[Leica] Such are the dreams: IMG

[philippe.amard at tele2.fr (Philippe AMARD)]

No need to defend it Alastair, it stands by its own, and is great to my 
mind.
You defended it when you shot it.
Amiti?s de l'Est de Paris
Phx


Alastair Firkin wrote:

>Thanks to all who commented. 
>
>http://tinyurl.com/5f39uj
>
>Let me ?defend? the shot, and by that I don?t mean to be defensive to to 
>imply that I am offended. I just love getting critical comments: makes me 
>think and re-think what I?m doing and why. 
>
>First the back pack: Helen did not like it either, but for me it ?came? 
>with the wires heading under the head scarf. She is so calm so serene that 
>the wire and pack are a little out of place -- part of the story I was 
>trying to tell: modern girl, ageless emotions. 
>
>Background: yes, its a confusion of scratches - lead graffiti, with 
>everyone trying to have there say. Its a famous monument, its chaos up 
>there, narrow stairs and passage ways, yet in this chaos she ?escapes? for 
>these few moments: again for me (for me remember) they are part of the 
>story and I ?love? the background -- does anyone agree?
>
>Verticals: well of course nothing is vertical up there and the roof she is 
>leaning against is not vertical either. In fact, I like the curve of the 
>girl and find the slight slope of the roof fits it: I hadn?t noticed that 
>before. 
>
>Muddy blacks: I?m not sure, I kept the contrast lower here, as I would have 
>in the darkroom. The subject seemed to ask for a softer feel. Despite your 
>explanation of the under-exposure, I don?t have time on the street to 
>shoot/check and adjust, so I would much rather tame the highlights: when 
>the image loses highlights that really bugs me, so I don?t know how to 
>avoid it without a slight under exposure. 
>
>And for Geoff: the serial number is too low for the Dior :-) its the older 
>M8, the newer one is for wide angles and the older on focuses the longer 
>lenes slightly better.
>
>Others wrote:
>
>WOW!
>
>A great shot of a beautiful girl.
>
>Jim
>
>devastating
>
>ric
>
>Alastair, wonderful light, expression and composition. I think that you 
>may
>need to consider reducing the background here. The forest of graffiti
>scratchings is distracting. Maybe sufficient to just blur it down a 
>little??
>
>Cheers
>Geoff
>
>Excellent.  I might have burned the left side a little, maybe not.  Fine
>image IMHO.
>
>Ken
>
>I agree with Geoff in all respects.
>
>Doug Herr
>
>striking shot  
>beautiful face framed
>in fine light
>
>[homage to George's eloquence]
>
>I would like to see a version with all of the pack cropped off=
>even greater simplicity.
>
>Alan
>
>Looking closely at Alastair's file, I see that this is from his 
>Christian
>Dior Leica! No wonder it sees poetry in Paris.
>Since I know Alastair well, I thought he might endorse a further 
>dissection
>on this pic. As mentioned, like George I really like the light and 
>striking
>face.
>I like what the (nearly ;-)) vertical gaps do for the composition and 
>the
>placement of the woman in the frame. All of the scratched surfaces 
>behind
>definitely distract me. On exposure, I think that underexposing the 
>capture
>was a mistake here. The darks (at least as shown) are just flat and a 
>little
>muddy to my eye. It is diffuse light of course. OK, have at me, if you 
>want.
>
>Cheers
>Geoff
>
>
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