Lady in Waiting

[rick barclay]

Waiting for a dinner partner; or is she all dressed up with no place to go?
Comments and suggestions are welcome as always.

http://flashdaddee.com/ladybench.jpg

[Radtech1]

Sorry, Rick, does not do too much for me. Too much extraneous (sp?) stuff going on. In fact, I find that I am looking more at the conversation going on to her right than at her.

Then you have the problem of the fact that some "landscape artist" put a big spikey plant right behind her. Once I saw that, coupled with her hat, I could not look at here without thinking of the crown worn by the Statue of Liberty.

If you still want to work on it, I might rotate it CCW, or at least skew it some so that the windows are parallel with the frame of the shot.

Rad

[cmM]

there is a lot of distracting stuff in the picture. A closer look and less DOF would have done a lot better I think.

[rick barclay]

Thanks for the op's, guys. I was across the street from this lady when
I snapped her pic, and that's about as close as I wanted to get her. If she had made a move to cross the intersection, I would have packed up and run.

The idea behind all the "distractions' in this image is to add detail to the
message being conveyed--is she there to meet a friend for lunch, or is
she just enjoying a day out in the fine weather and surroundings of
downtown Freehold at noontime...or just what inspiration has brought her to that bench? So, if I crop out the diners, I crop out the story and there's nothing left there but her sitting on a bench, which conveys pretty much nothing at all. A distraction is only a distraction if it takes away from the
message being transmitted, so I included the diner's because their presence
tells you that this is a scene where people have gathered for a purpose and
may provide a motive for our subject to be there.

You right about the rotating, Radtech. I forgot. I'll correct it.

[Sailor Don]

xyzzy

[Steven M. Anthony]

Rick:

First, thanks for posting what you were trying to say with the photo. A critique that doesn't focus on what you were trying to say is just an expression of personal taste--of course, that's all one can do if the intent behind the photo isn't stated...

Anyway, here's my pov. I think the problem with this is that she is too centered in the photo. If she was in, say, the right-hand 1/3 of the shot, the other people would no longer be "distraction," they would be the rest of the scene. With her being centered, it says (at least to me) "look at her"--but it's hard with all the other stuff going on; it's a compelling bunch of stuff that competes with HER. If she were a balanced element of the shot, I think one would be almost forced to consider her role in the bigger story...

[Steven M. Anthony]

not sure if this will work--first attempt at posting a photo. here is my favorite cafe story...http://anthonya10.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/img0024.jpg

[rick barclay]

Interesting. Sailor Don says she needs better centering; Steven M. Anthony
thinks she's too centered. :shock:

Well, the fact is, I played around with this photo extensively before I decided on
which version to publish. I pretty much futz around with everything before
I post it here, and I'm sure everybody does, or should do that to get a firm
idea of just what you want your image to project. The idea of centering or not
centering madam here caused me much concern, because I avoid centering my subjects like the plague. However, in this photo, since my intention was to ask the question about her being alone and why, then to put her off center requires cropping the bench. And then--how do we know she's alone? So, the bench has to stay. It's part of the props. There's no discarding it without making myself look foolish by implying she's alone when we can't tell if she is because there's no bench there to examine. Right? So, I figure that settles the to crop or not to crop or center dilemma.

On the subject of "distractions,' while we're at it: if you make the analogy
that a photograph is like a painting, then what does that say about such
artists as Michaelangelo, who put everything but the kitchen sink into
such masterpieces as "The Last Supper" and others that I'm too lazy
and tired right now to research on Google? Are you going to tell M.A.
that he should have cropped out all those extraneous disciples that are
draped all over the place doing God only knows what in that protrait? If
it had been a photograph, woud you have recommended cropping out
Judas, Peter, Simon and the others? Why? Ask yourself: are they really distractions, or are they part of the story?
Some photos say a lot with a little. Some say a little with a lot. But in every case, each tiny part might be necessary to help deliver up the whole. And when that's the case, you really can't label any of the necessary parts a distraction unless you can eliminate it and still retain the overall meaning of the image as a whole.

The nice lady, btw, was not asked to sign a release. But I'm sure she would have, so I just took her picture anyways, to save me
the trouble of asking and her of consenting. :wink:

[Steven M. Anthony]

MA's paintings were serving many purposes, least of all his self-expression! :) I think you could have cropped some of the right side of the bench (to allow more on the left side of the scene) without making it ambiguous as to whether madam was alone. In fact, some might argue that you could crop all of the bench on the right... :) I think "the question" in your photo vs, say the one I suggested from your scene is a matter of explicitness. YOur (to me) screams WHO IS SHE AND WHY IS SHE HERE. My (at least as I envision it) is more like: look at this nice cafe scene... lots of conversations and other things going on... and what's with the woman with the hat? Who is she and why is she there...? Neither on is wrong, of course.

Don't know what happened to my photo post. At work, it showed up--now it's just an ad for tripod...