"in the photo/picture" constructions.

[Lomaster]

I need to say something like "The third man from the left in this picture is my father"
While i can use この写真は僕の父さんが写っている i have no clue how to make it more specific? この写真は左から三人目の人は僕の父さんです perhaps? Or should i somehow stick 写真の中に into it? Also what about my ordinal structure of 三人の目人 is it alright?

 

[Morphling]

The middle sentence is correct although having 2 topic markers is not ideal. この写真の左から will be better. 三人目 is correct. 三人の目人 is wrong.

 

[Mike Cash]

この写真に写っている左から三人目の人が父です。

If on the left as facing the photo, add 向かって before 左

 

[Lomaster]

この写真に写っている左から三人目の人が父です。

If on the left as facing the photo, add 向かって before 左

Quite a surprise for me, since i thought facing the photo was implied by default.

The middle sentence is correct although having 2 topic markers is not ideal. この写真の左から will be better. 三人目 is correct. 三人の目人 is wrong.

Oh, 三人の目人 was a misprint. Thanks for the solution of avoiding two topic markers!

 

[Mike Cash]

Quite a surprise for me, since i thought facing the photo was implied by default.

It is, but there's always that one guy who thinks you're talking left/right from the viewpoint of the people in the photo, isn't there? I just gave you the tool for clarifying. No extra charge.

 

[Lomaster]

It is, but there's always that one guy who thinks you're talking left/right from the viewpoint of the people in the photo, isn't there? I just gave you the tool for clarifying. No extra charge.

Appreciate that. Although you almost ended up making me use 向かって every time =Ъ

 

[Morphling]

写真の左 is pretty unambiguous. Left of the photo. If only 左 is used then I can see it can be either 写真に写っている人の左 or 写真の左.

 

[Mike Cash]

Show the photo to enough people with that unambiguous wording (which I totally agree it is) and it is merely a matter of time until you run into a knucklehead who takes it the other way regardless.

 

[Toritoribe]

写真の左から～人目 is unambiguous, but "a person in the photo の左" is ambiguous.
e.g.
青いシャツを着た人の左にいるのが父です。

The two interpretations; "from the viewpoint of the one wearing a blue shirt" and "from the viewpoint of the speaker" are both possible in this sentence. In this case, 向かって is used to make clear which viewpoint the speaker is referring to.

青いシャツを着た人の、向かって左にいるのが父です。