Nice Action Photo

[photo guy]

Here is another photo. This one is my favorite. I have a Firefighter family. (Dad was for 12 years, brother is on his 12th year [ff/paramedic], cousin was one and now a paramedic, uncle was an emt and is still a cop, and I am a Fire Dept. Photographer on the side for my local dept.) This is a photo that I took earlier this year at a 2 Alarm fire at the local public high school. The fire did over $60,000.00 damage. I responded as the dept photographer and had great access due to the Fire Chief was first on scene and the school still has the same head principal that was there when I graduated in 1999. This photo was published FRONT PAGE of the local newspaper the next day and was even displayed by the Fire Dept. at our local fair in the summer.

 

[photo guy]

 

[photo guy]

If possible, I would like to ask for some C&C please. Thank You

 

[Forkie]

It's very bright and flatly lit - it could do with a fairly hefty contrast boost. I would've also cropped it down (keeping the same proportions) to cut out the brick wall in the background and fill more of the frame with just the fireman and the flames.

 

[GooniesNeverSayDie11]

Seems a little too tightly cropped to me. Also, ideally, I would have rather seen a slightly different angle. Obviously this is limited due to needing to keep a safe distance, but even shooting maybe a little more towards 45-75 degree angle. You see fire and and a firefighter, but it just seems a bit too static to me. Not enough elements in the shot to give a sense of what is going on or where it is at. Its obvious that there is a fire, and a firefighter, but is this a training facility? An old folks home?? An industrial complex?? a preschool?? A rooftop? a ground floor??

 

[photo guy]

GooniesNeverDie11, this was an equipment fire at the local high school. As I do not have fire gear, I can not get too close so I use my zoom. I do have more shots that are tighter in on the firefighters and the fire. I did no post processing to this at all. I very rarely post edit my fire scene shots in case they are needed for court since I am the dept photographer. If I do edit one, I make sure that I save it as a new file. Thank you for your C&C

 

[GooniesNeverSayDie11]

I wasn't asking so much because I wanted to know( my guess is that it looks like it could be some sort of HVAC unit ), I was merely trying to make you ask yourself those questions when taking the shot.

If you are posting pictures and want C+C, I suggest you post process them. Using photos in court and posting to the forums for C+C are two different animals. (although it could be argued that making minor adjustments to contrast, saturation and sharpness would all have no relevance in court anyway. So long as you weren't changing the picture in terms of adding or removing things and were keeping the image in line with what you witnessed with your eyes. After all, your camera already tweaks these parameters if you are shooting in JPEG. This is also similar to processing film in a darkroom, or shooting specific types of film)

 

[photo guy]

Thank you for your knowledge, I will keep it in mind. This was the wood dust collection baggage system. The fire started on a machine in the building in the woodshop and the sparks went through the whole wood shop ducting system that is connected to this and caught the whole works on fire. Went to a 2 Alarm fire in no time due to that. Very challenging to photograph with all of the different people around from the FD and school getting in the way of eachother. Good thing for zoom. I don't mind answering your questions. I appreciate that people want to learn. This photo is one of the photos now used for fire prevention displays during the fair and the dept. open house.

 

[KmH]

What action? It looks like he is resting on his elbows and watching the fire burn. The is no fire hose in the shot and no stream of water going onto the fire in the shot either.

Backs of heads hold little interest.

The holy grail of action shots is faces, and the expressions on them.

 

[photo guy]

They were trying to get some of the burning bags out so they could finish taking the outer panels off to fight the fire. This fire call lasted 3 hours due to the extensive overhaul from damage.

 

[mrpink]

They were trying to get some of the burning bags out so they could finish taking the outer panels off to fight the fire. This fire call lasted 3 hours due to the extensive overhaul from damage.

Your photo says none of this.... A shot showing exhaustion on a firefighters face would be more story telling and interesting to the viewer.






p!nK

 

[MLeeK]

NEEDS the black point raised a LOT.

 

[KmH]

Well, the OP doesn't allow editing of the photos so no one can illustrate alternative editing, like using different blending modes to give the photo more depth.

 

[photo guy]

I have a lot more photos of from this call that I could post. I will look through them and pick some of them out to post to show more of the detail.

 

[Tony S]

Like the others have said, this tells no story. Here you have a large fire at a school with all kinds of folks around in the way and all we see is the back of a firefighter looking into a fire in a piece of equipment. The real story and picture may have been behind you with all the people looking on at the damage being done to their beloved school. In a typical setting like this there is always a sense of emotion, that's the story picture to go after. Yeah, I know, firefighters love to see pictures of fire, but there's got to be some action. A sense of what's going on and where it's going on. The photos should almost explain the who, what, and where without explaining.

As far as not editing, that's hogwash. C'mon, put some effort into your photography to make it shine when you are showing it and asking for CC. You can still keep the original file for that one time you may need to go to court, but put some effort into bringing out the best of your photos. Don't make excuses for why things aren't interesting or don't tell a story in a photo, make a good photo.

BTW, just so you don't think I'm blowing smoke up yer hiney I've got 35 years in the fire service and still going. I've taken photos of fires, rescues, training, public events and disasters. I also shoot for a local paper and have had my photos used in court and had to testify as to what the photos were showing and what was done with them. Had one arsonist put away due to photos showing what the first firefighters on scene could not remember but I got the info in the photo. Even RAW un-altered photos get questioned, it comes down to your credibility when the photos are questioned.