Macnas Parade Shots C&C

dave66

I visited Galway recently and managed to catch the Macnas parade, shooting parades/street theater (whatever it's called) is something I don't have much experience with, so would welcome some C&C on the following shots, two I have cropped (I'm showing before and after) is cropping appropriate, on the one of the two women, I'm not sure if cropping works as I wonder does it remove the context of the shot. Anyhow C&C would be appreciated. Larger versions are here on my flickr







Cropped version:



Cropped version:

hopelessOne

To be honest, they don't do much for me (which is not to be interpreted as saying I'd have done any better).

I think my overriding problem with all the images is the cluttered background and lack of isolation of the main subject. Ideally, you would either have a cleaner background (hard to find in these situations), or blur it with a wider aperture or by panning (again, probably not an option). So: open up the aperture and/or shoot with a longer focal length. I couldn't find the details on Flickr... what aperture were they shot at?

To be specific,
#1: I find the black 'thing' on the right and grey window on the left distracting from the witch. It's also a little dark - maybe 0.7+ exposure would have given more detail on the subject and done more to burn out the background.

#2: This could have been really nice with less depth-of-field and without the black 'thing' intruding from the top right. Also, perhaps B&W would help the subject stand out from the background since he's such a bold subject.

#3: Great expressions and subject interaction. Would have worked better as a landscape format so you could have included the rest of the left-hand subjects head and lowered the camera to capture less of the crowd behind. The crop is better but I still can't live without the rest of her head.

#4: Great expression captured again. Again, I'd prefer to have this as a landscape format with a smidgeon on space on the left so the hat isn't clipped and ideally more space on the right for the subject to look into. Clichéd, I know but I think it would work better.

In summary: more subject; less background.

dave66

Thanks for that hopelessOne. I had another version of Pic 4 (below) tad more hat, I *think* expression not as good, but I see what you mean about more space on right. Here's the alternative, I still don't think it makes the grade.

AnimalRights

Just a quick post to say that pic #4 and it's crop is probably pointless, it's virtually the same picture, I know technically it may be a crop but surely this is a better way to use the term crop?







I find 3/3a probably the best of the lot but I just feel that you're not capturing the full atmosphere of the parade.

kelly1

I'd agree with the comments about needing shallower DoF and I also think some fill-flash might have improved 1 and 2. IMO.

dave66

AnimalRights wrote: »

Just a quick post to say that pic #4 and it's crop is probably pointless, it's virtually the same picture, I know technically it may be a crop but surely this is a better way to use the term crop?

Good point.

AnimalRights wrote: »

I find 3/3a probably the best of the lot but I just feel that you're not capturing the full atmosphere of the parade.

I think you are right. I must make an effort to try get out and do more of this type of shooting. I'm pleased with capturing the expressions in Pic 3 & 4 but there a serious flaws with the shots.

kelly1 wrote: »

I'd agree with the comments about needing shallower DoF and I also think some fill-flash might have improved 1 and 2. IMO.

I looked back at EXIF and discovered they were shot at f6.3, entirely my fault, I had switched to A-priority and should have paid more attention to what I had set. Fill-flash, interesting, must play around more with fill-flash.

Thanks all for feedback

AnimalRights

dave66 wrote: »

I looked back at EXIF and discovered they were shot at f6.3, entirely my fault, I had switched to A-priority and should have paid more attention to what I had set. Fill-flash, interesting, must play around more with fill-flash.

I have done this sooooooooo many times, especially during my 1st 18 months learning, I've an atrocious memory!
And fill flash is good, just a pain in the butt using an external flash, I wouldn't recommend an onboard flash for it.

dave66

AnimalRights wrote: »

I have done this sooooooooo many times, especially during my 1st 18 months learning, I've an atrocious memory!
And fill flash is good, just a pain in the butt using an external flash, I wouldn't recommend an onboard flash for it.

Yeah, wish I was a noob though, I have been making photos for a tad (ok lot) longer than 18th months :eek:

I'm not a major fan of using flash, clearly it has its place and use but I'm not a big user.

Thing is, we are always learning, sometimes it's re-learning stuff we forgot