6 Responses

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  On 8 November 2007 John E. May said:

  seeing how this is a wedding portrait...the little boy on the right is much too far from the rest of the family and something "odd" is sticking out of the back of the little girl on the bride's left. Not sure about the contrast either... The spacing on the little boy on the right also is keeping you from making an 8x10 or 16x20... Using your terms, you have a selective color image in your black and white images on your web site. Find the nearest PPofA to your home and join...it will help you very much!

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  On 8 November 2007 judy fouse gave props:

  I like the vignetting/ almost like a period photo. Also, the boy is ok if you intend for him to be the real subject. In effect, that is what he becomes by being seperate. I'd remove the thing sticking out from girl if you know how digitally.

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  On 9 November 2007 John E. May said:

  if the little boy is the subject, then i have even more issues with the picture.

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  On 9 November 2007 Dave Camara said:

  Thanks for the Crit. The reason I posted this pic was because I had a ton of the "perfect" group pics from this wedding, and this one stuck out to me. As for the web site... It is a work in progress at this point. It needs a bit of work... Keep the Critiques coming!

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  On 11 November 2007 Marie Wilson said:

  I looked at this and before reading any comments thought: 'What a wonderful, relaxed group. So unlike the usual posed wedding photographs!' I like the deviation from the traditional wedding portrait with the little boy sitting off to the side and I certainly had no trouble knowing that bow on her dress is indeed just that! I like it!

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  On 12 November 2007 John E. May said:

  DISCLAIMER: This comment is meant for discussion purposes. This is NOT an attack on anyone. Take from this information or dismiss what you prefer. If I did not care I would not have invested this much time and thought. While this is ‘just my opinion’, the pedagogy is well placed in the discourse of aesthetics.
  The aesthetics for ‘commercial’ and ‘fine art’ photography are very different. Granted, the differences are not carved in stone, but if someone were trying to earn a living or supplement an income, it would behoove them to learn the differences. Speaking commercially, most people who purchase photo frames from chain/department stores can get the standard 4x5, 8x10, 11x14, and 16x20 sizes. Dave’s image here is a tight cropped image with aspect of 1.5 not 1.25. The image will fit 4x6, 8x12, 9x13.5 or 12x18. Try explaining to Grandmother or Aunt Jenny why the little girl on the left and the subject on the right are half-cut off… in their new Wal-Mart picture frame…
  If you have the perfect shot and want to try something different, great. Here, in my opinion, it looks like an uncharacteristic wedding image. Now speaking in the ‘fine art’ aesthetic, when you have an image in which everything is sharp, i.e. the family members, you are essentially saying to the viewer that everyone is equally important and needs to be looked at. Placing one of those important figures ‘out of the composition’ is bizarre and confusing. Had you placed the little boy 8 to 10 feet closer to the camera and placed him visually between the groom and bride and made the exposure with a shallow depth of field, he would be sharp and ‘emphasized’ and the family would be out of focus and de-emphasized. As a benefit, you would have an image that would fit the 1.25 format.
  (I would love to see one of the perfect shots…)
  The image is presented in black and white not color. I will not elaborate on this except to say, had it been in color I would have probably noticed that the object on the subject dress matched the color of the other girl’s ribbon and would not have paid any more attention to it. In b&w, it bothers me because it stands out from the ‘shape’ of the subject and is mysterious. If it does not bother you, that is fine by me…
  Lastly, addressing the contrast. From again looking at every image on your web site, this appears to be part of your aesthetics and style. If you like this, then really incorporate it into your image making. I am just asking you why… In this image, everyone is smiling; all appear happy. It seems like you are portraying a lovely day with all dressed for obviously a wedding. You have darken the edges and corners of the image which entails you are holding me the viewer inside your frame but you have separated by spacing one of the family members. The unusualness of the contrast and this ‘separation’ makes for me a seemingly dark image.
  Best Regards,
  John
  A wonderful book on understanding the meaning of photographs is Liz Wells’ The Photography Reader ISBN-0-415-24661-X(pbk)