Critique Attempt at Street

ynot

ynot

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Yesterday i had the chance to go and try out a Fuji X-T10 on a street photo walk. Ive tried street photography a few times and I'm not really sure its for me. So any help or comments on these photos would be great.

1.

DSCF0012 by ts446, on Flickr

2.

DSCF0017 by ts446, on Flickr

3.

DSCF0021 by ts446, on Flickr

4.

DSCF0045 by ts446, on Flickr

5.

DSCF0053 by ts446, on Flickr

6.

DSCF0092 by ts446, on Flickr

The full set from the day can be seen at http://www.londonfineartphotography.co.uk/wordpress/ap-magazine-fuji-event/

Thanks for looking.
 
•
You rendered here good tonal range, proper contrast and, for most,
a balanced composition but the feature I like best is the story telling
in many of them.
 
A very nice set of street shots, well composed with some very good B&W PP work.(y)

George.
 
nice set, shows what a solitary life most people lead all except the "homeless" in the fourth shot, who are socializing.
 
I don't get it. The set seems to have no connection to each other. They are indeed and undoubtedly photos taken whilst out on the street, but just that. No story, no emotion that comes across to me.

1. Some workman, some refuse, a courier and a man on his phone. I might be missing something in the scene that you picked upon but I don't get it.
2. It is human interaction with a poster, looks contrived to me and not accidental. Nice as a snapshot memory but don't get it otherwise.
3. Just some people sitting at a terrace with a busy reflective window above them. It could be anywhere, I don't get why them? What is special? What is the emotion? What is the story? I find it hard to imagine why you shot them.
4. Similar; a bunch of randomly people whose only connection (as it comes across to me) is that they are in the same frame that you captured. I have no idea or imagination why you may have captured that moment, and it is not helping me to deduct that.
5. A man in the street, at least there is a little bit of connection between you and the gent. Don't get its relation in context with the other photos put together. Background is very busy with vans and scaffolding, legs are chopped off, and there is part of a woman to his left....Not sure why it wasn't sent to the bin, I'd love to know the story from yourself behind this and why it was included.
6. Don't see any difference to 3, nor any similarity if that makes sense for them to be connected in a set. To me this is just a bunch of people in a shop and I can't see the story or interest.

From a technical quality perspective no critical points from me (y)
 
Thanks for the comments all.

@dejongj thanks for taking the time to critique them all. There isn't supposed to be a connection between the different photos. I don't really understand street photography, i guess these show that. I find it hard to tell the difference between street photography and photos of random people. I can see why you think these are the latter, but i really struggle to see the differences between these and photos that people say are fantastic street photography.
 
To be fair, it is subjective. Therefore it is just my opinion. Also in my opinion there are just too many random photos of strangers on here where people comment like great shot or whatever.

To me I don't like those, just as I dislike a bird on a branch. A bird at a bus too, a man sitting on a bench.

Ultimately it is just an opinion and there are no hard and fast rules.

I just prefer an image that tells a story over a technically competent one any day.
 
great shots - super sharp as well and nice conversions - + that guy looks like keith allen

what did you take them with?
 
Street seems to be very subjective it would seem.

sheridant said:
great shots - super sharp as well and nice conversions - + that guy looks like keith allen

what did you take them with?
Click to expand...

A Fuji X-T10, a nice little camera, but not for me.
 
I particularly like no 6 . The 2 men engrossed one behind the other is really effective.
 
I like number 4, it gets me to ask why the guy is running and protecting himself like he is - I cant see any rain, I dont see anyone throwing anything at him. A nice image to ponder over.
 
ynot said:
Thanks for the comments all.

@dejongj thanks for taking the time to critique them all. There isn't supposed to be a connection between the different photos. I don't really understand street photography, i guess these show that. I find it hard to tell the difference between street photography and photos of random people. I can see why you think these are the latter, but i really struggle to see the differences between these and photos that people say are fantastic street photography.
Click to expand...

That's an interesting thing to say.

If you don't understand it and you can't tell the difference between your images and good street shots, what is it that attracted you to shoot them in the first place? I suspect if you thought about it a bit more and looked at some good street photography you'd have no problem telling the difference.

The only one in here I'd have kept would be number three... I'd have got much closer and had all four subjects equal in the frame. The two at the front drawing the attention but the two at the back really making it an interesting shot.
 
Dr Wu said:
I particularly like no 6 . The 2 men engrossed one behind the other is really effective.
Click to expand...

Carlh said:
I like number 4, it gets me to ask why the guy is running and protecting himself like he is - I cant see any rain, I dont see anyone throwing anything at him. A nice image to ponder over.
Click to expand...

Thanks chaps.
I have no idea why he was running this way?

UaeExile said:
That's an interesting thing to say.

If you don't understand it and you can't tell the difference between your images and good street shots, what is it that attracted you to shoot them in the first place? I suspect if you thought about it a bit more and looked at some good street photography you'd have no problem telling the difference.

The only one in here I'd have kept would be number three... I'd have got much closer and had all four subjects equal in the frame. The two at the front drawing the attention but the two at the back really making it an interesting shot.
Click to expand...

There are some photos that may come under street that i do like and appreciate, but others shot in this style i really struggle to see much difference. Just being honest.
Even the reaction on this thread would back that up to a certain extent.
 
Really interesting set but I have to say #2 really stands out and grabs me, brilliant :)
 
ynot said:
Thanks chaps.
I have no idea why he was running this way?



There are some photos that may come under street that i do like and appreciate, but others shot in this style i really struggle to see much difference. Just being honest.
Even the reaction on this thread would back that up to a certain extent.
Click to expand...

Absolutely, I wasn't having a go or anything :)

I think it's more to do with the "street photography vs photos taken on a street" argument. I look at most street photos and to be honest, think they're absolutely crap. So I can tell instantly when something is good or great.

Half the problem is photos being labelled street photography when they're actually just nervous photos shot from the hip that happen to be in the street. The equivalent of taking a selfie on a lads night out and calling it a self portrait. That would never happen of course, but for some reason those rules don't apply to street photography.
 
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