Bali Artist@Work

[kokonut]

1. in what area is critique to be sought?

Composition, lighting, etc...

2. what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?

Portray an artist concentrating on his art work.

3. under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)

Took the picture at Bali at a local art workshop.

4. what the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture

Many tourists standing and watching the artist at work, however the artist just concentrate at what he was doing.

 

[xenith0]

I'm no expert in portraiture, but let me try to comment based on what I learnt from other's works.
Composition wise, there seems to be too much room above the artist that distracts the viewer from the main subject. A landscape shot could be used instead, and in doing so the artist's left hand and the painting he is working on wouldn't be cropped off. I find that a the exposure is a tad too bright.

 

[kokonut]

Thanks xenith0 for the comment. I did a landscape too, however the place where the artist works is too messy.
I have cropped the original picture and reduce the exposure slightly.

Below was taken in landscape, but cropped to remove those messy and distracting items in the background.

 

[ongmy]

I actually find that a wider shot capturing the environment he was in and the people around him would have been better to further emphasize the artist's concentration. It's about telling the story. my 2 cents.

 

[xsaifuddin]

Agree with ongmy.

Sometimes it is hard to control what's going on at the background and mostly, the best way to go is by giving it a bokeh. You should try using a longer focal point to capture the artist's face to capture his concentration while doing his work.

Try finding an angle that is able to show his face and a portion of his work at hand. A portrait frame with his face at the top half and his work at the bottom might with focusing only on that might work better. The rest, either by compositional ways to arrange them or bokeh it to focus on the subject more.

 

[zaren]

Below was taken in landscape, but cropped to remove those messy and distracting items in the background.

i prefer the landscape shot, as it shows the painting that the artist is working on more clearly. also his hand and the painting are not cropped off. perhaps a bit of selective sharpening to bring out the details of the painting more?
e.g.

 

[kokonut]

ongmy, xsaifuddin and zaren, thanks for taking time to view and provide feedback to my pic.