DPChallenge: A Digital Photography Contest You are not logged in. (log in or register
 
Challenge Entries
Portfolio Images
This image is not part of a public portfolio.
Time Pressure
Time Pressure
e301


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Faceless (Advanced Editing IV)
Camera: Fujifilm FinePix A340 Zoom
Location: Canary Wharf, London
Date: Jan 21, 2005
Aperture: f/7.2
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/1024
Galleries: Urban, Candid
Date Uploaded: Jan 21, 2005

I was shooting this because i thought it would be fun to have visible faces - on the clocks - along with the challenge intent of having faceless people; then the young woman in the wheelchair passed across the frame, and it struck me immediately that the lives of so many disabled people are faceless in an entirely different way.

I'll be interested to see how many people pick up on the faces of the clocks, though. Not expecting many.

It's struck me that I rarely put any processing information, or shooting information, on any of my shots these days. Here, I was shooting into the light with a properly compact camera - this was shot using the viewfinder, rather than the screen, I think. Given that depth of field is so great on these cameras (the EXIF reports that the focal length of this shot is 10mm), it's more important to use the focus-setting half push of the release to set the exposure of the shot. Here it was at the point of those stairs where the sun hits them - the brightest part of frame. That way, one can be pretty certain that nothing is going to be over-exposed. Almost everything else can be sorted in post. I also keep the camera permanently set to a -0.6 exposure compensation - for exactly the same reason.

I've also used a wider than usual border to add separation between the image and the dpc background: quite a lot of the tones of this image circle around that same colour, and I didn't want it to feel like an extension of that plane.

But it's not about the shooting or the camera, it's about the image.

Statistics
Place: 4 out of 173
Avg (all users): 6.7087
Avg (commenters): 8.5714
Avg (participants): 6.7895
Avg (non-participants): 6.6519
Views since voting: 3140
Views during voting: 398
Votes: 230
Comments: 35
Favorites: 29 (view)


Please log in or register to add your comments!

AuthorThread
11/13/2008 01:44:08 PM
Amazing work...this one is stressing me out even though there is a bit a of lazy feel to it... I guess to me it displays time passing without us realising...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
07/31/2007 03:35:23 PM
Maybe it's just me, but I don't see anything at the top of the frame that's confusing at all. Fits in with the rest of the picture quite nicely.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/31/2005 08:50:36 PM
Congratulations on your 4th placing with this outstanding image whose b/w rendition simply spells 1st to 5th contender. Good work.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/31/2005 08:09:11 PM
This was one of my favorite two shots of this challenge, and I think it deserved a ribbon.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/31/2005 06:10:13 PM
Congratulations on your 4th placing, this is a great image!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/31/2005 01:37:26 PM
I caught the contrast between the clock faces and the faceless people, but to be honest, I don't think I noticed the "extra" relevance of the person in the wheelchair -- there are so many people in chairs around where I live that they are usually treated more "normally" than in many places.

I still use my 4 year-old Olympus a lot too ... nice work!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/31/2005 12:16:25 PM
This is my favorite of the challenge - Well done on 4th Place
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/31/2005 07:34:37 AM
Beautiful take on the challenge. Should have made the top three in my opinion.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/31/2005 07:29:38 AM
Stunning shot, Ed. Unlucky to miss out on a ribbon.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/31/2005 07:13:43 AM
Nice one Ed (but a tad unlucky!) - great time of day.

Reminds me of a shot from a recent featured photographer in Digital Photography this month. I'll let you know more when I find it.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/31/2005 06:13:24 AM
I like this very much and think that it works well with the busier top end..it would have been nice to have them space themselves out neatly for you..but life is seldom that kind to us.However, I feel the concept of the numbers increasing as you scan up the image really adds to it`s impact.

I didn`t get round to voting in this challenge but this would have scored very highly if I had.

Nice work Ed...shame about the 4th :)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/31/2005 05:56:14 AM
Thanks to all for votes and comments. My second 4th of the year (once described as the worst of all possible finishes). a few poeple picked up on the confusion at the top of frame, which I did want to try and do something about - but cropping to the edges of the clock faces relegated them in the composition too far, and cloning out the other people there ... well, after a while it just seemed wrong - part of the point was the press and rush and chaos of the people. The crop overall is so narrow because that's how this scene is - immediately to the left of this we get into cafe-world, and that over-confused things, and immediately to the right there's a line of trees, likewise.

Oh - and for those who crave expensive cameras, the one used for this shot cost £110.

Oh again; this was challenge number 301, it appears.

Message edited by author 2005-02-02 13:32:55.
01/31/2005 04:13:00 AM
Doesn't look like anybody picked up on the faces of the clocks showing, I sure didn't. Great feel to this image, well done!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/31/2005 03:12:05 AM
Another 4th place? You have really bad luck here! I gave this a 10, very cool and artistic shot...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/31/2005 02:06:57 AM
Ed ... I must admit I missed the significance of the clocks as faces. Very clever and subtle allusion; I had been thinking more along the lines of "faceless slaves to time" as your motivation here. Alas, you'll have to settle for the "thinking man's blue ribbon".
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/31/2005 02:03:35 AM
Clever, congrats on the 4th place Ed,
Paul.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/31/2005 12:31:26 AM
amazing capture on many levels. Deserves a ribbon imo.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/31/2005 12:13:37 AM
Way kewl! Deserves 2nd!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
01/30/2005 11:46:50 AM
Nice shot.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/29/2005 05:43:49 PM
Ooh, I like this one! Nicely moody.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/29/2005 06:41:27 AM
unusual, nice :)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/29/2005 03:41:45 AM
Other entries with "crowd" or street scene subjects are faceless only in the sense that the faces are too far away to see, or just happen to be turned away or obscured. This one is different. It has a point to it that is cleverly sympathetic to the spirit of this challenge. It's a visually striking image as well. 8
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/29/2005 01:30:52 AM
Very emotive photo. I feel pressed for time when I look at it. Great tones and composition.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/28/2005 05:01:23 PM
nice
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/25/2005 08:47:53 PM
I love this image but something about the narrow crop seems too constricting for it. 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/25/2005 06:14:44 PM
wow--love this! love the light and shadows...it's really cool how there are so many clocks and people hurrying along...then that one person sitting there, seemingly mot moving...like a contradiction. great stuff. :)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/25/2005 09:10:13 AM
Love the picture but I do not think it fits the challenge really....
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/25/2005 04:25:48 AM
i think this is my favourite of the whole challenge, shadows are beautiful, and the clocks make it look kinda surreal. 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/24/2005 11:00:25 PM
love the high contrast on everyone in the picture, very original. Something unlike any other picture in here. beautiful. 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/24/2005 09:16:32 PM
This is really cool. Good eye.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/24/2005 07:25:13 PM
Great shadow and silouhettes. I love the high contrasts. 8.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/24/2005 08:26:47 AM
Holy cow! This shot a beauty. A gerat angle with the perfect use of backlighting. The time theme is great too, I'm really digging it. To be really picky, I would either crop a little bit off the top, or clone out the little white specks in the shadows (one at the top of the image and one on the upper middle right) just for the fact that those areas do not necessarily add to the image, and anything taken away from this great shot would be a crime! This is beautiful work --- straight into favs.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/24/2005 07:58:48 AM
This picture difinitely has something interesting to offer the viewer. An interesting subject, excellent shadows, good composition and satisfies the challenge. Only one suggestion would be to crop out the top half of the picture just above the last clock and since this is an advanced editing challenge, you could have cloned out the feet at the top after cloning. Great job though.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/24/2005 02:23:54 AM
One of 2 photos to receive a 10 from me. A lot of thought gone into this.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
01/24/2005 12:42:15 AM
I think I have seen another shot taken from the exact same position. I think this would be a very strong entry for the 'Light' challenge too. Nice one. Love it.
  Photographer found comment helpful.


Home - Challenges - Community - League - Photos - Cameras - Lenses - Learn - Prints! - Help - Terms of Use - Privacy - Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2024 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 03/28/2024 08:14:24 AM EDT.