Critique Shots from Manchester City Center. (pic heavy)

Would anyone care to comment on my first attempt at street photography ?.
 
Well since you asked, for me there is nothing going on in the first 7 shots. They just seem random snaps of a busy town centre with people bustling around with no real focal point to capture my interest. The one of the police has a lot more interest as something is happening and you wonder what was happening. They are all in focus and decently exposed.

I like the last one quite a bit. A nice sunset and good reflections. I wouldn't call that one street photography though, more an urban landscape shot.
 
vRSG60 said:
I will. I like them, 1 & 3 of the 2nd set especially. How did you go on shooting in the street? Any opposition?
Click to expand...

Hi Shaun, thank you for the feedback and i am glad you liked some of them :), I had a great time and a laugh and no, no opposition, a few funny looks and the odd "don't take any photos of me" comment but other than that keep a smile on your face and be polite and you should be fine.

Idlefrog said:
Well since you asked, for me there is nothing going on in the first 7 shots. They just seem random snaps of a busy town center with people bustling around with no real focal point to capture my interest. The one of the police has a lot more interest as something is happening and you wonder what was happening. They are all in focus and decently exposed.

I like the last one quite a bit. A nice sunset and good reflections. I wouldn't call that one street photography though, more an urban landscape shot.
Click to expand...

Thanks Andrew:), your reply was the reason i wanted some feedback, i am aware that there are no old people sat on benches or random stall holders bending down to pick something up off the floor, the usual street cliches, oh i missed the business man on the mobile out.
Because of this i wasn't sure if these were actually considered street photography, this isn't sarcasm by the way i am genuinely not sure what the label street photography entails other than the cliches mentioned above.

What i was trying to achieve in the majority of these pics was to put the focal point on Manchester itself, the fantastic buildings, i wanted these to be the main focal point of the shots, i guess that's not street though is it ?.

Thanks for the comments on the last shot.
 
I know exactly what you mean about street photography stereotypes. You missed the ones of people walking in front of large bill boards.

I am no expert on street photography and what makes a good street photo, but I think that all photos need some sort of focal point regardless of what style they are. In the new ones above I prefer the one of the police & the one of the demonstration. May be I jut don't get street photography though. I tried it once and my results weren't any good at all.
 
Like the one of the demo & the b/w of the people walking into the light.

A lot in the first lot to me have been wrongly composed,to much building and not enough people or the other way round.

:)
 
Cool, I'm not the only one that doesn't fully understand the intricacies of street photography.;)

I think i was trying to show the beauty of Manchester City center with its hustle and bustle & friendly feel, even at its busiest time of the year everyone has a smile on there face (or a hotdog).:clap:
 
simonblue said:
Like the one of the demo & the b/w of the people walking into the light.

A lot in the first lot to me have been wrongly composed,to much building and not enough people or the other way round.

:)
Click to expand...

Thanks Simon, i understand what you are saying about the composition, in the shots that cut off the people i had to make a choice of the buildings or the people and for me the buildings will win it everytime, i have been lucky enough to have worked on most of the buildings around Manchester city center, mostly the newer buildings though but not all.
 
Hi John,

As others have already mentioned there's unfortunately very little in the way of subjects here, try looking for interesting people doing interesting things and isolate them rather than shooting so wide. My eyes are scanning over these frames trying to find something to lock onto and kinda failing!

I really like the first one in your second post though, the black and white one. :)
 
Hi Paul, i do understand what you are saying and the message is starting to sink in :bonk:, it was my first play (other than a 10min walk at nght) with my new 10-20 :crying: .
I saw lots of interesting people when i had the 10-20 attached and then when i switched to my 35mm, i'd see nothing of interest.

Tbh I'm not sure i have what it takes to do what is required to do real street photography, it feels a bit too much like you are imposing on someones personal space for me, but i am going to be there again in the foreseeable future, so we'll see.

I'm glad you like the black and white pic, its one of my favorites of the day.

I started my interest in photography 11 months ago and am very pleased to be getting the results i got on Saturday, it feels to me like i am actually starting to get somewhere.:)
 
Bassit said:
Tbh I'm not sure i have what it takes to do what is required to do real street photography, it feels a bit too much like you are imposing on someones personal space for me, but i am going to be there again in the foreseeable future, so we'll see.
Click to expand...

You don't need to aggressively get in people's faces when shooting street stuff, there are all kinds of things you can shoot when out and about in cities. Sometimes you can see the makings of an interesting image and just wait for someone to wander into the frame and be in the right place, if I can do this without trying to hijack your thread here's an example of the kind of thing I mean. The light coming down this little gap was quite nice from the low winter sun and the walls had an interesting texture, it just needed someone to be in the right place so I composed the shot and waited for a minute or two until someone walked into where I wanted them to be.


Untitled by Paul Nichols, on Flickr

Don't give up yet, I've only really been doing street stuff for less than a year and it still takes me about half an hour of having the camera out to start to feel comfortable. The more you do the easier it gets! :)
 
the one of the River Irwell sunset i like the best ..i have tried it from there but its always a bit dull when i visit
cheers
geoff
 
I'm glad you like it Geoff :).

Last Saturday was blinding in Manchester with the low sun, then as it started to go down there was a sunset of biblical proportions, :rolleyes: as i was on the bus back to Salford & it had gone dark by the time i got off.:crying:
 
For me the B&W one is the best of the selection. The long highlights and shadows pull you in. Shame about a little bit of flair but no big deal in this shot. Might be tempted to crop a bit off the top. Not much going on up there and might help overall composition.
 
Thanks for your input Lionel, it was the long highlights and shadows that attracted me to take that shot, ill try the crop you mention later.

Thanks for all the input everyone. (y)

EDIT: I tried the crop and it works well but i think i prefer it the way it was, or maybe i took too much off.


DSC_3459-3 by J.Garton, on Flickr
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top