First Picture constructive C&C sought

[KonaPhotographer]

I was out and about learning about my camera, trying to put into practice what I've learned from helpful YouTube video's and from the many threads here where people have critiqued pictures. I've come such a long way from my old "put the subject in the middle of the shot" composition days (two weeks ago )


This was a colour picture but the gentleman's skin wasn't the best (splotchy). The "artistic" part of this picture is that he's at a boutique bar drinking craft beer and he's engrossed in his phone and has locked out the outside world with his head phones. Not being judgemental, honestly I should be the last to talk.

It was shot in aperture priority mode.

Camera	Sony NEX-5R
Exposure	0.05 sec (1/20)
Aperture	f/5.6
Focal Length	46 mm
ISO Speed	200
Exposure Bias	+0.7 EV

 

[weepete]

My opinion is that it's a pretty good shot, so well done. I like your premise too, and the juxtaposition of the craft beer and the destinctive white apple earphones goes really well.

There are however a few small niggles I have with this shot. On the technical side it looks like it needs straighted a wee bit, and you may have blown out the whites in the top left corner. I'd have also preferred a larger apeture to make more of the background blurred and increase the impact of your subject.

Compsitionally I'd have liked to be able to see the bottom of the beer glass, but the chair is in the way. There is also a lantern just peeking out from above his head.


Candids are hard though, and sometimes you don't have time to get everything perfect. All in all I like it, so well done

 

[sm4him]

I like what you've seen here, and I love the expression on the guy's face. I didn't actually notice the beer until I read what you wrote; even then, the placement of the beer doesn't really even lead me to associate it with the guy. You didn't put the beer there, so you had to work with what you had, I'm just saying for me, the beer doesn't really do anything much one way or the other.

As weepete said, it's in need of straightening and there's some blown out highlights.
Someone who does b&w will have to speak more to the overall contrast, etc of the image--I'm a horrible judge of tones in b&w.

It's unfortunate that there is a horizontal-ish line from those shades going straight through the guy's head; I find that distracting. Again, you couldn't help where that line was, but perhaps a slightly higher or lower perspective would have helped. It IS a spontaneous shot, and maybe I'm the only one bothered by the line through his head.

 

[Rick58]

I don't like to location of the beer glass. I just seems awkward running into the dark shirt. Closer to his hands would have been a lot better. I realize it's a candid shot, so it is where it is.

 

[manaheim]

What they said, though I don't have an issue with the blown background as I think it is something I didn't need to see anyway.

What I get from this picture is a lot of confusing elements as well...

1. Craft beer, in a wineglass looking sort of thing? Seems a little odd. I thought it was wine at first, then noticed it had a head and was like "what the heck?"
2. The glass and the headphones don't seem to line up in my mind. I think it's because I associate that sort of engrossed "I'm listening to my music in public places and drowning out the world" with 2 things... train commuters and young people. He is neither, so it throws me.
3. What the hell is that crate thing and why is it next to him?
4. (minor) His shirt seems odd.

I also think you would have a way better chance of this shot working from a different angle... the beer glass next to his elbow is sort of weird, for example, which might have been fixed by another angle.

So toss all that into some of the other elements the other folks sm4him and weepete commented on, and I think you have a binner. (toss it). That said... I'd say it was a VERY good try. Your exposure is nice, the treatment is great, the character certainly has some interest to it, etc. Go keep at it.

BTW, I've found that shots of people almost exclusively work as b/w and not as color. In color I think the viewer tends to get too hung up on lots of things we tend to judge people on or get distracted by... skin tones, color choices, "oh hey, look at the cool bench he's sitting on". Somehow or another the b/w sort of levels the playing field a bit and allows us to focus on what is more important.

 

[The_Traveler]

Much of what hurts this picture could have been solved by a wider aperture to throw that busy background more OOF.
(Since I don't know if this lens has a wider aperture that's irrelevant.)
The impression of solitude concentration etc is hurt by too many extraneous items intruding on what we see (beer glass and background clutter)

This, imo, is a miss; not by far, but still a miss.

 

[KonaPhotographer]

Thank you all very much for your constructive C&C

I had taken a few other cheeky shots of this gentleman using different camera settings & slightly different angles, however all of them suffer from the same issues pointed out for this shot.

TBH I didn't even note the line through his head but now it's been pointed out I know to look out for things in the back ground like that in the future

The tips have been taken on board and with any luck I'll be able to incorporate them into my next opportunity.

Thanks again