wonderful composition with good tones

www.usefilm.com/member/kombizz

Nice background effect, i really love the composition.

Congratulations!!

that´s really a shot with a story. I like it

nice lighting and tone. Adds warmth.

Very nice. I like the composition and tone.

Yes, I feel the warmth of the tone and the subject matter. It's really nice.

Thank you Linda, I do not think you know, what this means to me.

This is an incredible shot. Very thoughtful, and amazing background - there's a lot to take in but it doesn't overwhelm the subject.

Thank you so much. I was so faszinated by that lady there on this mountain, that I almost forgot about the sight there. Smile

a great background!.. would be nice to see a little bit more the face of the lady!.. anyways.. :)

Subtle background colors really draw the eye to the subject. Lovely!

Thats just a great image.

Thanks for the great feedback!

Great tones and lighting control - nothing blasted out here! I agree with Lamdennison about the image on the left, and believe her assessment is correct. Alone, the images on the left would probably be just fine, but it suffers sligthly when placed next to the more roomy shot on the right. Nice application with regard to the "story" theme...this one is begging to be told.

Thanks, Stephanie!

wow...guess who isn't asking for a bike for xmas!
santa is hardcore!
really like the concept!
above comments make sense!
well done!

Wonderful shots.
Great story here showing that Santa is a biker.
I agree with the first comment about separating them so that he has room to "move".

Garcia is alive! and covered in tats. Nice shot. There should be a catagory on tattoos. They tell so many stories

I think this is perfect for the category!

Definitely, would also be great for the current Topic - Repetition!!

Like both precedent, I imagine that they are stories too often repeated. Greetings.

Miles de historias dentro de una fotografia. Sencillamente espectacular. Brillante idea. Mi más sincera enhorabuena. Saludos.

hope the postprocessing does not count as collage.. :)

I like this a lot!! Don't mind the post, not sure I wouldn't like it better without, but I won't hold it against you...
The expression is wonderful, the lighting is spot on, no pun intended...!
OK, one suggestion for the post, make a soft matte for her face and pull back the underlying image at about 50% opacity, make sure the matte is really soft...

Hey, I remember this, congrats!!

thank you, for your suggestion too :)

you really amaze me by the perfectness of your shots. nice work on this one again!

So gothic!

yay...!
well deserved, congrats :)

rvercesi,

Thanks for the comment.
Sorry you don't like!

rvercesi,

And if thats the case, how do I improve this to make it photographic art?

Well, it is not easy to take photos from birthdays and similar settings and do it with "art" in mind.

But you could try to improve your lighting settings by using other light sources. A flash head bouncing off the ceiling would create an even light, eliminating harsh shadows and reflexes.

As in every party the focus is on people. Include them in your shots. Usually birthday parties tend to lead to funny situations. Try to take advantage of them.

Finally, try different points of view.

Hope it helps. Regards.

@Mike, my suggestion is not to try to make "art" out of every photographic situation. This a very nice "memory" snapshot that your aunt probably liked very much and made her happy. Your work was done right there, and done very well, if that was really the case. Submitting a shot like this and asking for critique, well some people are expecting "art"... Don't stress over it, just remember when your shots make people, happy, sad, think, worry, or otherwise feel... That's the most important reason to grab the camera, IMHO. My wife's favorite shot I've ever posted on this site is probably not "art" and I would probably not have posted it, except she wanted me to:

www.vazaar.com/user:Beamer/photos/id:12453/

Beamer,

Totally agree.
I understand where the comments are coming from.
I do expect if someone says, this is not art, that they would try to include some ideas hints or tips to help the photo or photographer asking for the critique.
I do not take offense to such comments but would greatly appreciate any suggestions to make these a little more than a snapshot!

A lot of the photos i post are done only after other people have review and picked their choices out!

Thanks for the comment!

I appreciate everyone's comments on this photo -

Perhaps to some there are too many stories in this shot, but that is truly how it is behind a film camera. I was very lucky to be able to get all of the elements of a film scene into one shot.

I couldn't go much wider due to the position of a car on the set and trying to stay out of the shot, otherwise I would've added a bit more on the left.

Antipodes, it wasn't by design that you can't see anyone's faces, but the fact that it reads chaos to you is perfect, because it is controlled chaos behind the camera! There is SO much going on, and that is what I was trying to convey. I love that you noticed the faces - it makes me like the picture even more.

This picture kind of reminds me of the Last Supper, in the sense that there are many stories to be seen on either side of the center subject, (which is not necessarily the main subject of this shot).

I agree that it could probably use a little sharpening. Any suggestions on how much?

Clutter, clutter, clutter. Sometimes (often), less is more. I know that is a bit difficult in this type of situation. Couldn't you have moved and try to take the shot so that the background would be the actual shooting background?

rverrcesi - Cluttered? Perhaps, but I feel the clutter is justified by the topic.

Could I have moved to include the background they were shooting? Sure! And then the photo would have looked just like the other 327 shots I took on set, where the subject of the photo was the actors.

I wanted the "subject" and "story" of this photo to include the many people who are the workings behind the camera; the subjects that no one sees; the chaos behind the controlled environment that you see when you watch a movie.

Your saying it's cluttered is actually a compliment - it means I've done what I set out to do!

Kerri, I was just expressing my personal view. Of course you of all people know what you set out to do when you took this photo. Please consider it just an opinion. I agree when you say you wanted to include as many people possible. My only remark is that they do not help in the overall composition mainly because you have people in half, people looking away from the actors (you are the center piece here). They seem to be standing there without actually working on set. If all those people where focusing on the set or a particular point the photo could have been even better. Mind you, again, it is only an opinion.

Ricardo, I appreciate your opinion! And I take no offense to your observations. The intention of this forum is for discussion, and I'm glad to partake.

Again, you make my point with your comments. There are many stories within this shot, thus why it is in this topic. This photo is a true depiction of what happens on a set. The entire crew does not focus and watch the scene as it's being shot - that would be distracting to the actors. Instead, they quietly wait to jump into action when the scene ends; and although you don't see any motion, it is in the listening and waiting that they are working. But I understand how that could give you the impression that some people aren't doing anything in this scene.

I suppose I could have cropped from the camera op to the right, cutting out the sound guy, but I rather like how his boom framed the shot.