Untitled, a photo from Tokyo, Kanto

Photographer's Note

i must have look a bit funny running up behind this girl and then stopping and shotting off 3 frames at a time. Used the AI Servo mode on the canon d60 I dont recall there being a festival or anything special that day so im not sure why the girl was dressed up but sometimes you see people on the street like that. I caught her eye a couple minutes before that as she was walking out of a soter. She had a "kind" face for lack of a better word. Looked like she was about 16 years old. I like the old clothes with the cell phone in her hand. gives a decent contrast of old and new and in japan the cell phone is very representative of popular culture.

EDITING:
levels
color balance
curves (in lab mode on lum chan)
burn (the look around the girl was burned that way intentionaly to give it an old style feel)
USM on lum chan.
ISO was at 100

NOTES:
THis one is cropped a bit more that the version I actually had printed

Curioso, liakos ha puntuado esta nota como útil.

Critiques | Translate

Luko (14000) 2003-11-08 5:10

Everything and the potential to get a great documentary shot, specially love the way the tiles pattern are recalled in her kimono/obi.

However there are two majors flaws for me :
-you cut the interesting sandals, even though you advise that your image was larger than this one, why then post this one?
- you're righ to burn the ground in order to balance the densities but the burn halo around the girl looks more to me like someone has grossly burnt around the silhouette with an unappropriate retaining shape under the enlarger lens(either too wide or too highly positioned).

[2]

mtolloczko (201) 2003-11-08 5:27

Your DOF is excellent and I like the fact that you captured her walking away. Leaving the world behind and yet connected via the mobile phone. It could be that she is a Geisha or exibiting a backlash to the western style of dress. Your burning has provided an almost halo effect to the girl, where the bottom part of the image holds the eye. The eye tends to rest on the pavement area, the upper part, even though blurred is rather busy. The violet of the pavement and yellow of the sign give the image an interesting colour contrast. The song "I'm walking away" comes to mind. Excellent image!

[2]

Darren (6823) 2003-11-08 5:40

I like the overall look of this shot, and I think the colors that have been captured/created in the brickwork look good. Although they do not look natural to me, they add to the photo. My only dissappointment with this shot is the cropping both above and below the girl. It is just too tight for my tastes. I wish the sandal was not cropped at the bottom, and I really wish that there was more room above her head. As it is, it is just too crowded for me, and a detraction on an otherwise excellent photo.

jlz (341) 2003-11-08 7:43

I like this photo, special the lady's hands and body gesture : very nice. However, I don't really appreciate your burning work, I think it would be better without.

amen (590) 2003-11-08 7:57

I like this photo, very good.

sykonico (783) 2003-11-08 8:23

I'm really torn between a "I like it" feeling and a "It looks fake" feeling...
But for all the work and the explainations at least, it deserves some points.

Kenny10pin (19301) 2003-11-08 11:00

Not bad at all, good editing on this, I would just wish that the bag would be hanging from her inner elbow, that is fashion now in Japan. Apart from that, great picture and worth the sneaky shot from behind.

sam (897) 2003-11-09 13:27

Great pose, catching the subject in a good stance. Color and DOF are also very good, and the colorful but not distracting background is well done, considering that there were probably people dodging in and out of your frame as you composed.

I like the effects of your PS work here, although I agree with the general comment that the frame is cropped too tight around the subject on top and bottom--expecially the cropped sandals. Otherwise great. Nicely done street shot.

gringofil (0) 2003-11-10 10:36

Thank you for posting the other version of this image, because the single thing that bothers me here are the cropped sandals. Colors look good in this version (I think less puch is good) and the details of her clothing is just incredible. I wonder how she looked from the front...well done on all fronts!

Rhiannon (1728) 2003-11-27 9:58

Very nice shot! I think everything has been said, but... It would fit right into a magazine or something like that! The colours and light are fantastic. The contrast between old and new is very well captured.
Interesting note and great PS work.

steeve (1497) 2003-12-25 7:33

This one has a great contrast between the modernist (mobile phone) and the tradition (her clothes). I like the blured and saturated background. well done Boof.Merry XMas & a Happy New Year.

liakos (988) 2004-09-16 6:59 [Comment]