Vignette

Entre los celindos, originally uploaded by Franc-tireur.

Franc-tireur is a photographer from Spain who does some great street photography. I love this shot because of the clean silhouette of the solitary figure, walking up the street. The heavy vignetting in the corners works well to soften the surroundings and keep our attention on the center of the photograph. I wonder if it says anything about me that I think she's walking away. You really can't tell if she is facing towards the camera or away.

The exposure here is just right. By exposing for the pink blossoms, the sky in the distance is blown and the figure's features, backlit, are lost in the shadow. This was a great way to highlight this really simple, elegant silhouette. A nice touch are the marks on the street there, leading the eyes to the focal point of the picture. I especially love these types of compositions, where are strong subject is placed smack in the center. It's a bold statement. Of note is also that his crop of the scene has the figure about two-thirds of the way down the frame. Works nicely.

Something else I should mention here is post-processing. It's usually not worthwhile to speculate whether or not an image is "real" or "fake". By nature of how we view photography (i.e. on a computer), all that we see has been processed x number of times. At the very least, an image was scanned, a file was transferred, and a (likely uncalibrated) monitor did its best to render a string of 1s and 0s. Chances are, there was probably an intervention by the photographer at some point, adjusting the image in a way to best convey its message. And if the image was taken with a digital camera, even before any human clicks on a sliding bar to adjust contrast, a little chip inside an expensive piece of equipment has processed information from a sensor and translated it into a useful, compact, little file.

Photography is art. Here, the art is an image. That image can be interesting or boring. It can pluck at our heartstrings or blend into the background. Sometimes someone will push a button and through divine providence (or something that looks just like it) create a masterpiece with no extra work. But other times (most times), the masterpiece takes work. That work is post processing. Now after having said all that, I can come to my point. I love the treatment on this photo. The dreamy, surreal quality of the light here is superb and takes the image to another level.

Silence

silent, originally uploaded by nacoki.

This one is an old favorite of mine. Looking at this photo, I'm immediately reminded of Wong Kar-Wai's Fallen Angels, one of my all time favorite films. There's one scene with the lead actress shot in extreme wideangle, eating alone in a noodle shop. The camera is right in her face, tightly cropped, emphasizing her aloneness. For me, this photo exudes a similar feeling of coldness, trepidation, and isolation.

The slight blur and high contrast further obscures the figure's features. It's uncertain if she's huddling to escape a draft (that does look like a winter sweater), of if she's lowering her head in sorrow. What is she holding? Well, sometimes photos can play tricks on the viewer. According to the photographer, it's a harmonica! And suddenly the brows are transformed before our eyes to become furrowed. The mouth is blowing a tune. The eyes are closed in concentration.

Any way you look at it, the image is still an emotional one. Things like the framing (the one-thirds rule is not always king) and exposure just serve as icing on this cake.