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Too Many Choices
Too Many Choices
Army of nOne


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: For Sale (Advanced Editing V*)
Camera: Canon EOS-30D
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
Location: Austin, TX
Date: Dec 9, 2006
Aperture: 4
ISO: 800
Shutter: 1/60
Galleries: Urban, Advertisement
Date Uploaded: Dec 9, 2006

Post-Processing:

Rotated about 1.4 deg CW. Cropped. Auto Color. Curves. Created a layer using Polygonal Tool via Copy of lady, and added a minor glow around her to separate her a little from the chaos. Resize. Unsharp Mask. Cloned out two extra heads in the original. Added Border.

Notes:

I am not sure how this will do. I have hopes that it will do well, but I haven't submitted anything this chaotic before. The idea was that the overwhelming busy-ness in the photo portrays the capitalistic glut that is the holiday shopping season. I thought the little old lady staring up at the rows helped to convey the idea so I went with it.

Post-challenge: Wow. 4th place! I was thinking all week I had top ten locked up, but that a ribbon was a long shot. I couldn't be happier. Thank you for all the nice comments.

Statistics
Place: 4 out of 120
Avg (all users): 6.6189
Avg (commenters): 7.8800
Avg (participants): 6.5273
Avg (non-participants): 6.6429
Views since voting: 2246
Views during voting: 440
Votes: 265
Comments: 40
Favorites: 1 (view)


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AuthorThread
12/22/2006 02:53:43 AM
Originally posted by agenkin:

Originally posted by posthumous:

I think the woman is the focal point. I don't need to see eyes to be drawn to a figure. I find the back to be very compelling. The figure is facing the same way I am, forcing a kind of empathy.

Don, the size of the woman's figure and its position in the frame are to insignificant for her to be a focal point; at least it isn't working for me. I am not opposed to the idea of photographing this from the back - I offered the other perspective only as a demonstration that a photograph can have an accent *and* convey indecisiveness at the same time.


I think the fact that the woman is not a row of books is enough in this busy photo to make her a focal point. If I didn't think she was a focal point, I would have cloned her out of the photo along with a couple other people who were there a couple rows back. I guess there is no right answer. I'm happy with my 4th place finish regardless.

Message edited by author 2006-12-22 03:14:18.
12/22/2006 12:42:19 AM
Originally posted by posthumous:

I think the woman is the focal point. I don't need to see eyes to be drawn to a figure. I find the back to be very compelling. The figure is facing the same way I am, forcing a kind of empathy.

Don, the size of the woman's figure and its position in the frame are to insignificant for her to be a focal point; at least it isn't working for me. I am not opposed to the idea of photographing this from the back - I offered the other perspective only as a demonstration that a photograph can have an accent *and* convey indecisiveness at the same time.
12/21/2006 05:22:31 PM
I think the woman is the focal point. I don't need to see eyes to be drawn to a figure. I find the back to be very compelling. The figure is facing the same way I am, forcing a kind of empathy.

Though this might be more the realm of conceptual art than what you call photography, agenkin.
12/21/2006 04:11:18 PM
Originally posted by Army of nOne:

Interestingly enough, the reason you don't like the image is the same reason I do. The point of the image is not to draw the eye to one specific beautiful spot for an "ah-ha" moment. Instead, it is to highlight the fact that the customer is bombarded with choices. There cannot be a focal point for the customer walking in and looking at the immense selection, and I think this is emphasized by the lack of a focal point in the image. If anything, a focal point other than the shopper would detract from the message of the image.

I quite disagree. To express "boredom", for example, the image itself does not need to be boring. The same way, to express multitude and difficulty of choice does not call for an image without a compositional accent.

Just for example, if you shot the same scene from a different perspective, say, from the left with a wide angle lens, showing the woman's puzzled face/hunting eyes, and a wall of books in front of her, this would be a much better image, conveying precisely the same point.
12/21/2006 02:22:44 PM
I love your point of view on this, "image without subject", really punches home the chaos of choices. Congrats on 4th!
12/20/2006 09:47:55 PM
Originally posted by agenkin:

I don't like this image. It is too up-front, and there is no accent, nothing to rest the eye upon.


Interestingly enough, the reason you don't like the image is the same reason I do. The point of the image is not to draw the eye to one specific beautiful spot for an "ah-ha" moment. Instead, it is to highlight the fact that the customer is bombarded with choices. There cannot be a focal point for the customer walking in and looking at the immense selection, and I think this is emphasized by the lack of a focal point in the image. If anything, a focal point other than the shopper would detract from the message of the image.
12/20/2006 05:08:57 PM
I don't like this image. It is too up-front, and there is no accent, nothing to rest the eye upon.
12/20/2006 05:06:18 PM
Wow, this one almost makes you dizzy! Congratulations on 4th place.
12/20/2006 11:08:01 AM
Oh how AWESOME! Are you on a role or WHAT! :)

I think you're right on this one: the busyness ADDS to it! Fantastic job Matt!!!!
12/20/2006 03:03:39 AM
Congrats on your 4th, Matthew, this should have been ribboning.
12/20/2006 01:08:58 AM
When I saw this I thought it would ribbon but an honorable mention isn't so bad. Congrats!
12/20/2006 12:40:34 AM
Congrats on 4th. I had hoped to se ethi shigh up. Well done. PS The chaos is perfect.
12/20/2006 12:30:59 AM
Outstanding!! Congrats on a great score and an awesome placing! Very nicely seen and captured.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
12/19/2006 05:51:04 PM
this is so true...great capture
12/19/2006 01:00:06 PM
Nice picture. This is one case where the centered subject works for me.
12/19/2006 05:12:07 AM
well exposed and balanced indoor shot. great moment captured too. reflects our current consumerism-driven society pretty well, eh?
12/18/2006 07:47:02 PM
OMG! that's awesome. BOOOOOKs! I absolutely love photos that encompass themselves - this image is like a great book that I can read in 45 seconds at 640 pixels ... 45 minutes at higher resolutions.The only thing that might make it better would be feet and a bit more clarity on the person and overall. At least it has a good ending. 8
12/18/2006 08:52:21 AM
The best fulfillment of the challenge. 9
12/18/2006 05:46:31 AM
you've totally captured your title with this shot ... =9
12/17/2006 01:10:51 AM
I love this because you look at the picture and think "oh lots of books" and then the eye wanders and you suddenly realise HOW MANY books there are because the little woman is dwarfed by the huge display and volumes of volumes.
12/16/2006 08:40:06 PM
This is just crazy! How would anyone ever decide or even find what they are looking for in this store!? I love the scale and perspective - so glad that lady is included. Back to bump you up to 8.
12/16/2006 05:45:18 PM
Love the humor in this :) Overwhelming to say the least - 8
12/15/2006 09:11:52 PM
Yeh true
12/15/2006 09:13:55 AM
Very cool. Though it does seem to be going downhill from Right to Left. I don't think it matters much though, because the photo itself is brilliant enough to overcome it. I like it very much. GL.
12/15/2006 02:31:02 AM
This is great!
12/14/2006 01:15:59 PM
very nice angle, and the lady makes the photo not as busy, ties it together. 8
12/14/2006 11:52:10 AM
Nice composition. Angle helps empahsize the scale of it all.
12/14/2006 10:50:17 AM
In this case busyness works! The texture created by the books makes a great background for your singel subject.
12/14/2006 10:16:36 AM
nice composition. considering bright colored book covers, person with bright/light-colored clothes would have worked really really well here. this is excellent nonetheless.
12/13/2006 09:28:54 PM
Very nice view!
12/13/2006 08:06:28 PM
Excellent
12/13/2006 07:54:45 PM
great idea and execution. your framing made this shot. just the woman and a few rows of books would not due, but you create a seemingly endless supply of books/products. the lighting and temperature of the light is obviously difficult to control in that book store environment, could be better with more saturation in the foreground. you should be proud of this shot, my number 1 in the challenge.
12/13/2006 03:43:46 PM
nice photo.
12/13/2006 02:03:41 PM
A great idea...excellent framing...the soft focus doesn't work for me...5
12/13/2006 12:15:35 PM
Great use of depth compression, this really conveys your concept very well.
12/13/2006 11:37:06 AM
This is a really busy picture and in this instance it works really well since it supports the theme of the picture. I like it.
12/13/2006 10:32:39 AM
great perspective
12/13/2006 07:15:52 AM
This is great! Its almost ridiculous how massive it is compared to the shopper. A wonderful find and capture. I hope this does well for you. Bumping up to a 9 for now.
12/13/2006 02:57:31 AM
excellent shot. so much detail here.
12/13/2006 12:44:05 AM
Wow, cool idea! Great depth, well seen and shot!


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