Eyes Only for You

[Adzman808]

It scared me a little to take shots of strangers...

Plus I have rules!

Kids (for obvious reasons), hot women (it's just too creepy and dare I say too much of an obvious way to try and generate interest in ones photos), shots that would embarrass the subject (I wouldn't like it if someone did it to me), all big no-nos in my book (YMMV)

But damn it I want to shoot people...

So I've been practising! Trying to build up the confidence... trying to be all ninja like, invisible, silent *ahem* sneaky... waiting... pre-focusing... staying still - letting the pictures come to me

So in that vein, here's one from yesterday!

Eyes Only For You by Adam Bonn, on Flickr

[Shadowman]

Faces aren't recognizable but aren't you violating one of your rules? Hot women, in the eye of the beholder, just what does qualify as a "hot woman", is it the face, body, body language, clothing or all of the above? To me, this shot should really be about the couple, yet inclusion of the surroundings does give their actions a different perspective. If the couple were in a secluded location then perhaps your capture would border on creepy, but as the couple is engaged in Public Display of Affection; their privacy needs are up for debate. Did they spot you at all? Similar topic can be found on this thread and quite a few others. Nicely captured and converted.

Do they mind?
.

[Adzman808]

Blog post about it

http://adambonnphotography.bonncl.co...ople-watching/

I did debate this one... and good questions

VERY public place
can't see their faces
No mini skirts or 'sexy shoes' etc etc

Man, Elvis could of walked by holding a medium format camera on a tripod and they wouldn't of noticed

and thanks

[Shadowman]

Blog post about it

http://adambonnphotography.bonncl.co...ople-watching/

I did debate this one... and good questions

VERY public place
can't see their faces
No mini skirts or 'sexy shoes' etc etc

Man, Elvis could of walked by holding a medium format camera on a tripod and they wouldn't of noticed

and thanks

Nice series of photos on your blog, I like to vary the distances between myself and people on the street also. The closer you are the more you can capture implied emotions, however as you've shown some shots taken from a distance can carry over to the viewer very well.

[george013]

It looks more a hot man than a hot woman to me.

I like photo's where the subject, kissing boy, doesn't take all of the image. To me that's essential for street photography. Good done.

George

[bnnrcn]

Nice capture Adam

[rpcrowe]

At first, I thought that I would have framed the kissing couple a bit closer but, then realized that eliminating the activity going on around them might have changed the dynamics of the image...

I also have "rules" regarding what I shoot. I don't like to take advantage of peoples situations and don't usually shoot images of the homeless or pictures that are based on peoples disabilities.

I also don't shoot young kids since I am a mature male and don't want to be regarded as "Chester the Molester". However, during my trip to China, I realized that the Chinese were not bothered by a stranger photographing their children.

Lots of my street shots are just grab shots while others are planned. Sometimes I cannot find the shots that I had wanted such as an image contrasting an older Chinese woman wearing a drab Mao outfit against a modern sharply dressed young Chinese lady.

I like using a long lens for my people photography (most often my 70-200mm f/4L IS) since it allows me to capture people without invading their personal space and, by my intrusion, altering their dynamics. The long lens also allows me to use selective focus to isolate people against the backgrounds...



I will also notice patterns of behavior and try to capture these. I shot a lot of images in China of people photographing each other and being photographed.

[Adzman808]

I also have "rules" regarding what I shoot. I don't like to take advantage of peoples situations and don't usually shoot images of the homeless or pictures that are based on peoples disabilities.

.

Yeah totally, last week I saw a midget (or a dwarf, forgive me for not knowing the correct term) walking into the sun, and his shadow was very long and elongated.... it would perhaps of made a good shot.... But it wasn't my cup of tea

[rpcrowe]

This afternoon and this evening, I am visiting the Lunar New Year Celebration in San Diego http://www.lunarnewyearfestival.org/. I plan to shoot a large number of "people" pictures at the event. During celebrations like this, people are fair game and you should have absolutely no hesitation in shooting them.

The more you shoot people, the less it bothers you. A great type of event to "get your feet wet" shooting people is a Renaissance Faire or an historical reenactment. The folks attending these events actually like to have this pictures shot. You can get used to both requesting permission or shooting on the sly. Either way, no one will get angry or refuse you permission to shoot!

[Sergio M.]

I like the story being told and the surroundings help tell it.
Nicely done, Adam.

Sergio

[rpcrowe]

Yeah totally, last week I saw a midget (or a dwarf, forgive me for not knowing the correct term) walking into the sun, and his shadow was very long and elongated.... it would perhaps of made a good shot.... But it wasn't my cup of tea

I totally agree with your discretion. However, occasionally I will violate my own rules such as this shot in Venice. Italy of a shrouded woman begging near the Bridge of Sighs. I thought that an anonymous capture might be a good way to shoot this image...



After shooting, I placed a Euro in her cup as payment even if she didn't know that she had been photographed...

This afternoon and this evening, I am visiting the Lunar New Year Celebration in San Diego http://www.lunarnewyearfestival.org/. I plan to shoot a large number of "people" pictures at the event. During celebrations like this, people are fair game and you should have absolutely no hesitation in shooting them.

The more you shoot people, the less it bothers you. A great type of event to "get your feet wet" shooting people is a Renaissance Faire, or some historical reenactment. The folks attending these events actually like to have their pictures shot. You can get used to both requesting permission or shooting on the sly. Either way, no one will get angry or refuse you permission to shoot!

[Adzman808]

I once offered someone begging a Euro for their photograph, and they said no!

[Shadowman]

I once offered someone begging a Euro for their photograph, and they said no!

Did you give the coin?

[Adzman808]

Did you give the coin?

No, there were actually quite aggressive and rude about the notion of being photographed... looking at their begging bowl, I was offering between 10 and 3 x what people had been giving them. Rightly or wrongly I decided they didn't need it that badly.

There's has been a great many times that I've given money to beggars (and not asked for a photograph in return, in fact that was the first and last time I'll ask)

But I don't like being sworn at, and having a finger stuck in my face accompanied by the subtle thread of a waved fist, whilst the whole time still expecting the euro!

If they'd been a bit more polite and a LOT less threatening, then they could've had the coin.

I doubt everyone reading that will see it as I did. But it was what it was.

[Manfred M]

Adam, without getting into the ethics / moral issues / legal issues surrounding street photography, let me throw some thoughts at you regarding the image you have posted.

The first thing that strikes me about this shot is that you really have two separate images in one shot (with two subjects)


1.



2.


A. Having two subjects tends to be weak compositionally as the viewer's eyes tend to flit back and forth between the two subjects. This is generally not a good thing.

B. The lighting conditions you were shooting under are quite harsh. This means harsh shadows and bright highlights which makes it much more difficult to pull of great images.

C. Your choice of aperture settings and focal length have resulted in pretty well everything in the image being in focus. Shallow DoF can help simplify the image by softening the background. This is the one reason I like doing street photography with a full-frame camera while shooting wide open with a medium telephoto lens for this type of shot.

[DEAN01]

Adam,
I like the original shot. As Manfred pointed out, there could be two shots in one here; however, just having backs of the two women doesn't tell us much and IMHO is somewhat creepy. Having the couple in the frame is an indication the women walked by without paying attention [my opinion] which to my thinking tells a better story.

[Adzman808]

Adam,
I like the original shot. As Manfred pointed out, there could be two shots in one here; however, just having backs of the two women doesn't tell us much and IMHO is somewhat creepy. Having the couple in the frame is an indication the women walked by without paying attention [my opinion] which to my thinking tells a better story.

Thanks dean, yes mine as well

[Adzman808]

Adam, without getting into the ethics / moral issues / legal issues surrounding street photography, let me throw some thoughts at you regarding the image you have posted.

The first thing that strikes me about this shot is that you really have two separate images in one shot (with two subjects)


1.



2.


A. Having two subjects tends to be weak compositionally as the viewer's eyes tend to flit back and forth between the two subjects. This is generally not a good thing.

B. The lighting conditions you were shooting under are quite harsh. This means harsh shadows and bright highlights which makes it much more difficult to pull of great images.

C. Your choice of aperture settings and focal length have resulted in pretty well everything in the image being in focus. Shallow DoF can help simplify the image by softening the background. This is the one reason I like doing street photography with a full-frame camera while shooting wide open with a medium telephoto lens for this type of shot.

Thanks for taking the time with this Manfred.

I think that whilst I 100% percent agree with your comments as generalisations, I think that the image works better as a whole.

A. The title of the shot, combined with the positioning of the subjects against the fact that the human eye tends to view left to right, serves to demonstrate who is the primary subject and who is a secondary player. YMMV

Your crop of the kissing couple is a little tight IMO and suffers with the incursion into the frame of the bench you're not able to crop out. Of course it could be cloned out, but then it looks like you're spying on teenage kids kissing = creepy

The extraction of the second image of the two ladies is simply a shot of the backside of two women. I'm sure there's a popularity for that sort of thing (all those rap songs can't be wrong ) but there's no story, there's no engagement.

The light was harsh that day, it was a bit of an impromptu photo walk, and conditions weren't ideal. DOF is governed to a certain extent by equivalence, but my 35 F1.4 lens on APSC won't look a million miles away from the DOF of a 50mm F2. At longer tele lengths DOF becomes quite shallow on all but the smaller sensor cameras

I'm not sure if you've seen the other thread I started today?

But this shot is from the same afternoon and as you can see I can work with shallow DOF quite happily if the mood takes me

I'm not a seasoned street 'tog, in fact its something I've only recently started to develop a taste for... But my interest in it, currently centers around the observance of the human animal, which at my current level, means wanting a shot with interaction (or the lack of interaction) in it, by so fair this generally means multiple subjects.

I'm not planning to go and buy a FF camera just to have a street tool, in fact IIRC all those street togs seem to swear by M6s or M9s with 28 or 35 'crons, so wide can work quite well for street IMO. YMMV.

But PLEASE don't think I don't value your (or anyone's input) into my shots, we are all still learning, and my I truly feel I've received some wonderful tips, advice and encouragement during my fairly brief time here

[IzzieK]

Agree with Dean...+1

[just me]

Hi Adam........much has already said about the image, so I can only add my two cents worth and that is: I like the image very much, from my point of view true street photography......

Funny thing is, as you know I every so often, sometimes daily, I have a look at your Flickr account, and this morning before I did go to CIC I visited your Flickr first, saw there the " Eyes only " and thought straight away * I let Adam know what a good image this is, so perhaps he will show it at CIC * ........

My next * visit * was to ICC.........and I was sort of a bit to late ......but happy you showed it........

Greetings,
Griddi......