The Rumble Seat

[GenDEM]

Hi all

What a refreshing find these forums are!

Comments are welcome on this shot. It was taken earlier this year in Germany, while I rode beside on a borrowed bike and tried to keep everything in focus! This is the only shot of about 20 that worked.



Thanks!

[Paul V]

I like this shot...nice angle. From this vantage point it is obvious that you were on a bike as well. The blurred background suggests motion, and the baby's face turned to look behind (rather than right at the camera) is a very nice touch.

I like "blurred background" shots and they're usually relatively easy to accomplish from a stationary position, but this is a variation on that trick!

Nice....

Paul

[mpkirby]

This is pretty cool. A couple of suggestions.

1) Crop it a little more to the left. So that the baby is in the right third of the image. This will give the viewer the impression of "see you later". Where the baby is right now, the impression exists (because of the motion blur, and he is looking back), but not as strong as it could be.

2) its too bad that the back of the woman's sweater is just a tad bit over-exposed. Perhaps a fill flash with a smaller aperture (try to keep the shutter speed the way it is, because the motion blur is perfect).

3) Note the color of the flowers in the background are clear. It adds a nice color touch to what would be a rather bland green backdrop.


Mike

[marcwebster]

This is a very cool shot, and I have a lot of respect for you pulling it off. I personally very much like "1st person shots action shots". They are fun to try, but they can be tricky, because you have to watch what you are doing while at the same time trying to get the good shot. I'm guessing you were bicycling one-handed, and mangaged not to run off the road or hit a tree, and you still managed to get a shot, and it's a good shot -- kid looking back (was that chance, or did you ask him to look back...?), visible flowers in the blur (was that luck, or planned?), good composition (though I would crop a bit off the right side so there would be reletively more "space" behind where the kid was looking -- I think that is what Mike was suggesting, too).

So I like the picture on its own, but thinking about how you must have taken it just adds for me. Of course, if you tell me you staged it with a model, and took it from a powered dolly synchronized to the speed of the bike, I take it all back!