You Make the Call
Anybody remember a TV or Radio show back in the day that would give a situation in a baseball game then would ask "You Make the Call."
I think it was part of "This Week In Baseball."
Anyway, I'm going to give you guys a chance to make the call on a couple photos. Which one would you hang on your wall? Which one would enter in a contest? Which one would you wish you'd have taken.
Here's the two photos...
The Vandebilt Girls basketball team won a playoff game to advance to the "Ladies Top 28" (The sweet 16 of Louisiana High School Basketball). It's their first trip there since 1988. The team and coach cut down the net after their win last night. Here's the image from that celebration.
Across town, The Ellender Girls basketball team also won their playoff game to advance to "Top 28" (However, they are in a different class from Vandebilt). Ellenders' last trip to the "Top 28" was 2002. Also a very exciting win for the girls and worthy of a net cutting ceremony. Here's the image from that game.
Which one would you use and why? Defend your decision, give specific reasons or just pick one. I love this kind of debate because nobody is right or wrong.
SIDE NOTE: This isn't a complaint about what actually happened, but rather just a chance to hear what other people see in pictures.
In College, I had a professor (Bradley) who would put two photos on the screen and the class would spend the entire hour debating the two images. It was a GREAT way to learn about photography.
One of the best learning experiences I've had, in terms of photography, was watching the Pictures of the Year judging a while back. I was in a dark room with a huge screen. There were five judges in front of the screen. In the first round, an image would pop up and the judges would vote In or Out. If an image got a majority "in" vote, it'd go to the next round.
In the second round, the judges would talk a little about their decision to keep that image in the contest.
Then, after a few hours, they had the 1,000 or so images narrowed down to about 10. And they'd spend another hour or so just debating what image was the best.
I loved it. An image that i thought was amazing might have been shot down. Then I'd hear their reason why. Sometimes I'd agree, other times I wouldn't. But that's what makes photography so great. It's art and everybody sees things differently.
Now, when I shoot different events, sometimes I'll think..."well, maybe I should try something else with this picture because during the contest judging, they said that this type of image is a Dime a Dozen." (well, maybe it's not that cheesy sounding, but you get the idea)
I'll give you my thoughts on the two above images in a later post. I just want to hear what others think.
I think it was part of "This Week In Baseball."
Anyway, I'm going to give you guys a chance to make the call on a couple photos. Which one would you hang on your wall? Which one would enter in a contest? Which one would you wish you'd have taken.
Here's the two photos...
The Vandebilt Girls basketball team won a playoff game to advance to the "Ladies Top 28" (The sweet 16 of Louisiana High School Basketball). It's their first trip there since 1988. The team and coach cut down the net after their win last night. Here's the image from that celebration.
Across town, The Ellender Girls basketball team also won their playoff game to advance to "Top 28" (However, they are in a different class from Vandebilt). Ellenders' last trip to the "Top 28" was 2002. Also a very exciting win for the girls and worthy of a net cutting ceremony. Here's the image from that game.
Which one would you use and why? Defend your decision, give specific reasons or just pick one. I love this kind of debate because nobody is right or wrong.
SIDE NOTE: This isn't a complaint about what actually happened, but rather just a chance to hear what other people see in pictures.
In College, I had a professor (Bradley) who would put two photos on the screen and the class would spend the entire hour debating the two images. It was a GREAT way to learn about photography.
One of the best learning experiences I've had, in terms of photography, was watching the Pictures of the Year judging a while back. I was in a dark room with a huge screen. There were five judges in front of the screen. In the first round, an image would pop up and the judges would vote In or Out. If an image got a majority "in" vote, it'd go to the next round.
In the second round, the judges would talk a little about their decision to keep that image in the contest.
Then, after a few hours, they had the 1,000 or so images narrowed down to about 10. And they'd spend another hour or so just debating what image was the best.
I loved it. An image that i thought was amazing might have been shot down. Then I'd hear their reason why. Sometimes I'd agree, other times I wouldn't. But that's what makes photography so great. It's art and everybody sees things differently.
Now, when I shoot different events, sometimes I'll think..."well, maybe I should try something else with this picture because during the contest judging, they said that this type of image is a Dime a Dozen." (well, maybe it's not that cheesy sounding, but you get the idea)
I'll give you my thoughts on the two above images in a later post. I just want to hear what others think.
posted by stamey at 10:59 AM
10 Comments:
The first one is way better. It tells me more about what's going on at first glance, and it makes me want to read more about what's going on (which I'm pretty sure is the whole point of a newspaper). The second picture does not tell me what is going on, there is no emotion. Technically, I can't really say much, I don't know much about that stuff, but have seen enough pictures in my day to see that the first one is much better.
here are my thoughts on said photos:
photo#1:
great overall angle. you can see the face well, it's well/evenly lit, you can see the crowd's reaction and get a good feel for what's going on... a good sense of "place". background behind head and net is clean- less distracting. needs very little explanation of what is going on.
photo#2:
i like the aspect of the jersey, but it's almost needed to tell who the person is. very distracting bckground (ceiling braces, other backboard, person's arm), unevenly lit, no real sense of place.. the viewer has no clue if this was done with a crowd present, or what the atmosphere was like.. i mean, were there pickles there?? nachos?
um.. yeah, the first one hands down. that's actually a REALLY good shot in my book. great angle.
Oh yeah, I was totally going to say something about the second one having an arm coming out of her stomach but Misty beat me to it...dang.
Hmmm, this is tough, because I think it depends on the usage of the photos. I agree that the first one probably has better composition and emotion. And yeah, it would probably be the better dominant image to tell the story. But I think it's one of those "dime a dozen" type pics, honestly.
But I really like the idea of the second one. I like how the lines of the net merges with the lines of the ceiling so it looks like the girl is being consumed by a net-like pattern. The only thing that spoils it for me is the lack of a second face. If someone's body is the the frame, I usually want to see who it is.
I like the first one because of the story it tells, and I like the second one for its artsy-ness. I think the second one has the potential to be something more than dime-a-dozen but doesn't quite get there. Oh so close!
The first one, mainly because I like the emotion of the players in the background. I also don't like the stray arm behind the Ellender player.
i actually like the second one. not sure why, though.
This post has been removed by the author.
This post has been removed by the author.
I am more fond of the second one because of the story it tells, not for photographic reasons. My assumption is that the net cutter in the first pic is a coach and in the second a player. To me ( a non-athlete) the team wins, not the coach. Therefore a captain or player should do the cutting. Who knows if that is the reality, but that is the story it tells. Photographically, the first tells a better story. My reasons aren't that sound but rather based on the opinions of others posted earlier.
Regarding your thoughts about the art of it. Duke Ellington once said about music: "If it sounds good, it is good." Pretty powerful if you agree that it empowers listener (or in your case viewers) to be discriminating and to be decisive about what they like (why they like it is a different animal altogether) Just a thought or two.
I am the photographer who took photo #2.
From a technical standpoint, photo #1 is superior.
In my photo, the player cutting the net was the only team member wearing an actual game jersey. The rest of the team promptly changed into black t-shirts after the game, which I felt would not give the photo the same impact. I had a much better photo with another player in the background, but the t-shirt did not allow me to identify that person for a cutline submission. The coach of the Ellender team injured his arm during the game, and was not quite up to celebrating after the victory, and was not involved in the net cutting ceremony.
I knew going into the shot that the background would present a problem, so I decided to shoot from as low of an angle as possible to give some focus and dominance to the subject, towering above the viewer. I was trying to keep the pickles and nachos left in the empty stands out of the background. :)
Post a Comment
<< Home