Photo Assignment #2: Getting Closer

Fair enough brettania. How does this one fly then? Taken yesterday in front of a group of people in a relatively small space, blocking their view of the group photographed. This was as close as I could get without interfering with the dancing the group of boys were doing.

The Exif shows you were zoomed at 80mm which means you could have got in closer, unless you were using an 80-200.

I don't think I can give you a pass for this shot myself, so will defer to the Assignments-master (pegelli) for his judgement.

Edited by brettania - 10 December 2009 at 01:03

pegelli, thanks for taking the time to comment on the photo. I will try again, though it may be awhile before I have the free time to get out with my camera again. I will also try to think about approaching my frequent subjects - even though landscapes are my most frequent - so I guess it'll be a challenge in all ways!

I see where you're going with this kubuthor, but I don't think it's a pass yet. From your description it's closer than you normally shoot and are comfortable with so that's a good start. However I find the picture a bit soft and quite an off-balance composition (dark/light distribution) with several aspects of the dog cut by the border. I'm also missing the connection between the man and his dog. All these aspects make this more of a grap/snapshot and don't evoke any feeling of closeness (closer than normal) to me.

What could you have done differently to maybe improve the shot? First take more versions to see if you have a sharper one. Or go a lot lower so the dog is the main close subject while his master is higher up in the background. Lots of other possibilities as well. So keep trying, show us what you can do and I'm sure you'll get there.

kubuthor, I like the picture a lot better, good eye contact and nice colors for the low-light situation.

It's still not really "close", but from your story I gather much closer than you would normally take pictures, so you met the spirit of the assignment and I will let you pass.

You've probably seen we're going to overhaul the assignments and I suggest as you build experience you come back to getting closer after completing some other assignments to get more comfortable to get into people's face a bit more.

I have shown this one before, but it fits the paramters. This was MUCH closer than I wanted to come to the subject...but he walked right up to me after first checking out my wife and her lunch.



A100 Tokina AT-X 400 5.6 (I'll update settings when I pull them up on my other computer)

@ JS: your first one is a pass and I really like it allthough a bit more dof would have helped (but you can't have everything in such circumstances). I like the connection and concentration of the two ladies (mother and daughter?) and you captured that well. I don't like the second one, too unsharp overall and no connection with the person or what he's doing.

@Basil: what brettania said, unless this assignment was the first thing that came to your mind when this beast started heading for your lunch. Nice shot btw, allthough cropped a bit too tight at the bottom