How a brook through an autumnal forest can look like a galaxy unfolding.
May 3, 2023
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This is a good image with which to illustrate Robert Capa's immortal advice for photographers: if your image is not good, you were not close enough.
Being right in the middle of the action, following a protagonist at arm's length and looking over his/her shoulders is a surefire recipe for immersion.
We are there.
Or we wish we were. -
The success of this image has many reasons.
For one, it is a great performance image, catching dancers in the midst of their action, with great atmospheric light centered on the most dynamic dancers, and a very competent stage fog to highlight them against the background, adding a layer.
But there is more at play here.
Your peculiar crop (very panoramic, very low and wide) creates an illusion of this not being a moment frozen in time, but a sequence of moments, like those age old and world famous first photographs of a single horse through different stages of its movement.
The illusion is that this group of dancers is actually a single person, captured at different stages of a cart wheel.
I adore it. -
The thing here that appeals to me, is the reversal of expectations.
Lamp posts are supposed to be static.
Birds are supposed to be dynamic.
In this case however, the birds are the static elements, while the lampposts seem to be flying towards us. -
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I love the mystery here.
It's probably because of Jim's violinist portrait, that I see this great B&W closeup as a macro image of violin (or guitar) strings, over a fret. -
So Dorothy left Kansas and came to Oz, and she met a Lion there. And a scarecrow and a tin man.
The Wizard of Oz leaves much room for speculation about exactly what drugs Dorothy was on.
It seems to be a hallucinogenic that offers a very bright and colourful perspective on life. -
It's the same with guitars (I wouldn't know, I am not musical).
And with lenses : the viewer of the image may not notice the difference, but the photographer does.
And with bicycles too...Whenever you are met with a wife eye roll, remember that this is the best response :
"I only ever use one at the time.
So the wear and tear gets spread out over all of them and they all last longer." -
This must be breathtaking to see! My corner of the planet has an area that grows tulips commercially; however, I've never visited. I love the angle from which you shot this richly colorful scene.
I'm seeing what appears to be aggressive sharpening of the image. This has resulted in a treeline that looks somewhat unrealistic, along with the small details of the individual flowers. Strictly personal preference, but I feel the subject and colors are better suited to a softer touch. These couple of weeks since I joined your group has been a great learning experience for me. Thank you!
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Many thanks, Roel. I know exactly what your wife went through 😄
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My vote is for the black and white version. In my view, it makes the most of the compositional features - the dramatic sky with a V formation at its core, the nicely offset light bush in the foreground, the light itself. The blue color (and likely any color at all) masks the light and reduces the dramatic effect of the foreground/mid ground/background landscape formula (tried and true) that makes this image work.
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This is a nice shot of a beautiful scene, if a bit dark. It is way too crunchy for my eyes. Backing off on the sharpening would improve it a lot.
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Thanks Mike. Yes, I did crop quite a bit off the top and a small amount off the bottom. Also a slight rotation to keep the front of the stage level. I had to mess with the background in a few places, especially along the left edge. This was a recital from a Simcoe based dance studio that was held at a theatre in Brantford, Ontario. I think it is the first recital I have attended since I was dancing in one at a very young age, tap.
A link to the dance company below
The audience members were allowed to shoot photos but video shooting was not permitted. I might have tried it if it was. I am sure parents were likely doing it anyway with their phones. I did not see anyone else in attendance with a real camera.
Andrew
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Thanks Roel.
I got the same thoughts when reviewing the images and had to zoom in to check! Not sure how I got the timing 'so right' on this one but I really liked the capture. I am thinking perhaps I should revisit the entire set (there were a lot of different performances) and send a few off to the dance studio. They have some shots on their website along with some video.
Andrew
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Linda's crop solves the issue I was trying to address with my proposed lightning of the area behind the foreground trees. The suggested crop is a far more elegant way to bring out the lines of trees which I think is the strength of the image.
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The instrument in my portrait is a viola.
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Take 10% of the marks off my reply because of the spelling error. You guessed it, I was a teacher in a former life.