A moment please...

[jeffzhen]

Hi everyone, new guy here. I took this photo, amongst many others, in the midst of the night after finishing my work, and I really love this shot.

1. in what area is critique to be sought?
I think what I really seek is how to improve the contrast, by playing with lighting, using the camera, or external sources. Also about more technical know how on external camera filters, to improve these kinda of monochromatic shots.

2. what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
I call this photo "A moment please..." it wasn't planned or anything, I just thought it reflected how I felt during the time I took the photo.

3. under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)
Physical conditions - fluorescent lighting in my tiny bedroom.
Camera conditions - Canon eos 550D, F1.8, 1/25, ISO 1600, 50mm prime lense.

4. what the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture
This was taken at 2am after finishing my work, so I was just trying to take a breather before going to bed. So it kind of reflects on how, after a long hard day's work, you try to find a moment for yourself, and I guess this was it.

 

[The_Cheat]

Black and white are quite extensively used for abstract work, since they are the easiest to isolate a subject of interest in a rather chaotic scene. And although the idea is there in this case, the colour incompatibility is exceptional marked here, e.g. the handle of the sword is so close to the tone of the watch strap, there are parts where you have no idea where the watch and the sword met exactly.

Coming to the composition, there is an intentional use of DOF to try and isolate the object even more. However, focal length doesn't work just in the centre of the image. Anything at the same distance of your focal length would still be show up quite clearly regardless of the DOF. And while the sword handle being clear is still passable, the object to the left (circled in the image attached) is not. If anything, it makes the blur in the front seems unnatural and out of place. A little postprocessing blurring would clear it off though.

As for the timing, 2:01.26 ain't exactly that poetic. Given the circumstances, perhaps it is okay. But something like 1:59.59 might be more dramatic, or even 2:00.00. The timing on the watch at the moment seem just like yet another snapshot, and though it would still have value to you, it would most likely not have much impact to another person.

 

[jeffzhen]

Hey The_Cheat, thanks for pointing that out, it was my pair of jeans laying out on the table from the foreground all the way to the background, and I agree with you that it does stick out, and the contrast tone is off, I suppose a little arrangement of the objects would be required to improve the picture.

As for the clock timing, even though it is my watch, I kinda forgot how to reset the time!! I actually deleted a few shots with the timing at 1:59 to 2:00, cause the focus wasn't right, by the time I got it to focus right...well... it was 2:01 26.

Thanks for your insights The_Cheat.