Uptown Market Vendors - Comment Critique

[AverageJoe]

 

[gopal]

good captures....they are all fine people...and fine are ur shots.

 

[Markw]

There are waaaaay too many un-numbered photos to give a good critique. The only ones I really like, however, are this one:

And this one:

Most are underexposed and have extremely distracting backgrounds.

Nice series.

Mark

 

[AverageJoe]

Thanks gopal

Markw, thanks for the input, I shot mostly in aperture priority at f2 on a 50mm and saved in raw. Post processing was minimal, mostly autoed the levels and sharpened. Are you thinking a slightly longer exposure?

Thanks again!

 

[manaheim]

Overall mostly just some non-artistic snapshots of some people. That's fine and all (though some have issues), but I see nothing to critique here, really.

 

[manaheim]

AvgJoe PMed me to ask me for more specific feedback, so I figured rather than respond privately it might be valuable to explain in greater detail back here in this thread. I'll try to summarize his questions and respond...

First off, what did AvgJoe do "wrong" in these from a technical perspective...

Well, not too much, really. A few are a touch underexposed and probably could have benefitted from a fill flash... a couple of them are a little soft... one or two are slightly overexposed, but nothing overwhelming. Overall, they're fine. This isn't realy "the issue".

Next, what could AvgJoe done differently...

Well, it's all about the composition.

I mean, by and large, these are just snapshots of people. Without knowing these people or possibly having been at the event (and more likely the former), there is absolutely NO emotional connection for me to most of these photos. They lack any sort of interest for anyone beyond the people who know these folks because they don't have anything that sustains them artistically. This is why we call them "snapshots".

That being said, you see a few traces of artistry in a couple of them... most notably 8, with some potential in 10.

In 8 we see a very interesting woman who is clearly emotionally involved in playing her violin (viola?)... you can feel something there. She's also a somewhat interesting character, having some beauty, some tatoos, etc. There's some good things going on... it just needs more. More interesting angles, perspectives on her, etc. She's also smack dead-center frame (which is very unexcitiing) and the stuff in the background is too in focus which is distracting.

In 10, we see a woman through what appears to be some of her wares. She's showing them to us in a way... she's clearly happy about it. The wares look somewhat interesting... and yet in this case, we can't actually see what she's showing us, and in fact the extreme difference in focus between her and her wares is a little distracting. She's also, again, smack dead center in the frame. Uninteresting angle, etc.

Again... fine pictures of these people, just not interesting overall.

Look again at the violin woman... wouldn't it have been interesting to come in from the side on her and zoom in on her face... really get the deepness of that expression in the softness of her face... maybe from an angle where you could see some of the tatoo, which would be a counterpoint to the softness and the emotion. (just as an example) Do whatever you can to capture that feeling because there appears to be so much of it there.

Now, how would I go about doing this? For all of these folks, I think I would interview them a bit about their wares and ask them to tell me more about them... what excites them about the process of making them, why they got involved in doing it, etc. Have them show me stuff... have them show me making the stuff, etc. Get them to show passion and feeling and just snap away while they are doing it.

Just getting them to stand in front of their booth and smile and say cheese... well... gives you a snapshot.

Hope that helps.

 

[Alleh Lindquist]

Not very interesting but perfectly fine as normal snap shots.