How do other street shooters utilize converging lines? Here, I tried to utilize a strong foreground element (the kid with the chalk) although in retrospect... it would have had more impact if he was wearing colorful clothing. I don't know about the markings on the street though. Saves the foreground or detracts from the theme? Opinions? As always, compliments and flame equally welcome.

Thanks,

John.

-- John Chan (ouroboros_2001@yahoo.com), December 05, 2001

Answers

John, in THIS photo I tried to use the converging lines to create a feeling of endlessness as though the boy had no future. Not sure if it worked. BTW if anyone would be kind enough to rate this photo as (I will not be offended with negative ratings)as each photo needs at least 10 ratings to be included in a photographers total rating. Thanks

-- Gerry Widen (gwiden@alliancepartners.org), December 05, 2001.

As usual "it all depends." When shooting architecture with a view camera one quickly learns that it's generally better not to correct leaning buildings perfectly but to leave just a little convergence. Excessive convergence can (nearly) always be corrected in the darkroom, especially with digital printing.

-- Wilhelm (bmitch@home.com), December 05, 2001.

Nice picture Gerry. I like the existential feel of the isolation of the kid relative to his surroundings. It makes you think about the lack of connectivity in today's society as one walks the streets of urban centers. The picture made me feel rather wistful.

Fascinating picture John. I presume that you're working on a photo essay about children on the urban streets. Personally if I had the means I would have cropped the picture slightly from the left to isolate the young child and include some of the chalk drawings on the right side of the cropped photograph.

I use converging lines in street photography sometimes but it isn't the most overriding factor in shooting. I tend to look at the overall geometry of the shape which I usually render and work from there.

sincerely, Alfie

-- Alfie Wang (leica_phile@hotmail.com), December 05, 2001.

The subject isn't prominent enough in the posted photo so the lines become more dominant than the subject and they don't take the viewer anywhere. The subject needs to be either bigger, more visible, or more integrated with the rest of the scene.

King of the Street, Copyright 2000 Jeff Spirer

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), December 05, 2001.

Jeff,great shot. The perspective makes him look very evil.

-- Gerry Widen (gwiden@alliancepartners.org), December 05, 2001.

In my opinion, converging lines take the viewer somewhere, and should be used accordingly. In the posted image, the lines in the street take my eye away from the subject, so I think the lines actually detract in this case.

I'd prefer to see the boy much more prominent in the composition, perhaps with much more shallow DOF, vertical in orientation, and cropped just to the right of the man in the dark coat. That might work to contrast the direction and movement of the crowd to the posture of the boy - e.g. giving a feeling of going against the grain, or moving through life independently.

-- Ralph Barker (rbarker@pacbell.net), December 05, 2001.

I think Ralph hit it right on. His suggested crop does just what he said it would, and also makes the painted white line quite powerful in tying the two figures together in depth.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), December 05, 2001.

I agree w/Jeff & Ralph. There's too much going on behind the kid w/the chalk & nothing else in the foreground to capture the viewer's interest--cutting the photo in 1/2 down the middle would just about do the trick. For your viewing pleasure, here 's 1 of my more successful leading line exercises.

-- Chris Chen (furcafe@cris.com), December 05, 2001.

More agreement with Jeff and Ralph here regarding your photo.

I think how you use convergence/divergence in a photo really depends on what you're trying to do. Sometimes I want to lead the eye to something; sometimes I want to pull it away in order to create tension and bring more attention to things that might not be very prominent.

-- Mike Dixon (mike@mikedixonphotography.com), December 05, 2001.

John: Robert Capa's dictum comes to mind "If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough." See Jeff's example for how getting in closer helps you hold a center of attention in wide-angle/perspective shots. What you have now has too many equally-weighted elements.

Gerry: Capa's comment might apply to your shot, although I like the feeling of loneliness and the subject certainly stands out. The main flaw I see is the distracting busyness of the pipes and beams under the roof - burn that area down a little (a lot?) to keep attention focused on the kid and the pattern of receding scaffolding.

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), December 05, 2001.

Gerry, which lens you used ?

It seems that the left bar has a bit of visible pincushion distortion.

-- martin tai (martiin.tai@capcanada.com), December 06, 2001.

Martin, I used a Jupiter 35/2.8 for this shot. Overall it is a nice lens. BTW is this distortion more than should be expected from a lens of this type. If you notice the pole on the left is basically vertical ,with the exception of the distortion, but to the right edge of the photo the poles are leaning further.

-- Gerry Widen (gwiden@alliancepartners.org), December 06, 2001.

Hi, John:

I second Ralph's cropping excercise. But I actually like to compose full frame though the difficult it could be in the streets. In fact I have losed many potentially good shots because I felt that full frame composition would detract the image from its intended meaning due to the inconsecuential or distracting elements not possible to cut out just by framing before the opportunity vanished . . .

Other use for converging lines ? stating the time of the day

Regards, John and thanks for sharing your image.

-Iván

-- Iván Barrientos M (ingenieria@simltda.tie.cl), December 08, 2001.

Sorry !

I hope you gessed right: "lost" ;-)

-Iván

-- Iván Barrientos M (ingenieria@simltda.tie.cl), December 08, 2001.