Street Performers

Granddad · May 5, 2013

Yesterday I took my new 50mm prime out for the day by itself (with my d700 body, of course) because it's light and I needed to see what I can do with it. There was a Victorian day on at Lincoln Castle and in Castle Square we found some street performers. They pulled a young volunteer out of the audience and set to work. First came the flinch test to make sure he had nerves of steel...
1

The Flinch Test.
2

The Flinch Test passed with flying colours.

3.

and thus he got to stand very still while they juggled clubs around him...

4.

Success!

Street photography isn't my thing so C&C is welcome.

Edited to add that the colours are a bit muted in the thumbnails.

sarah_19_nz · May 5, 2013

nice shots! captures the moment well. Sorry I'm not skilled enough to give you a Street Photog critique. They look like good shots to me though

Granddad · May 5, 2013

Thanks Sarah. I didn't start giving (much) critique till I'd been here a while, raised my skill levels through absorbing critique and gained confidence. Positive comments are always welcome and good for the ego so don't be afraid to have your say!

:thumbup:

The_Traveler · May 5, 2013

The background is way too intrusive.
Why not shoot this at a much wider aperture and the small DOF.

Granddad · May 5, 2013

I suppose I could have switched settings for these shots, Lew, but much of their performance was at different levels and I wanted to get everyone in focus. To be honest I think I was distracted by the show (very comic) and didn't think of it. Next time I'll make sure I have my photographer's hat on; it was a wasted opportunity to try out that f1.4, wasn't it?

ISO down low, f1.4 and shutter speed would still have been fast enough.

MiFleur · May 5, 2013

I love the expression in the first one, it is a great moment,
I like # 3 because the boy is not static!
the other ones seem a little odd because of the contrast of the movement of the performers and the statue like attitude of the child.

Granddad · May 5, 2013

MiFleur said:
I love the expression in the first one, it is a great moment,
I like # 3 because the boy is not static!
the other ones seem a little odd because of the contrast of the movement of the performers and the statue like attitude of the child.

I initially titled the first two as "The Flinch Test" but that seems to have vanished (I'll edit it back in). It would have put them into context. They wanted to be sure he could stand like a statue while they juggled clubs in front and behind - twitching backwards when the clubs flew by an inch from his nose would have resulted in being hit by the one flying past behind!

Derrel · May 5, 2013

I utter have to disagree with The_Traveler WRT to shooting this scene with shallow DOF. Why? Everything about the background is part of the "scene"...the signs, the brass door knocker, the expression of the woman some 6 feet behind the jugglers...the success of these photos depends almost entirely upon a full appreciation of the elements that make up the mise-en-scène. The black leather equipment case, the black hoop, their signs, all their props...this is a "Street" scene...a good part of the success of these pictures is because we can see the entire experience...

Imagine what this would be like is all we saw were the boy and the jugglers shot on white seamless paper with zero background information...

TimothyJinx · May 5, 2013

Fun shots. I like the contrast between the boy standing completely still and the jugglers moving all around. If telling a story I think I would swap #3 and #4. The boy is static, static, static and then ta-da!

Granddad · May 6, 2013

TimothyJinx said:
Fun shots. I like the contrast between the boy standing completely still and the jugglers moving all around. If telling a story I think I would swap #3 and #4. The boy is static, static, static and then ta-da!

You are 100% right on the story line, Timothy. Edited as advised. It's not how it happened but it's how it SHOULD have happened!

TimothyJinx · May 6, 2013

Granddad said:
It's not how it happened but it's how it SHOULD have happened!

After all, we're not reporters - we're artists/storytellers!

Maydaywood · May 6, 2013

What would a slight motion blur do to it if you went at say 1/50 or slower? I'm thinking it would make an interesting contrast between the motion in the clubs and the boy would be still. I like the photos a lot though.