On 8/13/2015 3:21 PM, Tony Cooper wrote:
On Thu, 13 Aug 2015 13:51:26 -0400, PeterN
wrote:

On 8/13/2015 10:49 AM, Tony Cooper wrote:
On Thu, 13 Aug 2015 10:06:16 -0400, PeterN
wrote:

On 8/12/2015 11:10 PM, Tony Cooper wrote:
On Wed, 12 Aug 2015 21:14:25 -0400, Ron C wrote:

On 8/12/2015 5:58 PM, PeterN wrote:
Tony Cooper and I'm sure a lot of others would never do this.
When I want to take a break from playing poker, I walk around taking
pictures.
AFAIK most casinos do not allow photography. Mohegan Sun does, within
limits. You may not go on the casino floor, but must stand behind a low
rail. The restriction doesn't seem to unduly hinder photo ops.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/97242118/the%20casino.jpg


I don't have a problem with the rendition being abstract and
artistic. I tend to like that kind of stuff. Heck, my artistic formative
years were the psychedelic late 60's -- 70's.
Anyway, the problem I have is that no matter where I looked my
eye tended to wander off the picture.

One thought I had for adding a focus point was to have a saturation
gradient. Here's a (somewhat heavy handed) quick test of the concept.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/b72e5o6mgu...no-01.jpg?dl=0

Ah, but it's not my photo... so, as always: YMMV

Peter's version is much bolder than yours, and the bolder version
seems to work better in my view. You've toned it down and the result
is too muddy looking for me.

I'm not big on re-working other people's work, but I'll do it here. I
would crop the left side off thusly:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/joc80fxmho...inoTC.jpg?dl=0


I think Ron C had a valid point about lacking a center of interest. One
of the reasons I posted was that I couldn't put my finger on what the
image lacked. My problem with your version is that my eye did indeed
bounce between the two tables and the red pit boos stand in the middle.
So as I previously responded I cropped the image to one table.

BTW there is a lot of street potential in casinos. As you know that is
not what I look for. Do the Indian casinos near you allow photography?

We crop a photo to present the scene as we think it should be
presented. I was willing to crop wider than Ron C because I think the
elements I included are appropriate for the scene. It's a little
unbalanced due to the mass on the right, but that's acceptable to me.

The more severe crop, in my opinion, makes the scene too crowded and
busy.

The nearest Indian casino to me is in Tampa...about two hours away.
I've never been there.

I have photographed inside the dog track, but I don't know if it was
allowed or not. No one challenged me.

https://tonycooper.smugmug.com/Dog-T...1-30-09-X2.jpg

This is not inside, but it is of a gambler:

https://tonycooper.smugmug.com/Dog-T...dog-012-X2.jpg

You image certainly shows the man in his environment. I still have that
old fashioned preference for monochrome, for most street.

I did several black and whites of that day.
https://tonycooper.smugmug.com/Dog-Track


We have previously differed on cropping. I usually prefer a much tighter
crop than you. But, that's OK. Just a matter of taste.

I don't subscribe to tight crop or wide crop. Crop is based on the
photo itself. What I do practice is shooting wide in the first place
and determining the crop in post with a lot to work with.

In Image #6, 2011-11-30-07, the crop is very wide. You might crop
narrow on just the man, but my crop is intended to show the man as
somewhat isolated. He's all by himself studying the program.



Warning: Mini Rant:

Warning: Photographs of dogs are in that gallery.

My daughter's dog competing at Westminster. She qualified for the
finals, but totally screwed up. (She saw a TV camera and decided to
pose, rather than complete her run.) Even though she totally messed up,
she still gets lots of love and affection. They don't do that with
racing greyhounds.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/97242118/stormy%201.jpg


Recently I submitted two images in my camera club's monthly
competition. The black and white was a photograph of a street person.
The judge admitted to liking the treatment, but rated it very low
because he abhors photographing "bums". He feels that it is offensive
to take advantage of them. To which I reply: Ã* chacun son goût.

Chevaux pour les cours

In our regional competition one judge took two points off because I
mounted it on a white matte, instead of a black matte. The image lost
first place by one point.




The second image, in color, placed third; missing first by less than a
full point. I thought it was rather ordinary, but the subject matter
was innocuous.


Yes camera club judging is far from perfect. I only submit for the cometary.


When I first joined my camera club I was in the beginner's group. The
judge stated that one image I submitted was the worst he ever saw. I
liked the image. A few years later the same image was runner up for
print of the year in the salon group.


--
PeterN