Street Scene in China Town

[NorthernLights]

[flashgun]

white balance not properly set at the kids white under....

[NorthernLights]

Originally Posted by flashgun white balance not properly set at the kids white under....

You adjust for me lah....

[VmanD70]

I like the 2nd one

[Drudkh]

the chess photo is pretty good but framing is too tight, gotta show the old man's left should and arm to make it complete.

[denniskee]

i prefer 2nd photo to be even tighter, hope you dont mind i crop your photo

[NorthernLights]

Originally Posted by denniskee i prefer 2nd photo to be even tighter, hope you dont mind i crop your photo

Good point there. Just that I wanted to show out-of-focus part of the fella's opponent. Playing with DOF was difficult as I did not want all of the fella's face, I also did not want all of the chess layout.

Drudkh also has a point there. For model shooting, never cut the arms....but well, here's my struggle and thought process:

I thought about the arm too but I needed to place the one of picture's focus points: the contact point where the fella's head rested against the hand, at the rule of thirds position..top right.

The second focus point was the chess pieces in focus at the rule of thirds position as well...bottom left.

[NorthernLights]

The struggle is to keep the picture-focus points at the rule of thirds position...wondering how to improve the picture?

I wanted to focus on the name stamp carving he was doing whilst looming over him in the out-of-focus background was a brown wooden carving portrait.

[NorthernLights]

Originally Posted by Drudkh the chess photo is pretty good but framing is too tight, gotta show the old man's left should and arm to make it complete.

[denniskee]

imo, it is not necessary to include his opponent as it is obviouse, unless there is something eye catching about his opponent, or it helps to tell a story. in your last b&w photo, it does not make the composition more interesting, but add distraction instead.

but his smoking pose ie inhale, the spec, the cig box + lighter adds a certain sense of "intense concertration" on the player. his pose of slanting to his right also adds sense of depth to the photo. his left arm forms a barrier, putting him in the defensive mode.

this photo is better compose than the 2nd. but agian i would crop away the bottom, excluding his opponent and also the crop the top to near touching his head to increase the sense of being cornered by his opponent.

just my thought on the photos.

would be great if you can share your thought when composing this photo.

[NorthernLights]

Originally Posted by denniskee imo, it is not necessary to include his opponent as it is obviouse, unless there is something eye catching about his opponent, or it helps to tell a story. in your last b&w photo, it does not make the composition more interesting, but add distraction instead. but his smoking pose ie inhale, the spec, the cig box + lighter adds a certain sense of "intense concertration" on the player. his pose of slanting to his right also adds sense of depth to the photo. his left arm forms a barrier, putting him in the defensive mode. this photo is better compose than the 2nd. but agian i would crop away the bottom, excluding his opponent and also the crop the top to near touching his head to increase the sense of being cornered by his opponent. just my thought on the photos. would be great if you can share your thought when composing this photo.

Thanks! Great and I enjoyed the discussion here! Yah, I snapped when he put the cigarette to his mouth. But I would have preferred it if he smoked at the angle when I took the 2nd shot. At this angle, I personally feel is more of a snap shot with no DOF effects and the looming effect of stress. But again, the last B&W shot does portray the stress but at a different angle.

Thanks Bro!

[doug3fflux]

were very bright lenses used for the original 2nd pic of the chap playing chess? not the b n w...cuz there's very shallow DOF....
can this picture be taken by only focussing on his face?

very crisp, strong coloured pictures. i like.
=)

regards
doug

[NorthernLights]

Originally Posted by doug3fflux were very bright lenses used for the original 2nd pic of the chap playing chess? not the b n w...cuz there's very shallow DOF.... can this picture be taken by only focussing on his face? very crisp, strong coloured pictures. i like. =) regards doug

Dear Doug

Thanks! Yes, it's a bright lens. Very difficult as his face is tilted down so need to stop down but the place is very dark with very little light. If not for the bright lens, there would be no way I could have taken this pic....even an f2.8 also die.

[doug3fflux]

ahhh....