Re: worrying that image to death... (was: Re: PAW PESO - The Sign Above the Gun Shop

[Jon Glass]

On Jan 6, 2005, at 12:42 AM, Bob W wrote:
The 2nd one almost has a story:
http://www.web-options.com/joninkrakow_53435_crop2.jpg
But basically, you were standing in the wrong place, and too far away.
Unfortunately the balance of lighting is not too good. Did you use
auto exposure? It doesn't seem to have exposed for the face.
Compositionally, there are too many people in an undifferentiated
mass, particularly on the right. (That's almost a political statement!
)
I think that, in the end, you nailed it. I was trying too much to get 
too many people in the scene. I liked the idea of the masses going 
about their business, and this huge face watching them, completely 
unnoticed by the people. I think on the page with the second photo, I 
quoted photographer Robert Capa, "If your pictures aren’t good enough, 
you’re not close enough."

This, I finally realize a year later, was my big mistake. Like you 
said, I was trying to say too much! I do have a problem with 
verbosity--even in my photography. ;-) Thanks for the help! I do like 
your second crop especially. I hope to be able to scan this negative 
again someday at a higher resolution, and maybe then I can "repair" it. 
:-)

And, yes, the outside is a bit overexposed. I bracketed this shot with 
an over and under, but this one--over-- had the best arrangement of 
people. The negative still has a lot of detail left in it that the scan 
was not able to capture, so I think another scan with a better scanner 
will help in this regard. (I guess I'm still obsessed with this 
image...)
--
-Jon Glass
Krakow, Poland
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

Re: worrying that image to death... (was: Re: PAW PESO - The Sign Above the Gun Shop

[Jon Glass]

On Jan 6, 2005, at 12:39 AM, John Coyle wrote:
I think then you might get the sort of effect that was seen in the 
film "Zardov", where the giant face dominated the humans in frame, and 
which is what I think you were trying to get?

Believe it or not, I've never heard of the film!!! Now I need to add it 
to my list of "to see" films. :-) Thanks.

And yes, as I stated in another post, I did try a longer lens that I 
bought just for this reason, but it was still too short (135mm) and 
every time I tried to shoot the photo, there were so many people that I 
just couldn't get a good shot. :-(

Thanks for the comments.
--
-Jon Glass
Krakow, Poland
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

Re: worrying that image to death... (was: Re: PAW PESO - The Sign Above the Gun Shop

[Bob W]

Hi,

Wednesday, January 5, 2005, 8:53:35 PM, Jon wrote:

> I had an image last winter that I "worried" to death. There was a 
[...]
> 

> Somehow, it just lacks the impact I felt while standing there.

What was it that made such an impact? Did you try to think about this
before you took the shot? What you have tried to do seems to me to be
too complex. You need to simplify it. To do that you have to analyse
down to the bones of what makes an impact. It's a static subject. so
you have time to do that.

> I tried
> so hard to get the contrast between this large face, and the people 
> inside Finally, just the other day, my wife saw the photo, and 
> said... "The face is too small. You need to crop it."

> 

> Definitely an improvement, but still I feel I missed an excellent 
> opportunity. I don't know what I may have done wrong, or maybe, this
> just wasn't meant to be.

the face needs to be more, um, in your face. There are too many other
elements in there, and the face itself is really lost.

Here are a couple of efforts at different crops:
http://www.web-options.com/joninkrakow_53435_crop.jpg

The 2nd one almost has a story:
http://www.web-options.com/joninkrakow_53435_crop2.jpg

But basically, you were standing in the wrong place, and too far away.

Unfortunately the balance of lighting is not too good. Did you use
auto exposure? It doesn't seem to have exposed for the face.

Compositionally, there are too many people in an undifferentiated
mass, particularly on the right. (That's almost a political statement!
)

There is/was a similar statue in the courtyard of the British Museum
which many people have photographed, including Elliott Erwitt. This is
a photo from his book 'Museum Watching' (and 'Snaps'):
http://tinyurl.com/6tzxs

-- 
Cheers,
 Bob

Re: worrying that image to death... (was: Re: PAW PESO - The Sign Above the Gun Shop

[John Coyle]

I like the concept Jon - I think I would tackle this by using a much longer 
lens and trying to use the compression effect you get with long lenses by 
stacking up the people in the hall in front of the face:hope you can fathom 
that out!I think then you might get the sort of effect that was seen in 
the film "Zardov", where the giant face dominated the humans in frame, and 
which is what I think you were trying to get?

HTH
John Coyle
Brisbane, Australia
- Original Message - 
From: "Jon Glass" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 
Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2005 6:53 AM
Subject: worrying that image to death... (was: Re: PAW PESO - The Sign Above 
the Gun Shop


I had an image last winter that I "worried" to death. There was a sculptor 
who had his work displayed in the main market in Krakow. One of his 
sculptures was a large face, staring into the main tourist trap er, 
attraction on the center, called the "Cloth Hall." I thought it was rather 
haunting, yet comical at the same time. I burned about three rolls of film 
across several weeks, trying to make something of this photo. The best I 
could come up with was this:


Somehow, it just lacks the impact I felt while standing there. I tried so 
hard to get the contrast between this large face, and the people 
inside Finally, just the other day, my wife saw the photo, and said... 
"The face is too small. You need to crop it."


Definitely an improvement, but still I feel I missed an excellent 
opportunity. I don't know what I may have done wrong, or maybe, this just 
wasn't meant to be. When you mentioned "worrying" an image to death, Ann, 
I couldn't help but think of this...

Any advice? comments? Complaints? ;-) TIA
(And thanks, Ann, for reminding me of this. I meant to post it as a PESO 
weeks ago.)

On Jan 5, 2005, at 5:51 AM, Ann Sanfedele wrote:
I kinda meant that the simple original image might be more powerful than 
one
that
has added bells and whistles - or at least as powerful.  Meaning that
"worrying" an image to
much may ultimately reduce the impact, or at least may not add to it 
(been
there, done that :) )
--
-Jon Glass
Krakow, Poland
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>