I would appreciate any guidance and feedback you can provide regarding the pictures I took for the "person at work" assignment. I find my self challenged trying to match the linguistic definition of the overall environment vs its visual representation.
As I shared ad naseum, this shoot was rather challenging and transformative at the same time. The lighting source was fluorescent lights, and my knowledge of the tattoo culture non-existent. I really had to bump my ISO to a minimum of 2000 and as hard as I tried to include the PJ artistic elements, I had a difficult time managing basic elements such as my exposure. I am going back tomorrow to spend more quality time with my favorite tattoo artist--only one I know--and I want to make sure I do a better job on the second shoot.
Overall Shots
Medium Shots
What, no captions?
ReplyDeleteOf your overall shots, I like the first one better than the second one. I like the lines created by the mirror on the ceiling and it does provide a general overview of what is going on and what the environment looks like. If you try another shoot, I would rethink the scene and see if you cannot come up with something even better. You were creative in using the ceiling mirrors and that is great. I would use the the mirror shot as a fallback plan if you cannot come up with something else. It is not a bad shot and is a great example of getting creative and using 10 different perspectives to solve the problem. The second overall shot just really does nothing for me.
For the medium shot, I like all three but I like the middle close up the best. This photo may, however, almost qualify as a detail shot rather than a medium shot. What I would like best is a combination of all three. I like the detail of seeing the needle gun in the third shot with the tattoo artist's face in the second shot and the line created by the customer's arm in the first shot. Using the third photo as a map, I would see if I could create a photo from behind the customers head to the left such that one could see the edge of his face, looking across the line of his arm, past the needle gun to the tattoo artist's face. This way you have all sorts of elements that help build the photo piece by piece, layer by layer and you can keep your focal point on the artist's face featuring him since you can pick up the detailed action of the needle gun in your detail shot. I would also try several aperture setting since I am not entirely sure how much or how little depth of field will be necessary to make this kind of photo effective.
For your detail shot, I love the sharpness of the design shot. This is certainly the unexpected, unusual shot. From this standpoint, it is a good choice. However, when I think of a tattoo artist doing his thing, I do not think "designer", I think "needle gun". From that standpoint, the first detail shot is better. It is composed quite brilliantly. I love the black framing created by his gloved hands. When I add his face it creates a nice triangle the focuses my eyes right to the point of action. This is really fantastic and shows me what is going on in beautiful detail. It also says "tattoo artist" to me much more than the design shot. My only criticism here is that the focal point is somewhere on the artist's hands rather than where the needle gun meets the customer's skin. If that point where sharp and crisp, this would be the clear choice in my opinion. As it is, it is not bad but it could be just a little bit better.
I sure hope I can pull off something halfway decent now that I have spewed my worthless opinions all over the place.
Seeing what you have shot and what Shauna showed me in an email yesterday makes me realize that I am going to have to get some information and ask some questions in order to create three captions that are in any way interesting rather than just repetitive!
Okay, first think i want to ask, how the heck did you get that birds-eye view angle in the first photo?! It looks like you crawled up into the ceilng and just were shooting from the rafters. Although one thing I didn't like so much was the color. It was a bit grey. I'm sure the fluorescent lighting didn't help things but I think you could've used it more to your advantage like in some of the other photos. The first two medium shots I like. I think you used the lighting more to your advantage in these one's it helped to create kind of a sterile feeling. I think The composition in both have things to be desired. I think the first one would've benefited from being a bit tighter and the second one the opposite. The third one seemed a bit awkward because of the angle that the client is laying.I think it would've looked better if maybe you went on the other side of the guy and just got the clients arm and the tattoo artist.
ReplyDeleteAnd finally, I think your last two shots are the strongest one's. I like in the first one how his hands frame the word "one" although I think the Guys head is a bit distracting. A different angle could make this a stronger image. And the second photo I could see that you were trying to incorporate some leading lines with the guys arms. I think maybe a bit more focus on what he was working on would be better. Possibly shooting from over his shoulder might've looked cool. Although, I don't know if you'd want to get that close to the guy haha. Overall I think the quality of your photo's is improving and just keep trying to get in all those artsy elements!
I think the biggest drawback about these photos is the environment they're in. The setting just doesn't look like a tattoo parlor to me. It looks like a cluttered office-type area with the filing cabinets, desks and things.
ReplyDeleteI realize you can't control the environment, but I think that's the main aspect that's working against you. As Gabe said, the first photo has a killer perspective but it's so grayed out because of the carpet, and the desk and things that are distracting and don't go with the tattoo parlor theme. Because of this, I think it will be hard to get a solid overall shot, and even the medium shot will be challenging. Along these lines, I think the detail shots are the strongest ones you took.
When I think of a tattoo shop, I picture tile floors, tattoo artwork on the walls, and just an overall different feel than these photos have. You might consider trying another option for the assignment. It's too bad the environment this guy works at doesn't reflect his occupation very well, at least to me.
An example of an environment that really works is your portrait assignment photo. The hardwood floors and the decor on the wall made sense for the nature of the photo.
I'm sure Jerome runs into these types of problems at times, but I think you can get away with it best with real tight shots where the background and environment isn't such a part of the photo. But, for this assignment, it seems that the environment must be included, at least in the overall shot.
I'm not bashing your photojournalism skills; I just think you'll either have to get extremely creative, or try something else.
I am going to need years of therapy and my favorite binky, after reviewing the feedback :)
ReplyDeleteAll kidding aside, I appreciate your comments! I do realize I will be paying for my choice, and part of me wants to run away and pick something else, but the other part of me would beat me up forever. So, I will try again keeping your great observations in mind.
I realy like the photos but like mike said the enviroment seems wrong. maby try getting closer or zoom on the artist he has some awesome facial features and looks like a good dude.
ReplyDelete