Standing in the Shade, Waiting for the Bus

[Chris Calohan]

[Chris Calohan]

Changed the crop factor to eliminate extraneous detail. One of the interesting things about shooting in a foreign country is the desire to keep everything in context. I liked the way the curved wall led the viewer back into the dusty lane but in the end, felt it didn't translate to a better shot.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Russ may disagree, but this time I think cropping was the way to go. It works nicely now.

[francois]

I like the cropped version, it's simpler…

[RSL]

I don't disagree, Eric, but Chris's camera should have been swung more to the right in the first place. The girl's still too close to the center of the frame, and an extension of the wall behind her would have given more context. But here I go doing what I just got through complaining about. On the other hand, I'll forgive myself because this isn't the kind of street shot that requires an instant response. I don't know what was farther right, but assuming it was a continuation of the wall I'd have included just enough at the left to catch the full width of that interesting tree trunk. That would have placed the girl just about a third of the way from the left side of the frame, which is where she should be. There often are reasons to break away from rules of composition, but when there aren't any reasons, doing that is unreasonable.

But in general I like this shot a lot, Chris.

[Chris Calohan]

I was still in the back of a moving horse carriage, so taking time to compose wasn't as certain as I would have liked it to be. I did take three quick shots and will go back to see if I can set her position a little better.

[Chris Calohan]

None of the other shots did as well as the original choice but the original does allow the latitiude of a crop which places the girl on the right third quadrant and the middle of the tree on the left third. The sense of the road curling back to the left is preserved and still allows enough contectual information to be preserved.

[Rob C]

I prefer the original; you weren't going to be close, so using the first crop gives a really good sense of environment, which I think matters.

IMO.

Rob C

[RSL]

I'd agree, provided the wall on the extreme left disappears.

[Chris Calohan]

Gone!

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

I'd agree, provided the wall on the extreme left disappears.

Me too.

[seamus finn]

That's better.

[Rob C]

And she didn't move a muscle! Wow, that's so cool!

Rob C

[WalterEG]

Too many cooks always manage to spoil the broth.

What started as a descriptive tableau with a girl waiting for a bus has been reduced to a portrait of a tree with extraneous walking protein.

Well, that's how I see it at least.

[Bruce Cox]

Too many cooks always manage to spoil the broth.

What started as a descriptive tableau with a girl waiting for a bus has been reduced to a portrait of a tree with extraneous walking protein.

Well, that's how I see it at least.

Fallowing your line of thought, which makes you one of the cooks, I put the girl in the middle so that she can lead again.

Bruce

[Chris Calohan]

I like this crop. Cropping can be a strange beast..it can eat up valuable space, take away unneeded space or change the visual aspect of how one perceives what the photographer initially had in mind. I like this edit best because I feel it keeps the initial dialogue I was trying to preserve yet rids itself of the unneeded wall.

[WalterEG]

Bruce,

You are clearly more a chef then a cook.  I think you have nailed it.

[mac_paolo]

Same as the other one as the guy with a tons of hats.
Sometimes you have to look for a background even more than for the subject.
The girl is almost silhouette, which is not a wrong decision per se, but the wall is almost as lit as a sun. Too much distraction to me. The top of the wall is also partially cutting the girls head.

Going further, why having everything in focus? Does the perfectly sharp wall and houses add anything to the scene? To me it's the opposite.
What's the subject? What are going to express with the picture?

It's been shot at 1/1000s, ƒ/9 at ISO 500. An ISO 100/200 with a larger f-stop would have been a better choice to me. Far better.

As for the crop I definitely like the last ones with the whole tree and without that bit of the wall on the left and the rest of the empty space around.

Paolo

[Rob C]

Sheesh! It was a grabbed shot!

If I may enter the kitchen, then: concentrate on the girl as in the original recipe and cut off much top and bottom of the rest of the ingredients, throw 'em away into the trash bin and add a little spice of tree branches to the right, gently add a soupçon of Gaussian to the distance and cook up a longer, wider dish. Et voilà! - a quality meal in a moment.

Rob C

[mac_paolo]

Sheesh! It was a grabbed shot!

So…?