Jennifer - Railway Museum of Eastern Ontario

[Manfred M]

I spent the afternoon and early evening at the Railway Museum of Eastern Ontario. We were there after closing hours and had the run of the place.

This is Jennifer sitting on a bench waiting for a train.

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured.

[mugge]

I like it. The bright spot above the bench left hand side is a distraction. I keep looking at it.
Cheers Ole

[RBSinTo]

Manfred,
I agree with Ole that the three bright areas are a distraction. I suppose moving the bench a bit would have been an option, but the bit of sign in the top right of the frame adds context and helps to tell the story.
With all the gear you schlepp, were there no bits that you could have used as gobos to block the highlights?
Robert

[Manfred M]

Thanks for the comments.

The bench is bolted down and can't be moved and the dappled sunlight light is what attracted us to the location to shoot there.

Yes Robert, I had a couple of large gobos along (a round 1 m and a rectangular 30" x 72"), but unlike you, I like what the light is doing and the only question I have is whether I like the bit of light on the camera left side of the image. I find the camera right side is interesting and will stay. In general, the only dappled light I try to avoid is what is falling on the model's face.

[Round Tuit]

Manfred,
This one really puzzles me from a composition point of view. My first impression was that it looked like a snapshot. Your model is close to the centre of the frame and is facing camera left. Yet, there is very little of interest on that side of the frame. All the interesting elements are behind her.
I know by now that you carefully craft you photos so I would appreciate if you could elaborate on what your intentions were when you composed this shot.

[Manfred M]

Manfred,
This one really puzzles me from a composition point of view. My first impression was that it looked like a snapshot. Your model is close to the centre of the frame and is facing camera left. Yet, there is very little of interest on that side of the frame. All the interesting elements are behind her.
I know by now that you carefully craft you photos so I would appreciate if you could elaborate on what your intentions were when you composed this shot.

A technique I often use when I shoot with models is role playing. In this series of shots I asked the model to act as if she had just gotten to the train station and realized she missed the train and now has a 5 hour wait for the next one. The look I wanted from her is one of being annoyed and resigned.

The station is the old Smiths Falls CN station and the bags we had on set were vintage ones from the 1950s and 1960s to go with the look of the station. I left the small corner of the sign in place to ensure people understood that this was the waiting area at a train station. I had hoped that the low, bright areas of light on the luggage and wall would suggest a late afternoon and a long lonely wait.

PS - there is nothing wrong with centering the model in the frame, so long as it works. In this shot, I chose to centre the image because I needed to balance out the overall look with the luggage on the left hand side and right hand side of her.

[Round Tuit]

A technique I often use when I shoot with models is role playing. In this series of shots I asked the model to act as if she had just gotten to the train station and realized she missed the train and now has a 5 hour wait for the next one. The look I wanted from her is one of being annoyed and resigned.

The station is the old Smiths Falls CN station and the bags we had on set were vintage ones from the 1950s and 1960s to go with the look of the station. I left the small corner of the sign in place to ensure people understood that this was the waiting area at a train station. I had hoped that the low, bright areas of light on the luggage and wall would suggest a late afternoon and a long lonely wait.

PS - there is nothing wrong with centering the model in the frame, so long as it works. In this shot, I chose to centre the image because I needed to balance out the overall look with the luggage on the left hand side and right hand side of her.

Thanks Manfred.
Your model certainly gave you the look that you were after and you were successful in conveying the mood of a lonely and boring late afternoon long wait for the next train. What doesn't work quite as well for me is the fact that she is facing left which draws my eyes to the mostly empty left side of the frame and out of the picture. I feel that the picture might have been stronger if she were sitting closer to the right end of the bench with her purse, hat and luggage placed to her right side on the bench. I agree with you that there is nothing wrong with having your subject centered in the frame; I do that frequently myself. I am just not sure that it is optimal in this case. (You would want to ensure that her head doesn't obscure the sign.)

[Manfred M]

Thanks Manfred.
Your model certainly gave you the look that you were after and you were successful in conveying the mood of a lonely and boring late afternoon long wait for the next train. What doesn't work quite as well for me is the fact that she is facing left which draws my eyes to the mostly empty left side of the frame and out of the picture. I feel that the picture might have been stronger if she were sitting closer to the right end of the bench with her purse, hat and luggage placed to her right side on the bench. I agree with you that there is nothing wrong with having your subject centered in the frame; I do that frequently myself. I am just not sure that it is optimal in this case. (You would want to ensure that her head doesn't obscure the sign.)

Thanks for your thoughts Andre. Having the subject look in a direction counter to the way the body is oriented is a very common posing technique in portraiture. Like anything else, it's all about personal taste.

One thing I forgot to mention in #7; we were trying to position Jennifer between the two areas of where the direct light was hitting to incorporate the wash of light in those spots into the image. That restricted where we could position her on the bench.