These two photos were two of my final ones. What are your thoughts on them?
Russell Helgeson III, 24, enjoys a sunny afternoon of bouldering at Tubbs Hill on Wednesday February 9th. He has been an avid rock climber since 2008 and when he can't get outside he climbs at the Salvation Army Kroc Center.
It was fun discussing these photos with you before class. After further reflection, I do have a few thoughts. First of all, I think these are very interesting photos that have several good aspects to them. They all have an interesting subject doing an interesting activity. The poses are unusual and add surprise. Compositionally, all three work well. The all seem as if they were taken from the same distance and roughly similar perspectives. Some shots up from below and other creative perspectives may have been successful also. Some tighter framing on the middle photo might have made a more intimate photo. Lastly, the first two seem a hair over exposed and the last one leaves me torn on the same topic. It seems exposed for the sky rather than the subject. While the exposure on the subject is not bad, I think a slightly longer exposure, somewhat of a halfway in between, between exposing for the sky and exposing for the subject might have made a good compromise. Lastly, I really like the lines created by the arms and legs of the dangling climber and the rock face in the last photo. Good work overall!
ReplyDeleteI like the third one best. I also thing it has the best exposure. The great thing about the third one is the suspense of him dangling off the cliff. The viewer has no real sense of how far off the ground he is and he has no harness so the element of surprise is huge.
ReplyDeleteWhat time of day did you shoot these? It looks like it was probably mid day which means the sunlight was ultra high contrast which is some of the worst light to work in and the hardest to nail an exposure in. I like the direction the light is coming in from on the third one too.
I think people that free climb like this are crazy.
P.S. I've shot rock climbers before and it's super tricky to convey the slope of the rocks and how far off the ground they are. It takes some creativity to get impressive shots. That's why I really like the third one because it just looks badass to me.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mike's assessment that the third photo is the best. I really like the third one quite a bit.
ReplyDeleteBeing that you were limited by the time of day and by the topography, I think it was brave of you to tackle this assignment in midday light for it is so challenging to use this light to your advantage. If you had a magic wand and could retry this shot at same time of day with same weather conditions, I wonder if you would consider taking his photograph from above? Of course this would depend on your own climbing abilities with your SLR on you. Good job Heidi!
I really like elements of all three pictures. The third I think tells the best story but I like the composition of the first one and the second one is actually pretty funny. These photo's, for some reason, kind of remind me of old retro 60's photo's. maybe it's just the lighting or the texture of the photo's but they look a bit like old kodachrome or something.
ReplyDeleteThe first two offer some cool textures with the rock and color with his hat. There could be something more there if you could have found a way to work the composition in such a way that you had all clouds and sky framing him with the rock bisecting the shot. It's hard to explain, so I'll do one of my pathetic sketches in class.
ReplyDeleteThe one you selected is definitely the strongest of the three. Good texture, nice light, a moment. I wish there could have been a way to get the background a little cleaner to help him pop a bit more. But overall, not too bad.
Sometimes when shooters get assignments, they have to push their comfort limits a little. I'm not good with heights, but I have climbed trees, leaned over ledges, put on harnesses to climb down a rock face. Not that you needed that here, but remember to look for those 10 different perspectives on shoots and don't avoid the scary shots unless you know there is a high likelihood for you to injure yourself.