Street Portraiture

[ashish]

Transporting goods using handcarts is still very prevalent in India. It's hard work but it provides them with a livelihood. On their day off, they take rest on their carts.

C&C welcome.

[Donald]

Excellent group portrait. The fact that the man on the left is not looking directly at the camera gives the image strength, in my view.

[Shadowman]

And most don't use carjacks to fix the wheels, just human strength. Nicely captured scene.

[William W]

I am on site at the moment and only have my tiny laptop with a 9 inch monitor, so to view the whole image I am using a reduction to 35% . . BUT

WOW!

Aggressive and strong Composition, especially the choice of Portrait Orientation which compartmentalizes the Subjects "packing" them onto their carts.

Strong Rapport which creates Intimacy.

Nice Black and White Conversion.

Can't comment too much Technically without viewing it on my Studio Monitor, but it seems crisp enough . . . with that caveat:

Very good work.

Bravo.

WW

***

Addendum: (there were no replies when I began writing)

I didn't notice the direction of the gaze from man on left until I read Donald's comment.

Also that Subject is in the position of power. The point that Donald made about the man's gaze goes to 'internal rapport'.

The point that I made above was about rapport of the Subjects and the lens/viewer.

I concur with Donald's comment about that gaze strengthening the image and accordingly withdraw my comment "very good work"

Excellent work.

WW

[DEAN01]

Great capture, Ashish!

[bnnrcn]

Very nice image Ashish

[rpcrowe]

Very nice and powerful capture. I would think about some selective sharpening of the face of the man in the rear.

[Manfred M]

This is another well crafted image, Ashish. Both the actual capture and the processing show the high quality that we have come to expect from your work.

What really strikes me is how the light-coloured clothing on the centre subject really draws our eyes right into the image.

The one thing I do wonder about is the crop (it's a bit difficult to see these images without Lytebox functionality), but it seems to me that there is a lot of material at the top of the image that really does not contribute to the composition. I wonder if trimming the top 10% - 15% off might not strengthen the image?

[Dave A]

Yup that a very nice image. I almost missed the guy laying down at the back.

Dave

[rpcrowe]

Yup that a very nice image. I almost missed the guy laying down at the back.

Dave

I totally missed the guy, thinking he was a sack of something...

[TonyW]

As others have said, this is a fine image. I would not change the crop - that bit of roof in the top left corner is a significant addition to the composition.

[IzzieK]

I also missed the guy...until Dave mentioned it and have to go back and look. Good shot Ashish...

[John 2]

Excellent group portrait. The fact that the man on the left is not looking directly at the camera gives the image strength, in my view.

I agree. Because he is looking at the other two, there is a strong compositional link between the three of them that ties them together really well. However, I am in the crop a bit from the top camp. Although you don't see it until you try it, the busyness at the top is distracting. Without it, there is a total focus on the subject. Excellent image Ashish. The conversion is particularly good.

[Wandjina]

Nice photo Ashish. I would crop a bit from the top of the photo and clone out that distracting white spot on the lattice work in the dark background.

[William W]

I was so very eager to see this on my Studio Monitor. It is very, very good. I am now viewing the image approx. 16” x 11” on my screen and at a viewing distance of about 36”.

As previously mentioned, the Portrait Orientation is both brave and it works well, I think to be fully appreciated the Image needs to be viewed large and also at an appropriate viewing distance. I would neither crop the top nor the bottom as the negative space works very well – again I stress that I think the image really needs to be viewed large.

It occurs to me that the image is the full representation of what the Photographer framed in the Viewfinder (i.e. it was NOT cropped in post production of it was cropped, then it was only a small crop).


Question:
The Perspective of this shot seems to me indicative of teh Camera Viewpoint being about 8 to 14 ft from the Subject Cluster and at Eye Level with the seated pair of Subjects? Could this assumption be clarified please?

The reason for my asking is because the shooting technique that is used goes to describe the procedure of how the Photographer Realizes the Vision.

Especially in Street Portraiture, often a Novice will stand off and use a mid telephoto lens and crop later to make the image “tight”. It occurs to me that the PERSPECTIVE of this shot was created with a wide lens used at an intimate shooting distance: the difference between the results of these two techniques often is palatable and can define between “OK and Nice” & “Terrific and Excellent”.

***

TECHNICAL:

The Range of Grey-tones is excellent and the use of the Low-key style is well done. Often attempts toward Low-key result in muddy greys and not many of them – this is not the case here.

The man at left, at the rear, seems to exhibit a slight SUBJECT MOVEMENT. I must admit, this surprised me, because the remainder of the (major subject area) of the image is so terribly crisp. At this point in my writing of the critique I interrogated the EXIF: it appears the Shutter Speed was 1/50th which on one hand is evidence of excellent Shooting Skills, but on the other hand evidence of maybe a minor technical error, made just for the sake of using one and a bit lower stops of ISO.

I think that as a general guide 1/125th to 1/250th is really safe territory for this type of Street Portraiture: the point is the Photographer is timing the Shutter for each of four Subject to be still, simultaneously. Take this shooting scenario as an example, we can negate the man laying down and assume he will be still, the fellow at the left and behind already has his gaze on the other two men – and many of us agree that is integral to the excellence of the image: but it is common for many people to the direct the head toward their gaze – and that is what the man is doing – the Subject Movement Blur is indicative of his head turning to camera right and dropping slightly downward.

If the Photographer had chosen about a stop and a bit faster Shutter Speed, then any slight Subject Movement would have nailed: dead. At the expense of bumping the ISO from ISO 800 to around ISO 1600~2000, would have been worthwhile.

There is a small bright area camera right and level with the top of the head of the man sitting at camera right. It appears as a refection or a light inside the building. I would clone that out. Similarly there is a small white spec on the brickwork path, just to camera left of the man’s feet and sandals, I would clone that out too. The two odd specs distract from the somewhat sombre, low key palate of the image that the men are placed upon.

Thank you for sharing your image. It was a joy to view and a pleasure to be invited to critique.

WW

[dubaiphil]

Nice image, Ashish. And subject wise something that I can closely relate to as it mirrors many scenes I have come across in Dubai.

Have you thought about cleaning up some of the edges? A little bit of fixing here and there may help improve things

[ashish]

Question:
The Perspective of this shot seems to me indicative of teh Camera Viewpoint being about 8 to 14 ft from the Subject Cluster and at Eye Level with the seated pair of Subjects? Could this assumption be clarified please?

The reason for my asking is because the shooting technique that is used goes to describe the procedure of how the Photographer Realizes the Vision.

Especially in Street Portraiture, often a Novice will stand off and use a mid telephoto lens and crop later to make the image “tight”. It occurs to me that the PERSPECTIVE of this shot was created with a wide lens used at an intimate shooting distance: the difference between the results of these two techniques often is palatable and can define between “OK and Nice” & “Terrific and Excellent”.

***

TECHNICAL:

The Range of Grey-tones is excellent and the use of the Low-key style is well done. Often attempts toward Low-key result in muddy greys and not many of them – this is not the case here.

The man at left, at the rear, seems to exhibit a slight SUBJECT MOVEMENT. I must admit, this surprised me, because the remainder of the (major subject area) of the image is so terribly crisp. At this point in my writing of the critique I interrogated the EXIF: it appears the Shutter Speed was 1/50th which on one hand is evidence of excellent Shooting Skills, but on the other hand evidence of maybe a minor technical error, made just for the sake of using one and a bit lower stops of ISO.

I think that as a general guide 1/125th to 1/250th is really safe territory for this type of Street Portraiture: the point is the Photographer is timing the Shutter for each of four Subject to be still, simultaneously. Take this shooting scenario as an example, we can negate the man laying down and assume he will be still, the fellow at the left and behind already has his gaze on the other two men – and many of us agree that is integral to the excellence of the image: but it is common for many people to the direct the head toward their gaze – and that is what the man is doing – the Subject Movement Blur is indicative of his head turning to camera right and dropping slightly downward.

If the Photographer had chosen about a stop and a bit faster Shutter Speed, then any slight Subject Movement would have nailed: dead. At the expense of bumping the ISO from ISO 800 to around ISO 1600~2000, would have been worthwhile.

There is a small bright area camera right and level with the top of the head of the man sitting at camera right. It appears as a refection or a light inside the building. I would clone that out. Similarly there is a small white spec on the brickwork path, just to camera left of the man’s feet and sandals, I would clone that out too. The two odd specs distract from the somewhat sombre, low key palate of the image that the men are placed upon.

Thank you for sharing your image. It was a joy to view and a pleasure to be invited to critique.

WW

Thanks for your detailed analysis William. I really appreciate your feedback.

You are right in your observation about the perspective. I was on my haunches trying to keep the camera at eye level or even slightly lower to create a different angle. I was at a distance of about 10 - 12 feet at the time and using a 24-70 Tamron.

Ok, about the shutter speed... I was using my new 5D MkIII for the first time during this photowalk. I was earlier using a 7D and had a tough time controlling the noise above ISO 800. I guess old habits die hard
Time to start pushing the 5D to its limits.

Cheers!
Ashish

[ashish]

This is another well crafted image, Ashish. Both the actual capture and the processing show the high quality that we have come to expect from your work.

What really strikes me is how the light-coloured clothing on the centre subject really draws our eyes right into the image.

The one thing I do wonder about is the crop (it's a bit difficult to see these images without Lytebox functionality), but it seems to me that there is a lot of material at the top of the image that really does not contribute to the composition. I wonder if trimming the top 10% - 15% off might not strengthen the image?

Thanks Manfred... I'm not too sure about the crop. Also, the standard crop ratios will result in the subjects getting cropped as there is not much margin on the left and right sides.

[William W]

Time to start pushing the 5D to its limits.

I think so.