Aaaaaaaaargh ... I can't stand it!
I know, you didn't want a treatise on bokeh. But I have this problem, see, I
want my friends (well, everybody in the
world, really, but especially friends) to find work doing what they love; work
that supports them.
You've got such an eye for your vision of the world captured in shallow DOF
B&W. I want it to sell and make you a
successful pro.
I look at images like these, and I just want to cry. Lets just look at one,
"What's keeping her?". A classic type of
shot. People have been doing them at least since Henri C-B. This one of yours
isn't a stand out, but it's good. You've
got the subject in perfect focus, critical moment captured, background
appropriate, Shallow DOF to isolate primary
subject from background and focus on his expression and body language. Great
stuff - until one notices the busy, edgy
background. My eye keeps being distracted. Sigh.
<http://www.moosemystic.net/Gallery/Others/Loubser/what__s_keeping_her__by_philosomatographer.htm>
I'm no great shakes in knowledge of the great, successful photographers, but I
have browsed my share of books. I'm not
recalling such backgrounds - and you know I notice 'em. There are many H C-Bs
on the web. I just looked through some.
The vast majority have smooth bokeh. He isn't always able to use DOF as as
strong a separator as you can, because such
fast lenses weren't available to him. Of those here, only one, of the
aggressive looking guy, has any edginess in the
background. And look at the last one. Specular reflection in the glass, but it
has no weird edges.
<http://www.photopathway.com/photography/henri-cartier-bressons-sayings/>
And today? Peter Turnley is a contemporary photographer who has made his living
at it for a few decades. And he takes
pics of folks in bars, albeit it in Paris. :-)
Do you see bright, hard edges, multiple edges, halos around shadows, or
multiplied fine lines here?
<http://www.peterturnley.com/printsite/page02.php>
Or here? <http://www.peterturnley.com/printsite/page07.php>
Here? <http://www.peterturnley.com/printsite/page57.php>
Those images sell as 16x20s for $1,200. He just sold almost 500 prints in a
week in a special sale on TOP.
My conclusion is that what people with the $ to buy find art photographs expect
to see, and are most inclined to buy, in
the kind of work you do, is smooth bokeh, even though they probably have never
heard the term, and might not consciously
notice it - unless it bit them. There is simply an emotional difference between
smooth and hard edged.
So, if you are just having a lot of fun shooting and printing, and worshiping
the occasional new lens, ignore me. If you
have any thoughts of selling images in any quantity, and at decent prices, take
a closer look at what you are doing and
what has been successful for others. Maybe even keep track of what people are
buying in galleries, if possible.
Artists do sometimes get away with a new 'look' or esthetic, but only, I think,
when it is part of a legitimate vision,
a way of seeing differently, that captures some buyers' attention. And I don't
see that sort of vision in the bokeh in
your work.
Ranting Moose, Employment Consultant
--
What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
--
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