Colour street photography. Is this Crap?

[James Lemon]

We poop and it is your job to clean it up!

 

[Asher Kelman]

We poop and it is your job to clean it up!

Beautiful hounds!

No doubt the guy has a bunch of plastic bags for the poo.

Otherwise this is good for Britain, France or the USA with its red, white and blue!

Asher

 

[Paul Abbott]

Yes, it is crap to a certain extent, it was worth shooting because they're could have been a better picture or chance taken here, if some luck might have prevailed. I see a lot of symmetry to be had with the legs of the dogs and they're owner moving in unison, and so a lower angle or crop would benefit. But...the lead dogs legs are not becoming in this respect.
There is something else I have noticed amongst the symmetry of those legs, and that's the ship's masts in the background...

 

[Asher Kelman]

We poop and it is your job to clean it up!

Jim,

I must admit that living where local laws are strict about taking plastic bags to pick up the poop, I thought you meant us to notice that this dog walker seemed oblivious to the issue. It's a skill and ceremony to be watched and admired. It starts as the dog leans back on it's haunches and we all look for the waiting plastic bag. I could never do it, but that's another matter!


Now to your picture! I find it interesting enough. There's a lot to enjoy, but you want better!

The big questions are to me are, "What came before and what happened afterwards with the incredibly handsome hounds". If they are the subject, why not plan to get them all and drop down to their level just as one would do photographing a child, pet or model train? Why not set up oneself in a hunting mode. After all, one wants to bag pictures and so one has to be in that mindset totally.

What would make this picture (more) wonderful?

1. It's actually part of a group of related images: Well if there were neighboring pictures that relate to this one then it could fit perfectly in some scheme. One does not have to have each individual image complete in itself, but the set of images should give the viewer portions that are assembled in one's mind, each part contributing to the aura, feelings and experience you want to share. If one image drops to the floor, it may very well seem to be not up to snuff! That may be our problem here. The adjacent pictures do not need to be about dogs, have the color "red", boats or animals of any kind! Just they have to be each contributing to some experience you're building in our minds. If there's no neighbor with a connecting motif, theme or story, then, yes, this picture might not be as wonderful as one could make it.

2. Lens choice: Generally in great scenes that we come across in the street, we have a lens that's far to long to get the total scene or too wide to see the detail. I have come to like the 28 mm and 21 mm lenses as they are wide enough and close enough for anything within 5-10 meters to be able to print what catches your eye.

3. Position and timing: Unless one is thinking of taking such a picture and chance favors you, the position and timing are likely to be wrong when a wonderful happening pops up unexpectedly, right near you.

So think, "I'm going along this path, something great is bound to appear, now where do I want to be to get the content and composition I need? Those hounds should have been seen in the distance and then one positions oneself, framing something at your planned "ambush-distance", so they come into your frame. That's the ideal way. If one has Bresson's hands and mind, then one might skip these steps and just use magic. But for us, we have to generally act with hunter's skills, watching for "prey" and then preparing ourselves for the right split second to pounce.

 

[Wolfgang Plattner]

Where is the color?
What's the reason for the text?

 

[Jerome Marot]

No, it's 5 dogs and a headless man.

 

[James Lemon]

No, it's 5 dogs and a headless man.

I thought I was rather polite in cropping off his head .

 

[Asher Kelman]

I thought I was rather polite in cropping off his head .

Do you mean that in the sense that you are not using his likeness without a release? That's seems to be a view I've noted in some French photographers. It might be more than politeness. I gather that personal images might require consent? I remember when Frank Doorhoff was visiting me and we strolled the streets of Beverly Hills together, he was taken a back by me shooting folk I didn't know, with or without their permission.

So perhaps that's the viewpoint you are coming from.

Or is their humor I missed. That's what too much Photoshop does to the brain!

Asher

 

[James Lemon]

Do you mean that in the sense that you are not using his likeness without a release? That's seems to be a view I've noted in some French photographers. It might be more than politeness. I gather that personal images might require consent? I remember when Frank Doorhoff was visiting me and we strolled the streets of Beverly Hills together, he was taken a back by me shooting folk I didn't know, with or without their permission.

So perhaps that's the viewpoint you are coming from.

Or is their humor I missed. That's what too much Photoshop does to the brain!

Asher

Yeah I was just trying to be humorous.