What happens at Big Bear stays at Big Bear

[RobinChen]

Just want to know about the composition of this picture.

 

[craig]

Love the action in this shot. Tell us why you decided on Bw. Also not sure why you decided to include the dock and all the houses in the background.

Love & Bass

 

[abraxas]

Seems like every line in the photo is running to dead center. Why is the subject all white and with his back to the camera? Judging by the title, this is a promotional photo? Nice stop on the action but it does nothing beyond that. IMO.

 

[mysteryscribe]

Now ordinarily this would have been a classic veritcal composition. Now it is the classic reason to break the rule. The picture is not a portrait. It is about an attitude based on the place. The person is relatively unimportant to the shot except as an element. The human who is usually the main element in the shot is not here, hence the horizontal shot. Makes no sense at all im sure.

I added a dark red filter effect then did a little contrast increase and cropped it a little tighter not sure it is any better, but I like it more.

 

[DigitalDiva]

The 'What Happens At Big Bear Stays At Big Bear'...interesting title but how does it relate to the photo? I think the guy would be better shown naked from behind. Then the title fits the photo better. Was the guy photoshopped into the image? The shadow on his left leg is distracting. You are on to something...just need to develop the concept a bit more.

 

[tr0gd0o0r]

To me, the composition works very well, except for one thing. With the subjects arms/legs spread like they are, it lends itself to a symmetric composition with the subject, however, the subject isn't parallel with the camera, and the slight angle of the subject throws off the symmetry.

 

[RobinChen]

Love the action in this shot. Tell us why you decided on Bw. Also not sure why you decided to include the dock and all the houses in the background.

Love & Bass

The docks and houses actually didnt occur to me that it would be a distraction. I thought by including those there would be a sense of where I was at. I thought BW would help with the picture focus on the subject. I was wearing a white Tshirt and shorts so I thought by getting rid of the other colors, it would help. This was set up on a tripod and I just told my friend to hold the shutter while I ran and had it set on continuous mode.

 

[RobinChen]

Seems like every line in the photo is running to dead center. Why is the subject all white and with his back to the camera? Judging by the title, this is a promotional photo? Nice stop on the action but it does nothing beyond that. IMO.

I jumped that way because I wanted to show sort of a "I'm about to jump in the water kind of shot" If I shot it from the front I dont think it wouldve looked as cool because the photo wouldve just looked like I was jumping 1 foott in the air. lol I'm not to sure what you mean by everything looks like its running to the dead center. Is it that the subject, house dock and everything tends to be in the center and distracts from the subject itself?

 

[RobinChen]

Now ordinarily this would have been a classic veritcal composition. Now it is the classic reason to break the rule. The picture is not a portrait. It is about an attitude based on the place. The person is relatively unimportant to the shot except as an element. The human who is usually the main element in the shot is not here, hence the horizontal shot. Makes no sense at all im sure.

I'm sorry but can somebody please break it down for me? [confused:er: ]

 

[RobinChen]

The 'What Happens At Big Bear Stays At Big Bear'...interesting title but how does it relate to the photo? I think the guy would be better shown naked from behind. Then the title fits the photo better. Was the guy photoshopped into the image? The shadow on his left leg is distracting. You are on to something...just need to develop the concept a bit more.

The only thing that I did to this photo was crop it alittle and bw. I didnt really want to run naked so I guess the title is alittle wrong then hehe. I didnt photoshop myself I really ran and jumped while the photo was taken.

 

[RobinChen]

To me, the composition works very well, except for one thing. With the subjects arms/legs spread like they are, it lends itself to a symmetric composition with the subject, however, the subject isn't parallel with the camera, and the slight angle of the subject throws off the symmetry.

Would it have been better if shot right behind me?

 

[RobinChen]

It's great to wake up in the morning to see that so many people have taken their time to help and share their opinions. THANKS!

 

[mysteryscribe]

It's a little hard to give classic composition lessons in a hundred words but generally all verticle subjects ( ie a single man standing full length) is shot in a verticle crop. That is unless there is something else in the frame that requires it be otherwise. Ie in this case the background items that required a horizontal or square crop to not cut them off.

Thats about the long and short of it. It the background had been nothing but trees and water, I would have suggested a vertical crop period. As it is if you want to show the area it needs to be horizontal if not then recrop it verticle. You might want to consider what you are shooting and turn the camera on it's side to maximize your use of resolution since cropping removes some of the resolution from the shot.

Note you lose most of the scenery but if it werent there it be a much nicer shot of the verticle human figure.

 

[abraxas]

I jumped that way because I wanted to show sort of a "I'm about to jump in the water kind of shot" If I shot it from the front I dont think it wouldve looked as cool because the photo wouldve just looked like I was jumping 1 foott in the air. lol I'm not to sure what you mean by everything looks like its running to the dead center. Is it that the subject, house dock and everything tends to be in the center and distracts from the subject itself?

I have to be quick-

To me, all the lines in the photo seem to be pointing to the small of the back. The small of the back is in the nearly dead center of the photo.

Although MS' second edit is probably the better of the two, this 'centering' messes the shot up as there is no work around (IMO). If this were my shot I'd chalk it off to a learning experience.

Did you start off trying to shoot this shot, or was it improv?

Planning, visualizing in advance what you want to accomplish can make immense differences.

Also, and I'm certain, certain self-proclaimed 'rebels' and 'ar-teests' will vehemently disagree with me here, simple composition guidelines such as 'the rule of thirds,' etc. need to be mastered and part of the discipline before they can be effectively disregarded in favor of expression though creative anarchy.

Hm. Ok, if every picture tells a story, what does this shot say and how does it say it?

Make sense?- Got to run, dogs escaped and have pulled the ice cream truck driver from the truck and are shredding his cloths... ..

 

[Iron Flatline]

The image is great the way it is, leave it alone. The guy in the air mirrors the tree which is being blown the other way. It's awesome. Well done.

You might consider dodging out some of the action between his legs. By taking away a little of the detail a viewer will be less inclined to look there.