Catherine Nelson-Pollard has sent me a second photo of her neighbour, the retired farmer:
To me this has a whole lot more potential, and character, than the previous image she sent. We can see his hands for a start. But ... and here comes the critical bit ...
Why put a border around it? And a great fat one at that.
Photographic magazines - at least, the ones I've seen - regularly carry articles on how to do this. Why bother? If the image is strong enough (and this one is) the border will do nothing for it. And if the image is weak no amount of fancy bordering will improve it.
The wire running across the top of his head is distracting, too. And ... small point this ... in portraits, try to avoid cutting people off at their joints. If Catherine had lowered the camera a fraction we would have seen this guy's elbows.
But, that said, this is a great portrait with masses of potential. Here it is again with a little bit of tweaking in an image editing program ..
What a character! (But, sorry, can't do anything about his elbows).
End note: Some people say, "Oi! ... You're cheating using an image editing program."
Why?
When I took photographs on film and developed them in the darkroom I'd spend hours in the dim glow of a red bulb, breathing in the hypo fumes, 'dodging' and 'burning' with funny-shaped bits of paper on wire, using different chemicals for different gradations of tint, or over-processing for high contrast.
Apart from the lack of chemical fumes, how's that so different from doing it on the computer?
To me this has a whole lot more potential, and character, than the previous image she sent. We can see his hands for a start. But ... and here comes the critical bit ...
Why put a border around it? And a great fat one at that.
Photographic magazines - at least, the ones I've seen - regularly carry articles on how to do this. Why bother? If the image is strong enough (and this one is) the border will do nothing for it. And if the image is weak no amount of fancy bordering will improve it.
The wire running across the top of his head is distracting, too. And ... small point this ... in portraits, try to avoid cutting people off at their joints. If Catherine had lowered the camera a fraction we would have seen this guy's elbows.
But, that said, this is a great portrait with masses of potential. Here it is again with a little bit of tweaking in an image editing program ..
What a character! (But, sorry, can't do anything about his elbows).
End note: Some people say, "Oi! ... You're cheating using an image editing program."
Why?
When I took photographs on film and developed them in the darkroom I'd spend hours in the dim glow of a red bulb, breathing in the hypo fumes, 'dodging' and 'burning' with funny-shaped bits of paper on wire, using different chemicals for different gradations of tint, or over-processing for high contrast.
Apart from the lack of chemical fumes, how's that so different from doing it on the computer?
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4 comments:
your version of the portrait certainly is an improvement. I don't like borders either, I think they are pointless. I also have no patience with the view that an image's "purity" is destroyed by manipulation. What nonsense!
There is something about this image that bothers me. In my own infrequent attempts at portraiture I always have the subject looking from right to left. In this picture the subject is looking from left to right. It makes me feel uneasy. Is this just a peculiarity on my part, or does anyone else agree with me?
There is something about this image that bothers me. In my own infrequent attempts at portraiture I always have the subject looking from right to left. In this picture the subject is looking from left to right.
Interesting point, Dave. Thanks for raising it. But ...
... if every portrait has the subject looking from right to left, won't it get a bit boring?
I hadn't thought about the left to right thing but it's an interesting point. To be honest I didn't spend a long time taking these photos, I still haven't got over my slight embarassment at pointing a camera lens at someone's face. My neighbour just wanted to chat and pass the time of day so I put the camera down after a short while. Paparazzi I will never be!
Thanks for the point about being careful not to cut someone off at the joints, I will bear that in mind next time.
The border thing was me experimenting and it going horribly wrong as you saw. I then realised with horror I hadn't saved the original.... everything in the photography world is a big learning curve.
However these examples on your site go a long way to helping us improve so thanks Alistair!
>> I still haven't got over my slight embarrassment at pointing a camera lens at someone's face.
I know. I find it difficult too.
But see today's blog :-)
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