coat or whatever that is on the right of the frame is more dominant that it should be, and it distracts a bit.

If the second one is a street portrait, then you're capturing the fact that she has poor posture.

I like to see more context in a street shot because the interaction is more interesting and gives the individuals purpose - it's about humans' interactions with their environment. At least for me, and lord knows that half a dozen street shooters can jump in and give half a dozen reasons why I'm wrong and their interpretation is right, so take any and all of it with some salt!

 

[MichaelHenson]

Hmmm. Great insight/feedback, thanks so much!

I like the first best as well for the same reason. I cropped a bit but decided to leave the curtain (coat looking thingie on the right) in because I'm consistently accused of framing too tightly. Perhaps I'll post an uncropped version this evening...

I see what you're saying about the second one as well and I think that I just "missed it." She was chatting with a friend to her left and in the uncropped version all that is added is her friend's right shoulder and a partially hidden cup of coffee. Not sure that having those added would really provide much more context? I'll take a look at it with fresh eyes this evening and reevaluate.

Thanks again for your feedback!

 

[Gary A.]

Unfortunately, neither image speak to me. The first is more engaging than the second ... but neither have that 'wow...' or even 'interesting...' factor for me. The second is a non-descriptive profile with an awkward crop crowding the left side of the frame and filling the right side with nothing of interest or elements adding substance to the image. The first has an odd lighting creating a shadow band down the middle of the face, the table bisects the image with a dark mass and my eyes shift from the face down to the bright arms under the table. I see potential for interesting images but the lighting angle and framing didn't bring out the full potential.

 

[MichaelHenson]

Unfortunately, neither image speak to me. The first is more engaging than the second ... but neither have that 'wow...' or even 'interesting...' factor for me. The second is a non-descriptive profile with an awkward crop crowding the left side of the frame and filling the right side with nothing of interest or elements adding substance to the image. The first has an odd lighting creating a shadow band down the middle of the face, the table bisects the image with a dark mass and my eyes shift from the face down to the bright arms under the table. I see potential for interesting images but the lighting angle and framing didn't bring out the full potential.

Thanks for your response. I agree regarding the lighting, not much I could have done with that...and the floor of the coffee shop is actually about 3 feet or more above ground level where I was standing so that's why the table bisection looks weird. But, I should have taken the time to frame it better by moving to my left some. If I had done that I would have been able to get this girl and her friend in the frame and would have had a better composed frame.

Thanks for your feedback! Definitely helps me see where I went wrong. I was looking at it through a different mental/visual filter and like the idea of the image to the extent that I was overlooking these issues with it.

 

[The_Traveler]

IMO:
Street photos (or cafe photos) aren't so easy to break down into words because they don't depend on technical issues as much as most other genres. They depend on content, composition and framing to carry over the ideas or emotions to the viewer. There has to be enough in the picture to allow the viewer to complete the implied idea.

In these two, something is missing because both of the subjects are interacting with .......... - and we don't know what to say there and the pictures of the individuals shown aren't very demonstrative in themselves.

In this picture, the table and coffee cup block a bit and her hands are hidden but mostly we don't really know who she is interacting with, and thus this becomes so much less of a story, it does have much impact.
If we just had a hint of who was on the receiving end then it would be much more amenable to story creation.

This is sort of the same thing, except the subject is even less animated. The featureless black sweater overwhelms the content and there is nothing to imply who/what she is talking to.

 

[MichaelHenson]

Good info/approach/philosophy, Lew. Thanks for chiming in!

I definitely need to work on my composition/content as I've been shown in this thread. I need to work on slowing down and thinking through my shot. In street shooting I feel so conspicuous that I feel like I need to rush to snap a surreptitious photo before getting the evil eye from someone...Gotta get over that!

 

[Gary A.]

Unfortunately, neither image speak to me. The first is more engaging than the second ... but neither have that 'wow...' or even 'interesting...' factor for me. The second is a non-descriptive profile with an awkward crop crowding the left side of the frame and filling the right side with nothing of interest or elements adding substance to the image. The first has an odd lighting creating a shadow band down the middle of the face, the table bisects the image with a dark mass and my eyes shift from the face down to the bright arms under the table. I see potential for interesting images but the lighting angle and framing didn't bring out the full potential.

Thanks for your response. I agree regarding the lighting, not much I could have done with that...and the floor of the coffee shop is actually about 3 feet or more above ground level where I was standing so that's why the table bisection looks weird. But, I should have taken the time to frame it better by moving to my left some. If I had done that I would have been able to get this girl and her friend in the frame and would have had a better composed frame.

Thanks for your feedback! Definitely helps me see where I went wrong. I was looking at it through a different mental/visual filter and like the idea of the image to the extent that I was overlooking these issues with it.

I'm a big proponent of previsualization, seeing the final image in your head prior to releasing the shutter. I see this as a case of previsualization refinement or actually lack of previsualization refinement. You saw the image and released the shutter without refining the image in your head and transferring those refinements to the camera. The best way to improve this shooting methodology of previsualize, refine, adjust camera, release shutter is by doing. The more you deliberately shoot this way the quicker the methodology becomes and ultimately it will become semi-automatic.

The problem is that for spontaneous photography, you miss a bunch of stuff in the beginning due to the lag time between previsualization and shutter release ... but after repetition ... you'll miss less and what you capture will be much more successful.

 

[Gary A.]

Good info/approach/philosophy, Lew. Thanks for chiming in!

I definitely need to work on my composition/content as I've been shown in this thread. I need to work on slowing down and thinking through my shot. In street shooting I feel so conspicuous that I feel like I need to rush to snap a surreptitious photo before getting the evil eye from someone...Gotta get over that!

It's not so much you slowing down ... but actually of you speeding up the mental processing.

 

[MichaelHenson]

Good info/approach/philosophy, Lew. Thanks for chiming in!

I definitely need to work on my composition/content as I've been shown in this thread. I need to work on slowing down and thinking through my shot. In street shooting I feel so conspicuous that I feel like I need to rush to snap a surreptitious photo before getting the evil eye from someone...Gotta get over that!

It's not so much you slowing down ... but actually of you speeding up the mental processing.

Agreed. I think, in this case, I saw the animated conversation, the lighting, and the framing in the window and thought, "Interesting!" By that point, I had moved just past the window and didn't want to potentially draw attention to myself by moving back so rather than thinking the shot through at all I clung to that initial "Interesting!" thought and snapped a snapshot rather than putting a couple seconds worth of thought, visualization and composition into what could have been an interesting photo.

I love learning and love photography...Shots like this where there was potential that I missed due to error on my part kill me though!

 

[Gary A.]

Good info/approach/philosophy, Lew. Thanks for chiming in!

I definitely need to work on my composition/content as I've been shown in this thread. I need to work on slowing down and thinking through my shot. In street shooting I feel so conspicuous that I feel like I need to rush to snap a surreptitious photo before getting the evil eye from someone...Gotta get over that!

It's not so much you slowing down ... but actually of you speeding up the mental processing.

Agreed. I think, in this case, I saw the animated conversation, the lighting, and the framing in the window and thought, "Interesting!" By that point, I had moved just past the window and didn't want to potentially draw attention to myself by moving back so rather than thinking the shot through at all I clung to that initial "Interesting!" thought and snapped a snapshot rather than putting a couple seconds worth of thought, visualization and composition into what could have been an interesting photo.

I love learning and love photography...Shots like this where there was potential that I missed due to error on my part kill me though!

The pain will make you better. (lol) But Street type stuff is everywhere ... all the time. You just got to be there and be ready.

 

[KenC]

I agree with pretty much everything posted already, but the expression and body language in the first are still intriguing. Two things bother me that could be improved, imo: (1) the lighting is harsh, so cutting back on the contrast just a bit would help (or maybe just bringing down the highlights a bit), and (2) the background is distracting, which could be addressed by cropping tighter on the top and sides and darkening the background some.

 

[The_Traveler]

I'm a big proponent of previsualization, seeing the final image in your head prior to releasing the shutter. I see this as a case of previsualization refinement or actually lack of previsualization refinement. You saw the image and released the shutter without refining the image in your head and transferring those refinements to the camera. The best way to improve this shooting methodology of previsualize, refine, adjust camera, release shutter is by doing. The more you deliberately shoot this way the quicker the methodology becomes and ultimately it will become semi-automatic.

The problem is that for spontaneous photography, you miss a bunch of stuff in the beginning due to the lag time between previsualization and shutter release ... but after repetition ... you'll miss less and what you capture will be much more successful.

It's not so much you slowing down ... but actually of you speeding up the mental processing.

This is so exactly right.
I don't know if you were ever in the military but a common task in training is to speedily disassemble and assemble your weapon.
First time putting together the 8 or 10 pieces took forever, eventually you can do it as fast as your hands move, while talking about another subject or listening to your drill seargent yell in your ear.
That's how street shooting becomes.
At the same instant you can assemble the potential parts of the shot in your mind and make whatever technical changes to the equipment you need to get the shot.

 

[sashbar]

A could not agree more with Gary about the speeding and practicing. And could not agree more with Lev that what Gary said was soooo right.

It is so important to learn to separate the moment from the action and the frame from what our eyes are seeing.

I often compare myself to a pigeon with its selective colour vision. Pigeons have a rare mental ability to see the crumbles of bread and other food they are searching for in colour whereas the rest is b&w. So they are not distracted by stones and other useless things and can find even the tiniest crumbles of food very quickly.

In that respect we are all pigeons (not exactly as advanced, but still..) We see an interesting subject, and our eye, or rather brain adjusts to the picture, ignoring distractions, screwing the perspective, minimising light contrasts, changing colours etc.

We take a shot without, as Gary says, previsualizing, and the camera shows ruthlessly what there really is, not what our brain wants us to see.
And it really is ruthless as shown in the OP images - with all those highlights, clatter, compressed perspective, busy background with distracting lines etc etc, with the main object thrown into this mess instead of standing out as it was when the OP looked at it.

So we have a choice - either to see like pigeons or to practice and learn to see like cameras (and photographers) do.