Stuff I did not do so well:
For a small town, this little parade had a lot going on and moved along fairly quickly. When it was all over I realized I probably did not move more than about 50 feet from where I started during the whole thing. I really ought to have moved my feet much more and tried to get some shots from the other side of the street also. This also includes a failure to get close. I got caught up in the activity and pace of the event and just did not think about it.
Stuff I did well:
I rarely use my 18-200mm lens because I have better ones. Since it was bright and sunny and I would have had a hard time dealing with two different cameras with two different sets of controls had I put a short lens on one and a longer lens on the other, I think it was not a bad choice for this event. I also did not want to change lenses because it was very dusty on the side of the road.
I think I got some nice overall photos that describe the event on a larger scale, some nice close ups and some interesting detail shots. There were so many good shots that I could have included and it became hard to choose one over the other by any other means beyond personal preference. I will add some additional comments between the photos.
230 total photos
At 120 photos it started getting difficult to remove one photo over another
50 keepers
Click on photo to enlarge
I really liked the shot of the guy above with the brightly colored flags around him.
I thought the black car with the black uniform and sunglasses worked well. The blackness stands out in my opinion. Maureen does not like this shot. I would be interested in your opinion. Maybe this is a guy thing.
Usually I try to avoid photos of people looking right at me but the little boy on the back of the truck looking back caught my eye.
The shots of the little boy in this old yellow hotrod I really liked. He was an interesting detail that sticks out surrounded by yellow. Without the red hat, I do not think it would work.
I really like the dust in the previous two shots
The first of the two Smokey photos, where he is framed between the window and the mirror, is one of my favorites from this set.
The lady handing the kid a red hat would have been better if there was some way I could have added contrast to the hat. As it is, it is almost invisible and I would have left this photo out of the set except for this discussion point.
It's good you're identifying what you were able to capitalize on. With a parade, you really have to keep moving with it and constantly be on the look out for opportunities.
ReplyDeleteIf you weren't afraid of being bit, those dogs would have been awesome to get up close and personal too. Parades are always tough to capture because you either have to isolate, get really close or find a way to show the crowd and the parade in one shot. I like the shot of the girl throwing candy from the guys lap.
The guy with the colorful flags I like. Nice framing, good texture light. Not a lot of moment or mood to it, but it's shot with some purpose.
The guy in the black car with the black uniform, I'm with Maureen on this one. It's just a dark frame with sunglasses. Not a lot here to give you anything and it isn't the most artfully shot photo.
The kids in the back of the truck has something going for it. A little atmosphere, some small-town feel to it. The kids looking at you is a little odd, but not too bad. This is the one where you wait for him to look somewhere else. But then again, maybe he thought he was having a staring contest.
The kids in the yellow car looks like he was passing by and you shot it. There could have been something there if you worked the colors of the car against the color of the hat. Maybe closer and walk along side him or something.
The Smokey Bear shots aren't my favorites. Not a lot of emotion you can get from a big furry head on somebody. Maybe if there was someone else in the frame. The other firetruck shots are a little loose. The kid inside the cab on the woman's lap is lost in the frame.