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Archive 2013 · What story do you see in this one?

  
 
cgardner
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · What story do you see in this one?


These posts are more of a psychology experiment than request for critique. The premise is that every photo tells a story and if it works it should stand on it's own without setting it up in advance with a subject line like "Texture", "Cold", etc. providing the context.

So while I appreciate the generalized comments I really need you to answer the specific questions as asked to be able to quantify whether your reaction is based on personal familiarity with the subject matter and whether you reacting to it as just another photo to look at or on some emotional level (fishermen would react differently to non-fishermen). I'd also like to know whether your eye path in the photo was the one I hoped for.

Yeah very analytical, but that's the way my brain got wired and those are the questions I ask when I look at your photos and comment. I think the answers to structured questions like that create a framework for understanding how to tell a story in a photo more effectively in a way that the widest possible audience will relate to.

I'll give you my answers to the same questions later as to why I took the shots.




http://super.nova.org/XP/ZZ_MiscPix/LiilleyLanding/LilleyHeron.jpg

What do you think the story is here?
Why did you find it interesting? "I didn't find it interesting" is a valid answer but explain why.
What senses other than visual did it trigger? sound, touch, taste, temperature
What personal memories caused you to react that way?
Do you think everyone will react the same way?
What did you notice first?
Where did your eye go next?
What did you dwell longest on?
What was the last thing you saw before exiting?

Edited on Jan 29, 2013 at 10:30 PM · View previous versions



Jan 29, 2013 at 08:04 PM
Skarkowtsky
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · What story do you see in this one?


What comes to mind for me is 'Early morning hunt', both from the fisherman, and the pelican.

However, that's my creativity completing the narrative. Maybe the Pelican has no interest in the early-morning fish? Who knows. Though, as the viewer, that's the narrative I'm choosing to see and experience. It's a narrative I find pleasing. It's also a narrative that puts the photographer in a higher standard for me because I'm choosing to believe that was his/her intention, and it aligns with my own idea of what's going on in the scene.

That doesn't mean that was the photographer's narrative.

There is a lot of selfishness and filling-in-the-blanks when looking at and perceiving other people's work.
When you're in a museum, or watching a film, you're placing your values, experience and knowledge on the images before you, and mixing them with whatever truth you know about the work.

I see what you're getting at in your latest post in 'idle hands'. But, subjectivity still plays too much of a roll in imagery that has ambiguity. Only a contrived image borne of pure design can fully-dictate a viewer's perception. Because every last detail has been calculated. Nature doesn't play a role, accidents don't, etc.

But, subjectivity can be a wonderful thing.

I happen to agree with you about idle hands. There were technical flaws that inhibited the viewer from making a connection or understanding.

Nice photo, btw.




Jan 29, 2013 at 08:10 PM
RustyBug
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · What story do you see in this one?


"Ha !!! He can't see me up here."

Having never seen a GBH that close to a human being, I can only wonder why in this instance is the GBH allowing himself to be that close.



Jan 29, 2013 at 09:04 PM
sbeme
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · What story do you see in this one?


Engaging image.
Why?
To me its the somewhat amusing capture of two "folks" out fishing.
My eye goes GBH, fisherman, dark foreground, back to the alignment of the bird and fisherman, pole.
Sensations of warmth, humidity, based on memories of being in similar scenes. Memories of my own efforts to compose, shoot GBH's. I l think there is a reasonable chance others will have a sense of engagement, amusement at the parallels top and bottom.
Scott



Jan 30, 2013 at 09:57 AM
cgardner
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · What story do you see in this one?


All of the river shots were taken in about a 30 min. period. The guy sitting on the dock in the one with the boat is the same one pictured here. I captured this one because I saw the Heron then noticed the guy below, both totally unaware of each other. It struck me as a scene of two fishermen co-existing in separate worlds.

The SOOC file is nothing like this. It is much lower contrast with less detail in the roof and Heron. I needed to do a lot of PP to get the focal points to contrast and the roof to divide the two worlds without becoming and overpowering distraction.



Jan 30, 2013 at 02:06 PM
eeneryma
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · What story do you see in this one?


Chuck:
As a lesson, would you be able to show the SOOC image and explain what you did to get to the final image?



Jan 30, 2013 at 05:22 PM
cgardner
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · What story do you see in this one?


eeneryma wrote:
Chuck:
As a lesson, would you be able to show the SOOC image and explain what you did to get to the final image?


As requested. The camera was a 5MP Minolta D7Hi which has a small sensor shooting JPGs, hence the noise. It was foggy and the overall contrast of the lighting was low to the point exposing for the highlights resulted in washed out looking shadows SOOC. That's usually the case on an overcast day. I don't have SOOC versions for the others on-line (someone asked about this one previously) but they were similar in most cases.

Most of the PP involved color correction to remove the color cast then "global" contrast enhancement overall with Levels sliders (ends and middle) to "normalize" the total range to what was seen by eye. Then by doing localized
selective "burn and dodge" tonal corrections with maked multiply and screen adjustment layers I selectively tried to make the focal points of Heron and fisherman contrast and tone down / desaturate anything that distracted from them. The roof is a very obvious distraction here, but the fact it divides the players like a tennis net is a key element in the story. The eye needs to jump the net to ping-pong between the focal points. There is more detail in the foreground of the SOOC I could have pulled out but I intentionally burned it in so as not to distract from that eye movement dynamic.

http://super.nova.org/XP/ZZ_MiscPix/LiilleyLanding/Lilley_HeronOOC.jpg



Jan 30, 2013 at 06:24 PM
Bernie
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · What story do you see in this one?


Mornings can be magical moments. Foggy mornings even more so. Although I enjoyed your first image for its humorous aspect, I think it loses that magic by increasing the contrast to such a degree.

Your rendition could have been taken on a overcast day and then dodging and burning added to achieve a similar effect.

In all fairness, I believe many of us fight the urge to increase the contrast when details are hard to see. But that can make the photo.

In this shot I had such an option. In fact, there is a road in the background and the snow piled on the side created a strong glare (for this shot). It required a bit of PP to tone it down to make it go away. You might be faced with a similar task with the roof in your image.




Feb 01, 2013 at 11:26 AM
cgardner
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · What story do you see in this one?


The decision on contrast here was based on mist quite literally getting in the way of the story line I was trying to tell. This one isn't really about the fact it's a misty morning but the relationship of the two focal points.

But it's interesting to see how subjective personal experience affects perception, one of the objectives in posting them.

Question: If you hadn't seen the other river shots, especially the one with the boat would you have even noticed the background in this one and the absence of background mist from the dam fed lake?

The fact one photo sets up context for the next is actually something I suggest in a PJ / cinematic progression of wide > medium > close-up were the closer crops don't have much background context.



Feb 01, 2013 at 07:12 PM





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