Street concert

billybob · Nov 25, 2007

I'm still very new to photography so all criticism is appreciated; the more the better, even if it's all negative.

Here's what I was going for and what I was working with. I had a 50mm lens attached to the camera, so there was no zooming and my movement was limited by the crowd behind me and barriers in front. My main goal was to put the Mexican flag in one of the strong points and the American in the other and to catch the singer between them. I really liked the two flags and wanted to feature them. In other shots that worked even less than this one, I tried focusing on the little girl playing between the flags instead.

I am aware that the quality and resolution of the jpeg are not very high. That's because I am using this image for a website and I want it to be small and progressive. So, please ignore the resolution, compression, and progressive nature of the jpeg and instead focus on composition, exposure, contrast, and other things that matter from a picture taking or post processing perspective.

Thanks for any input.

plentygood · Nov 25, 2007

There's so much going on I'm not sure what I'm supposed to look at or what the subject is.

billybob · Nov 25, 2007

plentygood said:
There's so much going on I'm not sure what I'm supposed to look at or what the subject is.

Do you think a shallower depth of field would have fixed that or would it not have worked anyway?

plentygood · Nov 25, 2007

No. I can't really put my finger on what would make it a lot better. I think the problem is the background is just too much. The bridge/arches are fine and all. It's the people that have to go. I look at the little girl and the older man standing up before I even noticed the flags. I think if you had been able to get the singer and the flags with nobody else in the picture it would have been better (the girl probably could have stayed but the bystanders subtract from the shot). The singer could probably have stood to have been more central in the piece.

I know it's hard to shoot street concerts and things like that though and even more difficult when your mobility is barred by barriers and people. I think you did relatively well but it just looks like a snapshot to be honest.

hawkeye · Nov 25, 2007

I hate to sound unpatriotic of my own country, but the American flag is in the way

Your depth of field if fine though, everything is just a little busy

billybob · Nov 25, 2007

plentygood said:
No. I can't really put my finger on what would make it a lot better. I think the problem is the background is just too much. The bridge/arches are fine and all. It's the people that have to go. I look at the little girl and the older man standing up before I even noticed the flags. I think if you had been able to get the singer and the flags with nobody else in the picture it would have been better (the girl probably could have stayed but the bystanders subtract from the shot). The singer could probably have stood to have been more central in the piece.

I know it's hard to shoot street concerts and things like that though and even more difficult when your mobility is barred by barriers and people. I think you did relatively well but it just looks like a snapshot to be honest.

Thanks.

I think I agree with you. There's not much I could've done about it, so I'm glad I took the shot anyway. But I guess it's nothing more than a snapshot and couldn't have been anything else under those conditions.