NYC Firemen protest book launching of "American Ground" by author William Langeweisse at a Barnes & Nobles store. The event was cancelled half way through due to the protest. It was taken at night with street lights and TV crews present, making for about the worst of all possible conditions. I was almost arrested too, by the way.
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Hi- Critique Club here - I gave your picture a 6 originally. Now I'm coming back to review it. This was Almost a great shot.
First it is perfect for the photo journalism challenge, capturing a dynamic moment. The mood of tension is evident in the picture. The slightly out of focus placards seem like they are being shaken angrily. The uniformed arm on the far right seems to be putting up a poster as we view him. This picture is happening now!
Compositionally it has some great things going for it. Movement contributes to mood. The man on the left looking left, center looking forward, right looking right. Then there is another similar balance created by the posters and the words Lies. Some red Lies on the right, some on the left. In the center, the more human, hand printed "lies". I like that the fireman's patch on his jacket is mirrored by the emblem on the banner. Did you all notice that the colors in the picture are almost exclusively red, white, and blue? That makes the yellow on the fireman's sleeve stand out so well and remind us of all the images of firemen in those black and yellow rescue coats - subtle, clever.
Now the negatives (ouch). Given that it is a night shot, in a crowd, avoiding handcuffs, it's pretty good and I suppose the tippiness might have been intentional. However, my personal pet peeve is crooked pictures and it bugs me that it is not straight. Also bugs me that the foreground is overstated, there doesn't need to be that much sidewalk when the guys heads are so crowded at the top. I might have cropped it just below the shiney black shoes and then taken a bit off the left to maintain the required ratio, maybe right next to the A. I don't think the ground zero photograph adds anything. you don't need all the lies because you know what it says if you have one. Guess we both wish there had been more to work with on the top.
Nice photo. Good composition and nice execution, maybe a little to tight and crowded. Nice soft focus helps here. Wish you had zoomed back a little. That would have helped the crowded look. Otherwise, nice shot and I would want to read to see what all the were picketing for. PTL7
Great coverage, a real live event, and even got a plug in for the website. It really is too bad a head got partially cut off. If you'd have tilted slightly upward it would have been avoided. Definetly a newsworthy event. Good luck in the challenge. Grayce aka Gracious
Controversial -- a great topic for this challenge. The focus seems a little off and the colors could be brighter in the background, but overall an excellent idea for this week. muckpond
I think this one would be better if you pointed the camera up a little higher to eliminate all that ground on the bottom. It also feels a bit uncomfortable to me because their heads are so close to the top of the frame.
I don't think your composition is the best it could be here and the lighting is weak. The shot is nice and clear, clean, crisp, in focus and that says a lot!!! It's also on topic. Okay job. Justine.
Composition: Subject Placement, Cropping, Background8, Technical: Focus, Exposure, Lighting, Processing6, Appeal: Is it Interesting, Motivating, Etc.? 7, Total Averaged Rating7. Autool IMO the relationship between the title and picture are key elements in this challenge. No not a picket line. Langewiesche's book probably did not tell the complete truth and was another example of exploiting a dreadful disaster.
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