[Leica] PAW 4 - 2005 - Lee Hermann

[tedgrant at shaw.ca (Ted Grant)]

Lee showed:

>> Attached is PAW 4 - 2005.  This was shot at the Cafe Amelie, in
>> Paris.  This man was eating his lunch and reading.  I was struck with the
>> colors.  I hope someone enjoys.  Comments appreciated.<<<
>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/Lee-Hermann-album/at_lunch<<<<<<


Hi Lee,
To be bluntly truthful there are a couple of things wrong here.

A:
An exposure with no content! yes you knew he was reading the paper because 
you saw him doing it. But you didn't really put it on film.Having his lunch? 
Eating? So where does he really look like he's eating? And where is whatever 
he's reading? Actually hidden behind a chair and coat.

B:
You said >> "  I was struck with the colors. " <<<  ?????????
Quite frankly it looks like you used a daylight balanced slide film indoors 
and ended up with "bad colour." Or it's colour neg not filter corrected. At 
what point did you like the colour? When you sat down and looked around the 
bar - restaurant? Or after the film was processed and you were doing your 
edit??

But the colour shown here is, well sorry, it doesn't look right. However, it 
may well have been what it looked like, but that doesn't make it look any 
better in the picture. And I'd have gone B&W! And for my eye the colour 
looks like it requires some correction in PS or with filtration. Did the 
room really look that yellowish colour?

A few suggestions:

1: because in effect you did a "sneaky picture" . ;-) Camera on table 
pointed in the subjects direction, now lost behind chair with jacket, then 
it was finger on camera "click shutter" where viewers now can't tell what 
he's doing and only surmise.

We can see him, but what he's doing is really lost behind the chair and 
jacket. Why not just lift the camera to your eye and shoot it heads-up? 
Certainly if you were taken with the colour and subject? Heck HCB and others 
started all this kind of in cafe stuff, so  Parisians are accustomed to 
people in cafes with cameras pointed in every which way. ;-) However, "some 
times NOT!:-(

2: There's a mirror to his right as you see part of him reflected. The 
mirror was an asset to your picture if you'd made use of it by moving to 
your right and capturing "two of him reading and eating!"  Also creating a 
double capture on the colour you like. Whenever there are mirrors around 
it's a good bet they can be incorporated as a bonus to your picture.

By the same token they can be a big pain in the butt because they show too 
much. But with a little imagination, usually they can be a bonus.

At least you're making the effort of putting stuff on film. And I trust your 
postings are working as a learning experience.
ted