Dirty Bus Window Photos

[Don Schaeffer]

[GB1]

Don - I don't have the time to review many shots on the site, so I have to pick and choose and sometimes zero in on posts that have no responses, since I think every post deserves a response (at least one, that is). So ..

I think you're onto something in many of them. They have a vintage feeling, esp the last one that makes you feel like you are looking at a 1930s or 40s old photograph. I think you have an eye for these type shots.

What I think you should work to improve though, is the technical and composition aspects. The top one is OK, but I think there's a bit too much foreground which needlessly clips off the top wire or post (not sure what it is), and the image seems a bit cramped. Same goes for # 3 (which I sort of like) where you are clipping off the top of the house for no good reason. In this one I do like the foreground in the image, but if you had stepped back a bit you could have gotten more in. The second from last one reminds me of a shot of Leningrad during WWII (don't know why, but it does). But one side of it is super bright where the other side w/ the interesting stuff is so dark that you can't make out any detail, and there are all sorts of junky things in the background that make me wonder why they are in the photo - perhaps that what's you're trying to show here? I don't know. Finally, the last one is interesting due to the expressions and the feeling of 'cold' on the street, but it is blurry/soft.

Shooting through a dirty window makes it hard to get clear photos, but as someone else suggested awhile back, ever think about getting off the bus and shooting?

G

[opus]

perhaps the point is the filter effect that the dirty bus window provides. In that case, then the dirty bus window should have a key role in the photos ... then the composition is most critical, because the "subject" isn't what we're seeing THROUGH the bus windows, it's how the subject is changed by the bus windows.

With that in mind, I think #4 does the best job of doing this. It seems that the dirt on the windows is contributing to the blown-out bottom. Perhaps that's ice on the windows, diffusing light?

[Polishgonewild]

Im just going to review the first one because i can see it has alot of potential but its missing feeling. Theres too much going on in the background, but keep up your work take alot of photos throw em in a bowl and pick out maybe 1 or two pictures to crit on here, 3 might be okay but a little too much.

[Don Schaeffer]

I getcha. Thanks for commenting guys.