Two with black and white film, help please

[Mosca]

Asking for a little help here. It was a dark and overcast day, around 3PM, the air was almost misty. Canon F-1N, 50mm 1.4. Ilford Super XP-2/400. The first one is f/11 & 1/60, the second is f/5.6 & 1/125. The first one might be a little overexposed. The second is a crop, but I composed it to be cropped to this. It looks like what I wanted it to look like, but the wires in the front of the dash are distracting. It was mostly an exercise in mastering the manual focusing, and an attempt to get the layers of reflection/window/car/dog, subtracting out the color. I was trying to visualize it in b&w, but didn't see how bright the white wire would be. If it wasn't for the wire and the little bit of the photographer, I would think it was exactly right.

Agree? Disagree? Please add more.

The straightforward criticisms and suggestions I've received here have been fantastic, very helpful. It takes a while to get a photo that I think is good enough to post here, even knowing that it is somehow flawed.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/Mosca/20090529-Roll2012.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/Mosca/20090529-Roll2019.jpg

[tonydee]

#1 doesn't do a lot for me... it's not bad, just a bit limited in interest.

#2's very good I'd say. Like the way you've shown the prisoner is doing his time outside the shops, happily enough perhaps. The white cable doesn't bother me, there's just so much else going on that it doesn't draw my eye. Nor does your hand particularly, but you could smudge the fingers enough to make it a vague shape and nobody would be the wiser.

Cheers, Tony

[MagicallyDelicious]

adore the 2nd one!

Makes me wanna get my film cam out!

[DSLR George]

I think there both great!

[Makako]

that's a miata..... Really love the monochrome pics. #2 good work.

[mxracer535]

First of all, I am a HUGE fan of the look of flim. Simply love it...now if only i had a film camera :(

#1 doesnt really do it for me, just no real point of interest
#2 i think is a great shot! Very nice reflection but its not over-barring to the point it takes away from the dog.

[Mosca]

Thanks, all; I agree that the first one doesn't have anything worthwhile. It's as much an exercise in getting the proper exposure, focus, and dof for the shot as anything. And thanks for the compliments on the second shot!

[Mosca]

that's a miata..... Really love the monochrome pics. #2 good work.

Yep, I'm Mosca at Miatanet as well.