Painters in Montmartre

Some street shots to test my brand new Nikon D700... yeah, i'm back to digital
I wonder about these two pictures : are they bad or not ? First one present a big blurrish thing in the right corner, doesn't really hurt me but you ? Second one has a kind of focus error : i think i should have focused the painter's hand in action rather than his back, don't know if this picture works or not. What do you think about them ?

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Cédric,
so you do both now, digi and film? Congrats anyway....


as for the critique; you call the shots...

the first image has a nice approach toward the artist, canvas, etc, but contrary to you, I'm not disturbed by the blur, but not to keen on the red coat at the left. It destroys to much the different colors and levels of all these canvas, a labyrinthe - with the artist beeing the unifying, calme point. But then, whithout the people at the left and right, it might be best; but then again, the artist would look differently....

I'm quite amazed, that these painters still can live from their work in Monmartre; I thought they might have gone, with all that globalization of art market on one side and digicamisation of the society on the other side.

The 2nd photo reminds me Andrej Rublov in the movie with he same title from Andrej Tarkowsky; he says: "Don't look at me, but look my paintings"

A very shallowd DOF on the hand and brush only would have been nice, don't you think so?

Yes, i continue film, mainly for b&w but also for colour which can get an unique rendering with appropriate film (ah.. Portra NC...) in some conditions. I was missing a good digital stuff.

What i like in the first one is this anxious waiting from the painter, we can feel his will to sell one of his paintings... and that the red/pink coat is a potential buyer.

You're right for the second one, i would have prefered a focus on the hand, i shot it too quickly...

Cedric,

Thanks for sharing. In the first I think I want a bit more of/from the artist - perhaps leaning a bit more forwards and so making the blurred head and red coat a bit smaller in the frame?

The second I prefer, but wonder whether the focus should be on the face rather than the back? The hand would also be good.

I appreciate what you say about colour film and it's rendering. Although I started shooting film again for fun and black and white, I've really enjoyed Portra 160 (NC and VC - VC is here) for their rendering. I've also shot a bit of the new ektar and it makes a good base for black and white conversion as wel as being bright and cheery in it's own right.

Still, it's nice to have a digital alternative as well.

Welcome back.

Mike