[shajufx]

Guys, we had a wonderful photodrive to Tiruvannamalai and Pondy last weekend. Special thanks to Unni and HW for tolerating me , they are the best friends this forum could contribute to my life so far. We had an overnite stay at Pondy. Apart from the scorching summer heat, the trip gave a lot of memories.

I saw people with lots of pain in their life. Here is just one from Tiruvannamalai temple. Hope you guys will get an idea about what we saw in 2 days through the upcoming posts from 3 of us.

[A350XWB]

^^ Good placement of the subject. Try a BW on this image. I think it'll be good in BW.

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by shajufx

I saw people with lots of pain in their life. Here is just one from Tiruvannamalai temple. Hope you guys will get an idea about what we saw in 2 days through the upcoming posts from 3 of us.
Attachment 349763

The steel rod that is just above the wheels is somewhat distracting to me. Expression in her face can be best captured by a closer portrait... Do you have one? And yes, black & white would be a good idea as told by A350XWB.

Originally Posted by HellwratH

Thanks Clevermax and I love this shot. I love photographs of grass, well done mate.

Thanks HW! I have one more grass shot coming up, for you

[HellwratH]

Originally Posted by shajufx

Guys, we had a wonderful photodrive to Tiruvannamalai and Pondy last weekend. Special thanks to Unni and HW for tolerating me , they are the best friends this forum could contribute to my life so far. We had an overnite stay at Pondy. Apart from the scorching summer heat, the trip gave a lot of memories.

I saw people with lots of pain in their life. Here is just one from Tiruvannamalai temple. Hope you guys will get an idea about what we saw in 2 days through the upcoming posts from 3 of us.
Attachment 349763

Lovely shot Shaju. The expression gives a very nice story about what's on her mind. Coming to the technical aspects, the rod bothers me a bit (as Clevermax pointed out), you could crop in a little closer to take that off I think. The other distraction for me is the brightness on the other side of the frame. It's a little too harsh. You might want to use the burn tool and make it less predominant than the subject. But other than that, I love this photograph.

I think the toughest part for me in this street shooting was that I didn't know the local language. And that kind of held me back in a lot of situations. Hmm, need to find a work around for that now .

Originally Posted by clevermax

Thanks HW! I have one more grass shot coming up, for you

Thanks Clevermax, I am waiting for it.

[shajufx]

Originally Posted by A350XWB

^^ Good placement of the subject. Try a BW on this image. I think it'll be good in BW.

I will try.

Originally Posted by clevermax

The steel rod that is just above the wheels is somewhat distracting to me. Expression in her face can be best captured by a closer portrait... Do you have one?

I felt the same, but there was no way I could avoid it. I was literally on the floor and the camera body in the soil. There was no way I could go close to her, because that would spoil the whole feel of the pic as she was not aware of my presence. Its 50mm f/2.8. I am sure a better editing would give an added feel to it. My editing skills are very basic, hope to improve it faster.

Originally Posted by HellwratH

.....you could crop in a little closer to take that off I think. The other distraction for me is the brightness on the other side of the frame. It's a little too harsh.

I thought of cropping, but the one third rule at the time of composition would go for a toss, just my feel, what you think ? I need to sit with you for few tips on processing.

Here is the second one, again Tiruvannamalai temple premises.

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by shajufx

I thought of cropping, but the one third rule at the time of composition would go for a toss, just my feel, what you think ? I need to sit with you for few tips on processing.

Is the 1/3 rule so important ? What people in general feel here ?

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by amitk26

Is the 1/3 rule so important ? What people in general feel here ?

Any composition rule can be broken, provided you can get away with it. You have to know when to break it, it comes by practice.

[HellwratH]

Originally Posted by shajufx

I thought of cropping, but the one third rule at the time of composition would go for a toss, just my feel, what you think ? I need to sit with you for few tips on processing.

Here is the second one, again Tiruvannamalai temple premises.
Attachment 349823

Some times, we might have to let go of the rules to make a better photograph. In your case, due to what the lady is wearing, our eyes go there irrespective of where you'd place her. Once our eye goes on her, we can't miss that expression. And our focus stays there for a long time, trying to speculate what she might be going through and touches our heart. AFter that, my eyes go to the leading lines and end abruptly at the iron rod. It leaves me feeling incomplete. One of the aspects of composition is also the entry and exit points (flows) into and out of the frame. So, yes, I'd think you could crop it so that you remove distractions from your photograph and the viewer leaves satisfied.

The second shot is brilliant Shaju. You're doing some real good work and I am really happy to see such amazing stuff from you. I reckon some of the thought process is coming from the workshop you went to? Am I right?

Originally Posted by amitk26

Is the 1/3 rule so important ? What people in general feel here ?

It is a good rule to start with. Practice it everytime possible. There are other rules as well. I had seen this wonderful article (I should have saved the link, I am unable to find it :(). It gave the composition tips for paintings and I learnt a lot from that link alone. Let me search again and get it. Anyways, once you get comfortable with rule of thirds, you will notice that, even that doesn't make an impact at times and that's when you start looking at other aspects like balance etc. Here is one link that changed my thinking about rule of thirds and why it is the lazy form .

The Lazy Rule of Thirds | Jake Garn Photography

[shajufx]

Thanks guys. HW, what you guessed is right, a 2 days workshop changed my perspective altogether. Trying to improve on that.

Here is what I could do best with my limited knowledge on PP (only a crop and converting to B&W). Hope its better.

[sree70]

@ shaju,
Cropping & then Converting the full picture into B/W does not give the original feel. So i gave this effect. Hope it has improved.



regards
sree70

[Torqueguru]

@Sree70
Well, I strongly disagree that converting/cropping the original pic takes away the feel of the image. If anything, the selective coloring which you have applied, completely destroys the feel of the image.
Shaju's images have a documentary/journalistic value.Such images are best viewed with no fancy pp. A no-nonsense black and white, or a regular color shot, would do the job in a more effective fashion.

@Shajufx
Great shots. The first image seems a little overexposed. Pull down the exposure a bit when you want to convert to black and white. A little bit more contrast and the image would pop.





Regards,
TG.

[HellwratH]

Originally Posted by Torqueguru

@Sree70
Well, I strongly disagree that converting/cropping the original pic takes away the feel of the image. If anything, the selective coloring which you have applied, completely destroys the feel of the image.
Shaju's images have a documentary/journalistic value.Such images are best viewed with no fancy pp. A no-nonsense black and white, or a regular color shot, would do the job in a more effective fashion.

@Shajufx
Great shots. The first image seems a little overexposed. Pull down the exposure a bit when you want to convert to black and white. A little bit more contrast and the image would pop.

Attachment 350009

Attachment 350010

Regards,
TG.

I'd have to agree with TG about selective coloring in this case.

TG saar,
Awesome shots! I love the second one, more so because of the "compression effect" caused by a tele lens .

[shajufx]

Thanks Sree for the attempt and thanks to TG for the tips. The only reason I post pics here is to get correction/tips from others, so that some learning is possible. Here is the 3rd one from Tiruvannamalai temple. I wanted this as a candid shot, but somehow he got aware of the camera. I think only a tele lens can save such situations.

HW and Unni, please post some pics, hope you guys got enough sleep already !!

[Torqueguru]

@Shaju
I feel, shooting with a tele lens is not a great idea when it comes to taking pictures of people on the street. More so, because they have a right to know if their picture is being taken, so that they have a chance to stop you if they do not wish to be photographed. I know a lot of street photographers who use tele lens to capture their subjects. I really dont have much respect for them. Catching people unawares is not necessarily the most ethical way of shooting street portraits, its like stealing a moment from someones life. Just make sure that they get an opportunity to see that you are taking their picture, or go upto them if you clicked them unawares and let them know that you have clicked their picture.

So in short. Good job with that photograph.

Regards,
TG.

[shajufx]

TG, I agree completely to what you are suggesting. I practice the same by showing the subject whats taken whenever its possible, but try my best to get candids. May be I am not a fan of portraits or people photo with the subject staring at me !!

A funny incident happend in this temple itself, one man was serving 'sambharam' (buttermilk) at one of the entrances, wearing only a white dhotti. He smiled at me seeing the camera, but when I tried clicking, he ran inside and came back wearing a shirt . How I lost a natural shot !!