I don't claim to be a street photographer, but I thought I'd post this image and see whether people think a shot that is far from being technically perfect is still valid enough to show to an audience.

 

http://1x.com/photo/230374/all:user:419741

 

The image was taken in Cuba, in 2004. The kids were across the street from us, just hanging around and laughing. Suddenly, one of the girls leaned in to the boy on the far right, who did everything he could to be the coolest guy on earth for that few seconds. It was obviously unexpected, as can be seen in the reactions of their friends, but he never flinched.

 

Anyway, because the kiss happened without warning, I barely had time to snatch the camera up and get the shot. The focus is miles off, there is CA all over the high-contrast edges, the exposure needed mouth-to-mouth to rescue it, and the highlights in the white shirts were blown beyond recovery. For all that, I love the actual scene itself.

 

The reason it has been sitting, unused, all these years, is purely down to the technical flaws. Which brings me to my original question. Is an image usable based on content, despite having tons of technical issues, or does it need to reach a certain technical standard before it can be considered as having value?

 

The question, of course, applies to all subjects, I posted in this group simply because of the subject of this particular image.

I would argue that street traditionally has more leeway in terms of what technical flaws are allowed. Precisely because you don't always have all the time to react to capture this or that marvelous scene (I did like your picture a lot and its "flaws" are fine by me). Having said that, of course it depends on whom you ask: some will "allow" you more flaws, some less. What ultimately matters is how a photograph affects people, photographers or not. My formula of a successful photograph is simple: some people liked it a lot. And the rest who did not like it - you cannot care about them all. And sometimes it is not even reasonable to try that more people will like your picture, like with controversial pictures, because lovers of controversial pictures will like it less (that is in general, not about your Cuba picture).

I can't really add much more to what Anna has already said. As much as one would expect high technical standards when it comes to a staged picture, it just doesn't work the same way for the street photography. The only thing I'd ask for (and I'm talking as a mere spectator, which is actually the ultimate viewer of any work of art) is soul. The picture mustn't leave the viewer untouched. Yours doesn't. It has the freshness of youth and spontaneity. I couldn't care less about the technical 'flaws' basically 'cos I'm too busy admiring the composition to notice any. Thanks for sharing. It also takes me back to my childhood years as I spent a couple of them in Habana, so thanks on a personal level, too :)

Anna and Olga, thanks to both of you for your replies.

 

I think it's right that composition should always beat technical issues (at least up to a point), and I'm just sorry that I let a great image sit unseen for so many years!

 

We probably focus (no pun intended) on seeing a razor sharp image with bold colours or high contrast far too much. Such things can be great, but I don't think images should be discarded if they don't comply to strict technical standards.

 

I might put the image in for curation, just to test the theory.

 

Olga, you are so lucky to have lived in Havana. Despite the pressures and problems of the past 60 years, it is truly one of the world's great cities.

Hello Paul, thank you for your contribution. Why dont you send your picture to ur critique section. There you will get a very valid and thoughtful feedback to your photograph.

 

Thank you!

 

Robert, Forum Moderator

Hi Robert

 

Thanks for the suggestion but, having thought about it for a couple of days, I think I'll leave this one out of the critiques. I do generally like the idea of having images critiqued, as it's too easy to get sucked into a very narrow view of your own work, but I just feel that the technical issues that I already know about would dominate the responses.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

Hi Paul, in my view (not much different than the previous ones) street photography includes this aspect, experience plays a role but many times The Unexpected is catching us with "the pants down" :) photographically speaking !!!

This is the magic of it and this is why I adore this kind of photography. I think technical perfection is overrated and it' s influence to photography is bounced by cinema and advertising where everything is staged; as a consequence in photography we tend to mostly admire faultless (and sometimes boring) images. Your photo is a really "cool" street shot, you caught a wonderful moment and I love it!

Gianni

Hi Gianni

 

I think you are right about our modern, slightly sterile viewpoint being influenced by images purely designed to sell us things. I fell into that trap until I rediscovered this image and, further convinced by the responses in this thread, I won't make the same mistake again.

 

Paul