Sad. Lonely. Lost.

[nitewalk]

1. in what area is critique to be sought?
Composition of the photo, general feel of the photo.

2. what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
I hope to capture a shot which convey the loneliness of old folks, especially seeing his lonely and sad facial expression. I wanted to show this by portraying him looking on at the people walking past and appearing rather lost what to do, and at the same time the B&W was done to finally convey the sadness of sitting alone watching at the people walking by, not noticing him.

3. under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)
Canon 1000D, EF-S 18-55mm IS, ISO 400, 1/4 sec, f/5.6

I took this shot near the Guan Yin Temple at bugis, walking towards Bugis Village. Spotted this old man who sat relatively unnoticed on a chair watching people walk past, with a sad and lonely expression.

I almost elected to shoot his face, but I felt that may convey his emotions but I wanted to convey the said title in a more subtle way, that is from the diagonal back (plus I scared he angry).

4. what the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture
This is one of the first few shots I try taking on the streets randomly, some time ago. I did minimal PP on this shot and mainly just the B&W thing. Personally, I like this shot but the trishaw riders resting behind me looked like they wanted to kick my ass for intruding their space.

 

[Eworms]

Understood. But feels like half of the image is missing. Needs to fill in the other half on the right side. Need to show the empty side of the street.

 

[nitewalk]

Understood. But feels like half of the image is missing. Needs to fill in the other half on the right side. Need to show the empty side of the street.

Thanks for your feedback! Noted down your comment.

 

[hotchoco1ate]

Hey nitewalk Good to see you here...

Anyway I also feel that it's half the picture because viewers will be wondering who or what is the old man looking at..

If you want to convey sadness it's good that you try to capture some facial features. Otherwise it just looks like he is resting to me. Also I wonder why you used such a slow shutter speed. It may introduce blur with a little handshake. Unless the shot was taken in the night.


Anyhow, the pic still looks sharp to me. Just a suggestion though.. A better composition if you want just the old man could be going up behind him and take a shot from a low vantage point. Thus you'll be having him as your main subject and the sky as your background.

Keep shooting !

 

[nitewalk]

Hey nitewalk Good to see you here...

Anyway I also feel that it's half the picture because viewers will be wondering who or what is the old man looking at..

If you want to convey sadness it's good that you try to capture some facial features. Otherwise it just looks like he is resting to me. Also I wonder why you used such a slow shutter speed. It may introduce blur with a little handshake. Unless the shot was taken in the night.


Anyhow, the pic still looks sharp to me. Just a suggestion though.. A better composition if you want just the old man could be going up behind him and take a shot from a low vantage point. Thus you'll be having him as your main subject and the sky as your background.

Keep shooting !

Hello! I only realise i use 1/4 when i was posting the pic here. There is a bit of blur which i only realise when i zoom 100% on the old man's shirt. Thanks for the reminder abt shutter speed. Heh. I took that shot when i just bought my camera not long.

 

[AbsolutKev]

looks like relek, lepak n chill... haha, same meaning though....

 

[nitewalk]

looks like relek, lepak n chill... haha, same meaning though....

Haha also can. Just thought the scratching head appear rather sad and lost, other than there could be hair lice. Haha i like your signature. :bsmilie:

 

[AbsolutKev]

Haha also can. Just thought the scratching head appear rather sad and lost, other than there could be hair lice. Haha i like your signature. :bsmilie:

thanks man...
i guess there is 2 face to a coin. keep shootin bro!

 

[nitewalk]

thanks man...
i guess there is 2 face to a coin. keep shootin bro!

Thanks bro i will!

 

[cruiser2710]

hmmm.... the picture seems alright to me. though it'll be better if the background's blurred. totally awesome if the entire frame is the elderly gentleman's face =)

i do have 1 question though, was it taken using the monochrome function of the camera or was it taken in colour initially?

cos i've been reading quite a number of digital b/w books recently and from what i gather, its not just using the monochrome function.

from what i've seen in the books, to get those rich b/w photos, they usually start w colour photo and from there the extract the colour out and turn it to b/w.

 

[nitewalk]

hmmm.... the picture seems alright to me. though it'll be better if the background's blurred. totally awesome if the entire frame is the elderly gentleman's face =)

i do have 1 question though, was it taken using the monochrome function of the camera or was it taken in colour initially?

cos i've been reading quite a number of digital b/w books recently and from what i gather, its not just using the monochrome function.

from what i've seen in the books, to get those rich b/w photos, they usually start w colour photo and from there the extract the colour out and turn it to b/w.

I also read someone/where said that to do B&W shots, its better to be done first in coloured then in photoshop change it. Pretty sure a senior on clubsnap told me that. Yea so this shot was done in coloured, then in PP i convert to grayscale.

The reason why I didnt take his face, is if I took his face, the frame misses the flow of people walking around, because behind the man is just trishaw riders sleeping there. I thought this may not bring out the idea that people don't notice the loneliness of old folks. But I agree with you, it'd be awesome if I could capture his face with the human flow.

My aperture is not large enough right? If not the background abit more blurred will be more subject-focused and thus more catchy as a shot, that's what you mean right?

OMG that's your virgin post! :bsmile: *honoured*

 

[cruiser2710]

Yea it's my first post. Got psychoed by my friend to join here.

Anyway, I plainly admit that I'm no total expert in DSLR since I only started playin with it for 5 months while the previous 7 years were just point-shoot and semi-pro camera but yea, can say somewhat the aperature comes to play but I'll leave that to the more senior and knowledgable members here to comment on that =)

with regards to taking the face, i was more thinking along the lines of the face only. i had one successful attempt of taking an elderly gentleman's face while i was at labrador with my friend though i was lucky enough that he was really friendly and a couple more when i was in china. i havent quite try that on the uncles n aunties along the street though. I should really try it since i kinda feel that somehow or rather, it kinda stares straight at u =P

 

[nitewalk]

Yea it's my first post. Got psychoed by my friend to join here.

Anyway, I plainly admit that I'm no total expert in DSLR since I only started playin with it for 5 months while the previous 7 years were just point-shoot and semi-pro camera but yea, can say somewhat the aperature comes to play but I'll leave that to the more senior and knowledgable members here to comment on that =)

with regards to taking the face, i was more thinking along the lines of the face only. i had one successful attempt of taking an elderly gentleman's face while i was at labrador with my friend though i was lucky enough that he was really friendly and a couple more when i was in china. i havent quite try that on the uncles n aunties along the street though. I should really try it since i kinda feel that somehow or rather, it kinda stares straight at u =P

His hands blocked out his face, so as much as I liked the scratch on his head, it kinda works against the shot right? I'd try more frontal shots when I generate more guts to do it. Scared kana scolded damn paiseh one. ;p

 

[cruiser2710]

i guess all of us run that risk =P

 

[daredevil123]

My take here.

Firstly, you did not isolate the subject enough to give the feeling of loneliness or lost.
Secondly, your picture is not very powerful. The face of the subject can give you a lot of emotion. But by choosing not to show the face, you need to have a very strong composition enough to create tension to push your theme through. Your composition is very weak, especially with all the busy background.

Also, I felt you could have used higher contrast for your b&w processing for more impact.

 

[nitewalk]

My take here.

Firstly, you did not isolate the subject enough to give the feeling of loneliness or lost.
Secondly, your picture is not very powerful. The face of the subject can give you a lot of emotion. But by choosing not to show the face, you need to have a very strong composition enough to create tension to push your theme through. Your composition is very weak, especially with all the busy background.

Also, I felt you could have used higher contrast for your b&w processing for more impact.

Hello daredevil123, I understand your points. I'm still working in my composition as I know it is still my weak point. Whenever I take a shot and view it, i still can't really tell between a strong/good composition versus a weak/bad composition. I've got some books and still reading halfway. Anyway, thanks for the advice!