Out on the town 1940's style!

[ScottT]

So far this has been my only attempt at taking images of people. I normally stick with landscapes and wildlife. Last year we paid a trip to the Crich Tram Museum 1940's weekend. Although the people there expect to have there images taken I like to try and capture them candidly rather than staged. I noticed that when people came out of the public house they had to stop and look for a route out as it was so busy. This gave me a couple of seconds to take a shot from the side from a fair distance with a telephoto lens and to catch them unaware. I desaturated the background in photoshop to give a hint of 1940's monochrome (which is a miracle for me as photoshop and lightroom are not my forte!) Hope you Like it and something I really want to do more of. 

[Hatter]

This works quite well with the subject emerging from the repeating pattern of the pillars.  I find the strong colours of the hat, glove and hair draw my attention - would it help to partially desaturate those?

Candid shots from a distance with a long lens tends to be my methodology for people pictures too.  I do think I get better pictures from closer with my 50mm though.

 

 

[ScottT]

10 hours ago, Hatter said:

This works quite well with the subject emerging from the repeating pattern of the pillars.  I find the strong colours of the hat, glove and hair draw my attention - would it help to partially desaturate those?

Candid shots from a distance with a long lens tends to be my methodology for people pictures too.  I do think I get better pictures from closer with my 50mm though.

 

 

Cheers Gareth, I suppose I wanted to make the girl stand out and also give a nod to the fact that we are looking at a time period to the end of the war. A pretty bleak period as I understand it. So the drab background represents life in general at the time but the young girl is still attempting to bring some colour into the world.

Well That's the story I was trying to tell.  As I say this form of photography is all new to me so I may be slightly mad professor mode, and anything could happen

[johntwo]

I must admit that I like this just as it is.  I suspect as a representation of most of the 1940, her outfit is possibly too opulent but as an image it is well seen.  Nice work.

[ScottT]

5 hours ago, johntwo said:

I must admit that I like this just as it is.  I suspect as a representation of most of the 1940, her outfit is possibly too opulent but as an image it is well seen.  Nice work.

Cheers John, Unfortunately I can't vouch for the colour either but she certainly stood out!

Scott

[Clicker]

Yes ..  I like that too ScottT...  .. I  like the confident pose and I think the bright colours absolutely work  because  of the  sepia tones  of the rest of the image ... . She does look like she spotted you too though ..

[Ryewolf]

I like this, desaturating the background has worked well. I've also been to Crich Tramway Village on a 1940's weekend and I remember that the pub exterior had deep reb-brown tiling on the frontage.

[Kobione]

Agree that the nice colour against the background makes it, and the pose too, as already mentioned.

[ScottT]

3 hours ago, Clicker said:

Yes ..  I like that too ScottT...  .. I  like the confident pose and I think the bright colours absolutely work  because  of the  sepia tones  of the rest of the image ... . She does look like she spotted you too though ..

Perhaps your right, although it could have been one of the other photographers she spotted!

[ScottT]

1 hour ago, Ryewolf said:

I like this, desaturating the background has worked well. I've also been to Crich Tramway Village on a 1940's weekend and I remember that the pub exterior had deep reb-brown tiling on the frontage.

Thanks, I'm a complete novice at this type of photography but have to say I really enjoyed it so will definitely be having another go!

Scott

[ScottT]

10 minutes ago, Kobione said:

Agree that the nice colour against the background makes it, and the pose too, as already mentioned.

Cheers, she was extremely bright and I liked the idea of highlighting her against a drab wartime background.

Scott

[Clicker]

Oooh you’ve got a yellow ribbon Scott for one of your first  images on the Forum ...  it’s awarded once there are five or more “ likes”  registered  for an image by members ...

[Hatter]

Looks like I'm outvoted over the colour then!  

[Ryewolf]

11 minutes ago, Hatter said:

Looks like I'm outvoted over the colour then

I think Scott has got the balance just about right, I remember the tiles of the pub being a dark reddy-brown and I think with the pale blue/grey coat, the purple gloves/hat and red hair pull it from the background.

[Brian]

A great image that to me is spot on. I can remember my older sister dressing exactly like that when I was a kid. Very 40's and I like the desaturation that accentuates the clothing accessories.