Critique Welcomed A Portrait of Meg

[Brian Moore]

My younger daughter Meg at the Church of St. Barbara in Kutna Hora, Czech Republic.

Its a little out of focus (I'm finding manual focusing to be getting progressively less easy over time) but I like the picture anyway. The film was the accidentally cross-processed Agfa Precisa 100 slide film which I devved in C41 chems. (@Pete Askew: the film canister is marked "Made in Japan" so it must be the Fuji-made Agfa film that was mentioned in the link you forwarded me the other day.)

Canon F1. Can't remember for sure what lens (dammit!). It has the look of a 50mm to me, so it may have been the Canon FD 50/1.4 (which I find particularly hard to focus accurately).

Edit:
Whoa,...! Now I see it in larger size I realize how badly out of focus this image is!

Edit #2:
Meg just corrected me; this is actually taken inside the Old Town Hall in Prague.

 

[Tom Dunne]

Out of focus or not Brian the image will always serve as a good reminder of your time out with your daughter and for me anyway these are the most important images we take. It's a nice set up in a very nice place.
There seems to be a bit of damage around the lights and other highlight area which might be down to a little to much processing.
Focussing? With the old rangefinders and analogue cameras I also have problems tying to guess the distance but it is still fun.
Best thing is to try and ensure that you only have to focus on infinity

 

[Brian Moore]

Out of focus or not Brian the image will always serve as a good reminder of your time out with your daughter and for me anyway these are the most important images we take. It's a nice set up in a very nice place.
There seems to be a bit of damage around the lights and other highlight area which might be down to a little to much processing.
Focussing? With the old rangefinders and analogue cameras I also have problems tying to guess the distance but it is still fun.
Best thing is to try and ensure that you only have to focus on infinity

Thanks, Tom. Much appreciated. As to the "damage" around the lights I think you are absolutely correct: Too much processing. This again was one of the slide films I accidentally cross-processed in C41 chemicals. However, the main problem with this image (and a number of others from the 2 slide film rolls I didn't know I was shooting) was poor exposure. I was shooting the film as if it were prints, which have more latitude than slides. I think I terribly under-exposed this and so I had to work hard to make something of it. This likely cause the processing damage you see.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Well, I think it's really nice, Brian. That's it.

 

[Brian Moore]

Well, I think it's really nice, Brian. That's it.

Succinctly stated, Rob. And thank you!

 

[Pete Askew]

Well. I actually really like the blurring, especially around her legs and the tones / colours are super. Lose the top and it would look just like a shot with an SX-70!

 

[Paul Lange]

At least the dust is in focus.

Seriously, very nice Brian, those soft colours are great.

 

[Brian Moore]

Well. I actually really like the blurring, especially around her legs and the tones / colours are super. Lose the top and it would look just like a shot with an SX-70!

Thank you, Pete. And you're right. It does have a very SX-70 look about it!

 

[Brian Moore]

At least the dust is in focus.

Seriously, very nice Brian, those soft colours are great.

Oh bugger it! I thought I knew all the RPF Dust Police!

Thank you Paul!

 

[Pete Askew]

That's Detective Chief Superintendent Lange (Dust and Scratches Division) to you sonny!

 

[Brian Moore]

That's Detective Chief Superintendent Lange (Dust and Scratches Division) to you sonny!

Its a fair kop, Sor!

 

[Julian de'Courcy]

Focus is so over rated Brian, plus to my eyes it looks quite normal . Excellent portrait I say.

 

[Brian Moore]

Focus is so over rated Brian, plus to my eyes it looks quite normal . Excellent portrait I say.

lol. I like that Julian. Shall we say, "Out of focus is the new focus." ?

Anyway, thank you, Julian.