New Joiners - People #560

Sometimes judging intention in an image can be tricky and this is a case in point. Here the dancer makes a lovely shape in front of the countryside, gracefully enclosed on two sides by foliage. However the figure is very underexposed. It's difficult to tell whether the aim was a silhouette or a correctly exposed view of the scene. I'm presuming that latter and, if that is the case, I can see that the weather was ... typical. In this situation, the only way to make an image would have been to accurately measure the exposure of the background and then introduce lighting to balance that with the illumination on the dancer. So-called 'fill-flash' sounds daunting when we start but with practice, even the introduction of a small flash (strobe) would make an extraordinary difference. Have a practice - you'll be amazed.

This is a really nice idea, whether conscious or not, and that is framing through something to make the composition just that little bit more interesting - and make the viewer do a little more work. The issue here is largely one of a technical nature. Given that a bit more care would have meant that the child's eye wasn't obscured, I think the lack of the very basics of focus and exposure have left us with a slightly soft and 'muddy' image. To be clear, this is a lovely frame as an aide memoire, but as a photograph, just a little bit more thought would have made it a cracker. Keep pushing.

I think that this is an interesting photograph on several levels. Firstly, it's reasonably technically strong, balancing a single strobe and the setting sun. Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, it's a very natural portrait that seems to well describe the engaging character of the subject. However, all of this is a little marred by the composition - both in terms of how the figure is cut-off just above his wrist but also, that there appears to be a tree growing out of his head. This is such a shame: it's almost there and with a little more thought and possibly an inch or two difference in where the photographer stood to balance the foreground and background and how he framed the figure, this might have been excellent. In the absence of those factors, this is a real indication of how good the image might have been - and I'm sure will be next time. Well done - and push on.

I think that this looks like the recording of a memory of a really happy event. That said, although it's a photograph, it isn't really a considered one. It feels like the photographer has simply raised the camera to his eye and pressed the shutter: nothing wrong with that but as a viewer it is impossible to read the emotion, memory, smell or anything else from it. Making a photograph that is considered means communicating some kind of message to the viewer by way of composing the scene in front of you so that it can be understood by others. I understand this image on a very basic level - but it tells me very little about what I'm seeing - or crucially what the photographer was trying to tell me about it.

Despite this being a very simple 'snap', I think that it is a rather interesting portrait. Mirrors have been long been used as a device since Jan van Eyck’s 'Arnolfini Portrait'. In a sense they enable us to break a Fourth Wall of self-portraiture or make a candid image as here. The car mirror, perhaps because of its defined edges, has often been seen as a kind portal. Lee Friedlander's car work is perhaps the best contemporary example of this and although this frame certainly lacks technical precision (exposure., critical sharpness etc.,), it does have some measure of intrigue and mystery. Well done.

This is a very, very interesting frame and one in which our eyes can really wander - but in a relatively controlled fashion. It's very well framed and the figures are, despite the woman cleaning her glasses, well spaced and composed. I love the big splash of red and the chains which act to almost contain the action. I can see how this image would have been signalling to the photographer as they approached. We'll done for composing so quickly and capturing such an engaging and layered image.

Sometimes techniques and equipment are useful, but they can deflect from our original purposes. This frame looks distinctly like it was shot on a tilt and shift lens which has shifted the focal plane in a dramatic way. I personally like this effect and it has been used very well over the last few years by example, the photojournalist David Burnett on an antique Speed Graphic camera (see his work for Time Mag on the Olympics etc., etc.,). The image here however is a rather odd confusion of composition and effect. I'm unsure what the image signals to apart from the distortion and that's a shame because the creative possibilities of using this lens/technique are myriad - but a good image is always a good image despite how we might convey it. Keep pushing with this and I'm sure that if you combine both technique and a well thought out frame, you'll make very interesting work.

The is a very simple frame (good) that is recording I suspect, something precious and informative. As an image - even with it being cropped square - it works on those levels. How might be make it 'better' however? Sometimes, those solutions are found essentially in technique and here, although the flash (being in America, you'd say strobe) is relatively well exposed, it's very harsh and straight-on. If we bounced it off a wall/ceiling or used a diffusion device, I think that we'd achieve a better result. Have a try - it's worth extending our range of simple techniques to make 'better' images.

Words explain but photographs reveal. Despite the rather poetic description of this image, I think that we might need to see the faces of the (I presume) Maiko - or at least more of them that makes visual sense. Images are 'read' in the same way that we 'read faces and, although I'm not suggesting they stare into the lens, seeing what they're doing without being obscured by the figure to the right would be good. I think that you've successfully identified a potentially interesting situation but being close (emotionally as well as physically) to make an image that is simple and clear would be the next step.

On one level, this is just a 'tourist snap' - but it could have been much more. Given the fact that the subject's are aware and posing, the question is to make a more accurate exposure and perhaps delineate them more clearly from the poorly exposed and distracting background. In this instance. balancing a flash to 'fill' the detail whilst exposing for the background might have made a stronger image - but I like the closeness and 'feel' of what you've done here.

This image has definite potential and the photographer has correctly identified a visual device - the advertisement - that can 'anchor' the frame through a direct gaze. It almost works with the echo of the moving woman passing in front but I'm left confused by the extraneous detail in the background. I wonder whether it might have been better to fill the frame with the billboard thus largely excluding the background might have been a better approach. That or using the camera in a portrait orientation. In any case, this is well seen and lots of scope here to push forward with the idea.

As a mnemonic device, this is a great image - four people having a lovely time. As a photograph, it succeeds as a well captured moment of joy but is marred by the highlights and shadow exposure which are perhaps three or more stops different. The solution? The easiest is location - finding a spot here direct sunlight doesn't fall too strongly on one person and that is also about the time of day we make images. The other is to use external lighting to 'balance' ambient and flash - more cumbersome but with a little practice, definitely achieveable. It remains however, on it's own merits, a lovely human image.

This is an engaging portrait that does a lot right. Firstly, it gives a good impression of the character of the sitter - a relaxed pose that echoes lots of curves and is nicely composed and exposed. However, the choice of a wide-open aperture, something that has been particularly in-vogue for a decade or more brings its own issues. It does indeed blur the distracting background but leaves little room for error in focussing. I can't see any metadata about shutter speeds but if we're keeping just one eye in critical focus then it's imperative that that focus doesn't wander. An excellent effort overall however.

Crowds are tricky aren't they? They always get in the way of what we see and it's very difficult to make them disappear so we can get a clear shot. This is a perfect example of that. The photographer has seen a really interesting situation develop and captured an element of that - the gesture - very well, but that moment is lost in a sea of other people. Sometimes, this just happens but the photographer's role is to explain what he or she saw clearly and without moving around a situation to create a harmonious image, that role here remains unfulfilled. Well done for seeing but we rarely make great photographs just by standing still - the point , especially about this kind of image is to be constantly thinking about where we are relative to the 'action'. Keep pushing - and moving!

This is a really nice frame of a bass player doing her thing. I like how you've tried to frame the musician within the garage (?) door but in doing so you've inadvertently created a problem for yourself. Compositionally, the (interesting in itself) lump of yellow to the left of the frame is positioned so that not only is it the brightest thing in the frame but it's also the most distracting and the eye goes straight to that. More importantly, I suspect that because you were letting the camera measure the exposure, that bright spot has confused it and underexposed the singer and the garage interior. Next time, try and take control and make the exposure yourself - and that way if you do want to compose with some interesting yellow, your main subject will be correctly exposed.