Looking for critique on my photo...

[David8]

I submitted this photo for a uni assignment in my photography course. The assignment was entitled 'People, Place and Space' and the main focus was on the composition of the photo. It was shot on a Canon 1000F with Kodak TMAX 400 film and I developed the film and printed the photo myself. The noise in the photo is from the scanner, not the original print. I didn't receive very helpful feedback from my teacher, so I was wondering what you all thought. Thanks, Anastasia (David's wife).

 

[Designer]

If anything, I think there is just too much going on here. I do see a photograph in the 3 or 4 sets of legs going the same direction, but the one going right-to-left spoils it for me. Also, I think the hand-truck does nothing for the legs composition. Then there is the busy background, something that could be overlooked or minimized if we had primarily the legs as the subject.

This is a simple enough idea that you could literally go out and stage a re-shoot.

 

[gsgary]

I think it would have looked better if photographed head on

 

[hirejn]

It's actually not bad. The legs are too busy. One guy pushing the dolly would've been better, but I get approximately what you were going for. There's a lot of black, and the eye always goes to the lightest parts first; the problem is the lightest parts are floor and shoes -- not very interesting. Had there been a highlight on the dolly, that would have set it apart. There's no real light here. The gesture of legs moving isn't new, but it can work. It's good that you have the additional element of a woman in the upper right. This image can go only so far. You end up looking at feet and that gets old. The motion adds, but not enough. It's not always a requirement, but there's no reason something in this frame couldn't have been tack sharp, and it's not. The highlight in the upper left probably shouldn't be there. At a BW contest I'd probably give it a 6 of 10, mostly for the attempt at trying something a bit different than what I already know would be there. You seem like the type that might have heard of Jay Maisel. He's a master street photographer.

 

[KenC]

I think it works pretty well. It would have been less interesting with fewer feet or without the cart. What bothers me is the bright spots in the upper left. I would crop the top to eliminate some of this (without losing the hand) and clone out or darken the rest, and darken the background areas in the top left and right as well.

 

[Ilovemycam]

Good job, esp with printing

 

[vintagesnaps]

I think the person wearing the darker pants seems to somewhat block what's interesting in the photo. It looks to me like what you saw and tried to capture was the three legs stepping in sync, each with their right foot stepping forward at the same moment, as viewed thru the triangular shape of the cart and the black pantleg.

It looks like the focus might have been more on the table, the furthest of the three feet stepping looks the most in focus; it looks you wanted the other figures to be a blur of movement going by.

This too might have been a matter of timing, and whether or not you can manage to capture a split second of time. I like the idea of it, I imagine if you keep doing some people watching you might be able to get this type photo another time; I think sometimes you just barely miss the moment and other times you nail it.

You got a nice B&W print with some good contrast between black and white. I wonder if it would be worth making another print without the guy on the left and framing it so it's from the back leg in black slacks to the right and without the top edge of the background people at tables - I wonder if that would bring the viewer's attention to the pattern of the legs and cart moving in time. I'd probably experiment with reframing and making a new print if it was a photo I thought was worth the time and effort; if it's just not working I'll often use the idea another time.

 

[jenko]

I really like the idea of this shot, but it feels slightly random. I think you could have nailed it if the focus was upon the closest moving limbs instead of the background.