View Through The Viewfinder

I thought it would be interesting to have a photo look as though it were taken through the viewfinder. Give it a bit of a different perspective. What does everyone think of this one? Comments, criticism, suggestions?

It's a nice shot.

Keep the vignette, lose the AF points and you got yourself a nice retro looking shot.

I would keep the AF points - they make it more certain that it is taken through the viewfinder.

Can't be a 400D/XTi viewfinder, it's way too bright

Robert_Lay wrote in post #5758103
I would keep the AF points - they make it more certain that it is taken through the viewfinder.

I like the AF points in the shot too, but only for the reason that it gives a sense of looking through the viewfinder. Though it's dawned on me that those particular AF markings look awfly digital and not too vintage. I think I'd get a better effect using the AF screen of an older camera. Something simpler and less like some high tech target.

I really like the concept and I have to agree with Bob that I would keep the auto focus points, but I'm not crazy about the subject matter. You really did capture that "thru the viewfinder" feel but to me (and this is just my humble opinion as always) the subject matter looks like what I see when I'm looking for the picture...and maybe clicked the shutter by accident. I think if the girl on the bike and the traffic had of been moving towards you instead of away from you it might have worked better.

In fact now that I think about it a bit...this seems like a "test shot" where you may have just been trying to see if it would work, so the composition really wasn't that important. I would definitely encourage you to try it again as it's a very cool concept, with a little more effort put into the composition itself.

Just my $.02,
Jim

Walczak Photo wrote in post #5758819
I really like the concept and I have to agree with Bob that I would keep the auto focus points, but I'm not crazy about the subject matter. You really did capture that "thru the viewfinder" feel but to me (and this is just my humble opinion as always) the subject matter looks like what I see when I'm looking for the picture...and maybe clicked the shutter by accident. I think if the girl on the bike and the traffic had of been moving towards you instead of away from you it might have worked better.

In fact now that I think about it a bit...this seems like a "test shot" where you may have just been trying to see if it would work, so the composition really wasn't that important. I would definitely encourage you to try it again as it's a very cool concept, with a little more effort put into the composition itself.

Just my $.02,
Jim

Thanks Jim. As a matter of fact the shot I used for this photo was an old test shot from practicing panning. At the moment I was simply testing the concept on a number of existing photos I had. Hopefully soon I will be able to post an example taken expressly for this concept. Thanks for your $.02 as always!

Perhaps you would like my other example better: HERE

Again, I like the concept but not crazy about the composition...in fact I like the first composition better. However, please take that comment as being a bit subjective as I'm not crazy about "fishing shots" to begin with. I live about a mile from Lake Erie and I see people fishing alllllllllll the time (especially while I'm shooting herons), so it's just not something I can get terribly excited about.

Peace,
Jim

I love the concept...

Um stalker! j/k I like the idea, nice work, reminds me of the same effect they use in the movies when they show pictures being taken by a P.I. or when looking through binoculars.

There are actually several groups on Flickr dedicated to taking old cameras and taking pictures through the viewfinder. They're not like this where the focus points and such are show, but here's a few: http://www.flickr.com …20viewfinder&w=​all&m=tags

Thanks for all the great feedback everyone.

griptape wrote in post #5765077
There are actually several groups on Flickr dedicated to taking old cameras and taking pictures through the viewfinder. They're not like this where the focus points and such are show, but here's a few: http://www.flickr.com …20viewfinder&w=​all&m=tags

Thanks for the link! I have seen these before but not having an old camera I haven't been able to try the real thing yet. Do you know what those cameras are called, cost, and where to get one???

Pierre81385 wrote in post #5765328
Do you know what those cameras are called, cost, and where to get one???

The majority of TLR (twin lens reflex) cameras have sufficiently large viewfinders. They're kind of dinosaurs, so they can be had easily on ebay for $10 or so. Argoflex, Yashica.... Yashica is probably the big one. I'm sure a search for TLR camera would give you a few hits.