I was in Washington DC for the 4th of July and was remarking that there seemed to be a lot less homeless when I ran into this interesting man in Georgetown. He enjoyed having his picture taken, so I thought you would like to meet him. ISO 200, f/4.0, 1/125 sec, EF24-105mm f/4.0L IS USM, 84mm, Evaluative Metering, Auto Exposure, Auto WB, No Flash, Topaz Adjust. I know it's not a bird or a flower, but definitely a work of nature. Comments Welcome.
Congratulations Mr. Waas,
You have captured and conveyed the true essence of reality in this gentleman's daily life. I like the close up pose...it has character, and the feel is fantastic...thanks for telling the story...well done...:cool:
It's always all in the eyes on shots like this, and you have done it amazingly right! Slightly blurred fence accentuates the sharpness of the face. His life is there in one shot.
A question for anyone----would you have to have a signed release for publishing a shot like this one? Just curious. I'm still grappling with what constitutes such things, especially in a a crowd shot.
HI Richard - nice - full of charachter - agree with AL background comment - the contrast line that goes throught the head is distracting but sometimes you gotta take what you can get.
Good Job.
I like this very, very much. Conveys so much of harsh reality in the world and people's lives. Yet, this man is smiling despite hardship.
Very powerful. Thanks for sharing. :)
Richard, what a stunning portrait. It's so full of character and as mentioned - harsh reality.
I agree about the contrast line through the head - hope you don't mind, I fiddled a bit and came up with this.
I tried changing the bg to black but feel you lose too much of the character of the image.
A very powerful image here Richard, it draws out a lot of emotion. I like the original comp, but also like what Jeni has done with the BG. Great details, exposure, sharpness, and feeling.
Jen, I hope you will read this, cause I think what you did to this image is great, and I would like to know how you managed to fade it. Fabs posted a link to a tutorial for me on this, so I could read it again. I am new to background management, lol!
Richard, although I am not proficient in the current digital mechanics of photography at all (well DUH!) I have tried taking these kind of shots. A lot. IMHO very often you do get a sweet look on peoples faces when you are fast and to the point, respectfully ask their permission, and then you get a kind of an expectation and openess that is really wonderful about this particular expression (and method in photography). But once you fiddle with the camera and ask them to move over in front of that bush or what ever, a cloud goes over thier face, they begin to look a bit restless and even hostile, and this doesnt matter if the subject person is a hotel CEO, iron worker, a helicopter pilot, a homeless person or a little kid. No matter how much I have engaged with that person and tried to respectfully ask for thier image, the opportunity is lost, so I would say go with your method. Its really worked here,, and I just LOVE what has been done to this image, and I think its easier to work the background later than at the time of capture.
Thank you to all my BPN friends. I've always struggled with asking people for permission to take their picture and this time I just did it. Thank you Kat for your insightful comment. I know that sometimes I look for the background first to place my object, but sometimes you just have to go for what you can get. By far this has been one of my most commented images and the knowledge I gain is tremendous. Thanks again for all your help.
Homeless in DC
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