Jack Florence Jr
October 2024 - Grape Harvest
About the Image(s)
Here's my annual grape harvest photo journalism image. I intentionally focused on the grapes and let the people blur, do you think this is a problem for a journalism image? Does it work overall?
This round’s discussion is now closed!
7 comments posted
Always enjoy your vineyard images! The grapes are the primary subject - so I think it works that the people are out of focus. We can easily make out what they are doing - they don't need to be sharp. Grapes at the very bottom of the frame are not in focus - I find that distracting. Perhaps crop up slightly - to ensure that the foreground grapes are tack sharp. The grapes getting thrown into the container at the top - are a bit odd - kind of hanging in the air. I might have preferred an image with them in the man's hands. Also. - to my eye the quality of the out of focus areas isn't as pleasing as you could have captured with a conventional camera. Posted: 10/02/2024 09:10:21
Thanks, Steve. Stephen ( below) also picked up on what you're seeing. I used to bring my slr camera with me and tuck it somewhere on the tractor, but I have to admit I'm more of a casual photographer these days. I appreciate that you help raise some of the limitations of phone cameras in photojournalism. Posted: 10/14/2024 15:56:44
(Group 32)
You have a very challenging picture you are trying to take here. The subject ranges from a few inches to 15 feet away from the camera. Steven is correct that a conventional camera would have done better with its generally greater depth of field.
Another approach would have been to stand to one side so that the grapes in the bin were about three feet away and the working tossing the grapes about eight feet away. Hopefully that would still give you the range of views you wanted.
Another exploration would be shutter speed. At a slower shutter speed, the tossed grapes would have blurred, showing their motion.
Lastly, and this is antithetical to using a phone camera, a tilt/shift lens on a convention camera would have allowed you to adjust the plane of sharp focus to include the near grapes all the way out to the worker tossing their bin of grapes. Posted: 10/06/2024 05:00:21
Another approach would have been to stand to one side so that the grapes in the bin were about three feet away and the working tossing the grapes about eight feet away. Hopefully that would still give you the range of views you wanted.
Another exploration would be shutter speed. At a slower shutter speed, the tossed grapes would have blurred, showing their motion.
Lastly, and this is antithetical to using a phone camera, a tilt/shift lens on a convention camera would have allowed you to adjust the plane of sharp focus to include the near grapes all the way out to the worker tossing their bin of grapes. Posted: 10/06/2024 05:00:21
Thanks for weighing in, Stephen. In a group that we often focus on the benefits of using a phone camera, this image and your comments raise some of the drawbacks and limitations. I appreciate the different options you present for capturing scenes like this. Posted: 10/14/2024 15:53:16
An interesting photo with so much going on although obviously the grapes are the subject.
Before I even read the above comments, I had zoomed in on the other bits and the grapes "flying" were very cool. I would have loved a zoomed in photo of those. But in the context of this photo, they were a bit distracting.
But wow, what a great subject to take photos of. Posted: 10/07/2024 20:59:56
Before I even read the above comments, I had zoomed in on the other bits and the grapes "flying" were very cool. I would have loved a zoomed in photo of those. But in the context of this photo, they were a bit distracting.
But wow, what a great subject to take photos of. Posted: 10/07/2024 20:59:56
Jack, Cropping from the bottom as Stephen suggest would improve the sharpness on the main grapes. The harvest is a great subject for shooting. Posted: 10/14/2024 16:06:29
Hi Jack,
The vertical wide angle shot makes the grapes look huge! For photojournalism, I'd prefer to see the people's actions more than the grapes. The way people transferring the grapes from the white containers to grey containers or vice versa grabs my attention more. I'd want to see more images on that. Thanks for sharing your shot! Posted: 10/21/2024 18:14:47
The vertical wide angle shot makes the grapes look huge! For photojournalism, I'd prefer to see the people's actions more than the grapes. The way people transferring the grapes from the white containers to grey containers or vice versa grabs my attention more. I'd want to see more images on that. Thanks for sharing your shot! Posted: 10/21/2024 18:14:47