Spancil Hill 2010

angeleyes

Some fun to be had at the Spancil Hill fair - its a great place for interesting people and photographs. Here are a few from my day out and would appreciate any c&c. Thanks

Promac

Interesting bunch!

Did you shoot in B&W or convert it later? I'd probably have upped the contrast on these to make the faces stand out more.

The third one is the best I think but the stuff in the background makes it look a little cluttered as it's all too much in focus. A nice crop might work better. Or a selective blur if you have photoshop/the GIMP to simulate a shallow DOF.

On 2 and 5, the bright sky is stealing the eye away from the subjects and the treeline in 5 spoils the way your eye moves around the picture. 2 could've used a nice shallow DOF as well to remove the distracting background elements.

What lens and settings were you using? I think this shoot would really have benefitted from a nice fast prime like the nifty 50mm, so that you could really emphasis the subjects and play down the background elements.

For shots like 2, 4 and 5 you might consider dropping to a knee so that you can lose the trees/other elements in the background, just making sure to meter for the dark foreground and not the bright background.

Thecageyone

I like the first one, and the woman in the third has an interesting face.

They would benefit from a boost of contrast and a lift of the highlights/lights - Do you have lightroom?

They're nice shots, but a little flat and greyish. Looks like you just simply converted straight to greyscale - better to desaturate all the colours and adjust the luminosity/contrast of each individually. In PS later versions the Black and white filter is much better than simple greyscale also.

angeleyes

Thank you for the c&c Promac and for all the interesting suggestions. I need to remind myself to look at different angles.

I converted to B&W afterwards. It was a very heavy overcast day. I have a nifty fifty so am kicking myself now and I could have achieved better bokeh with a higher aperture. I have a 28-135mm lens which I used on the day. I tend to stick with manual mode.

Thank you for the suggestions.

AnCatDubh

I think they are wonderful when considered as a set. Very reminiscent of fair/fun days of times gone by.

While yes they are a little low on contrast, that is a recognisable style (whether you had intended or not). I personally think that higher contrast may work well on them individually but if presenting them as a set like here, then they work really well just as is. Even the blown out skies don't bother my viewing of them. With higher contrast the skies may become overly dominant.

To be critical, the last one is to my way of viewing probably the weakest of the set photographically.

#3 is just so special. absolutely love it.

I really like the these.

angeleyes

AnCatDubh wrote: »

I think they are wonderful when considered as a set. Very reminiscent of fair/fun days of times gone by.

While yes they are a little low on contrast, that is a recognisable style (whether you had intended or not). I personally think that higher contrast may work well on them individually but if presenting them as a set like here, then they work really well just as is. Even the blown out skies don't bother my viewing of them. With higher contrast the skies may become overly dominant.

To be critical, the last one is to my way of viewing probably the weakest of the set photographically.

#3 is just so special. absolutely love it.

I really like the these.

Thank you so much - No. 3 is my favourite too. I think I will try and re-edit them and work on the contrast. So thank you all for your contributions - I have a lot to work on.