are we a city too busy for charity?

[denniskee]

shot with canon g2 raw, pped.

burn the entrance to the mall till black the also the rest except the slavation army, blur all except the army. slow shutter speed to get motion blur but maintain the sharpness of army. tone down the color to represent the gloomy economy.

wanted to present the feel of our city, too busy with festive shopping (x-mas, festive of giving : only to the love ones i suppose) despite the gloomy economy, pay not enough attention to charity.

[Dream Merchant]

Got the feel ... but somehow ... perhaps can go closer to the SA tripod ... or angle such that you see the SA volunteer more clearly from the front, or the back of that person ... how to say ah ... OK, mabbie is yo can see only the back of that volunteer and the blurred, stoney faces of the passers-by.

I also got the same type of shots, but still working at it to get just the right angle/execution.

[pplneedthelord]

i feel the left side of the foreground looks a little bit too messy with the long exposure and the large number of people crossing over.

i guess you could have gine a little closer to your subject. seems a little too small

[denniskee]

but go closer means stand in middle of the crowd, not nice lay, blocking heavy traffic. also, dont have tripod with me yesterday so have to place the g2 on the wall beside the stairs for long exposure.

[pplneedthelord]

oh i see. haha then would it be better if you had zoomed?

but i've to agree with you. i notice lesser and lesser people donating to the salvation army.

[HTCahHTC]

i like this
the feeling is there, but somehow i feel that the shutter speed should be shorter.
just my preference
and if closer to subject better, but i understand you didnt bring your tripod.

[godzilla60]

personally, i feel that the Raffles City logo is distracting me away from the SA stand.... however, if u crop the top part away, the SA stand will really stand out....

but it is an interesting concept.

my 2 cents.....

[pplneedthelord]

okay this is a little OT. but i've noticed that we CSers tend to be more gentle to Senior Members of CS and rather harsh towards New Members. this applies to me as well

[PyeeL]

I feel this picture isn't realistic. Because the woman at the Salvation Army is such a small part of the picture, it's weird to see only one small sharp point in one frame. If I were there and I had the time I would re-take this shot. The other woman (in blur) standing nearest to the Salvation Army makes it look like the charity-do-er isn't left completely ignored, which I believe was your intention. Also, probably zoom in more to exclude more of the human trail as well as put the Salvation Army in better focus.
The human trail is very messy, but I guess you couldn't help it since people were walking all around.

[coolin]

i get the feeling from the pic. and i like the messiness of the people.
but i feel that you're too far away from the SA. would've been better if you were more zoomed in. but nice pic with a very true story.

[m3lv1nh0]

How about cropping away the top part as I felt that the Raffles city logo does not add to the story. Cropping away the top will let the viewer focus on the SA better, me thinks.

[peterpan1975]

Originally Posted by pplneedthelord okay this is a little OT. but i've noticed that we CSers tend to be more gentle to Senior Members of CS and rather harsh towards New Members. this applies to me as well

We are suppose to comment on the pic rather than complaining other issue here. Maybe you could try doing the same shoots like what TS is doing and post it here. See if the respond is like what you say, soft for Snr member but hash for Newbies. Personal point of view, it does bring out the message out nicely. With the ppl moving around but non pay a notice to the SA.

But maybe could easy back a bit on the gloomy dark setup.

[deklan]

i feel this might work if you shot from behind the SA stand, so theres more emphasis on the Donors and in the backdrop with people continuously walking by..
also i think its over "burnt" makes the photo look really dull...

[Dream Merchant]

I agree with Peterpan (but then again, Denniskee is a Senior Citizen mah so must panchang a bit! )

I feel the 'doom and gloom' darkness is more likely than not, appropriate. It's a depiction of selfishness and negativity in a big city.

It probably would be possible to have it bright (and bizaare), but that sort of execution is almost impossible to do without some kind of staging or making it an OTT planned and surreal shot.

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

too fake lah dennis...

the best pictures are one that doesn't need to do any editing, isn't that what we're supposed to do?

if technically, i'd rather you use a black card, or make a flip card with a ND8 or something, expose the escalator with it, then expose the salvation army with either a flash or a short exposure.

[wootnick]

maybe you could get closer to the subject or follow the rule of thirds to make the subject more prominent. I know you're trying to make that left out feeling but I almost couldn't notice it at first glance.

[denniskee]

Originally Posted by Del_CtrlnoAlt too fake lah dennis... the best pictures are one that doesn't need to do any editing, isn't that what we're supposed to do? if technically, i'd rather you use a black card, or make a flip card with a ND8 or something, expose the escalator with it, then expose the salvation army with either a flash or a short exposure.

you mean like mr bean "beamed down" like star trek?

[denniskee]

i have included the raffles city and x-mas lighting thingy because :

1) singapore was founded by raffles, ie, show it is singapore.

2) raffles city shopping mall is quite well known mall in singapore, can find their advertisement in flyers / brochuers of singapore places of attraction, which promote singapore as a shopping paradise. so helps me to show that we are busy with festive shopping.

i took many shots, it is difficult to capture the correct timing where people dont block the SA, else they also end up blur.

[incubus]

the concept is good but i think the execution can be improved, like wat others have mentioned make the subject stand out more, get closer. that may also mean to retake the picture :P
but its all for the sake of getting better right? so i guess retaking and doing so with a better approach(with tips given here) shouldnt much of a problem right?

the excessive bluring of the bg simply makes this a little too cartoony. The wall nearest to her should be in focus as well.

cheers mate

[KopiLaiSheng]

I like this type of shot, usually I will shoot many many shots and waiting for the right moment. Like to see more of your pic.