Connectivity?

[calebk]

I actually shot this photo to be used as a purely promotional photo. The photo's intended use was to publicise a relatively new ministry at Singapore Campus Crusade for Christ - namely the Internet Ministry.

However, on a deeper and more personal level, I decided to title this "Connectivity?", posed as a question. Why so? Because in this postmodern day and age, where it is so easy to have a conversation with someone halfway across the globe, sometimes you wonder whether the relationships you have are genuine, or purely superficial.

On a technical note, I would like to receive feedback on the following:

1) Exposure: Low key lighting too low for comfort? Is there too much contrast? How do you feel about having only one light? Is it strange to have so much of the frame empty and black?
2) Placement of objects: Is it strange to have the mouse left alone, and both hands behind the screen?
3) Composition: How is composition on the whole?
4) Any other misc comments are also welcome. Thanks!

 

[night86mare]

if you mean the photograph to be conceptual, why not make it more interesting - a few quick tweaks with the clone and/or liquify tool can get you interesting results

here's a quick and frivolous one to show what i meant.. :bsmilie: pardon the haloing, but i'm too lazy to do it slowly

anyways, one thing that struck me was the extreme amount on space on the left, maybe a 4x3 crop would work better here.

the lighting seems fine to me, though i would prefer a little shift to differentiate the subject's head, here it is blended into the shadows.. a tad weird

and yes, the mouse is really weird, it is not placed normally either, for normal usage, unless your subject has a weird habit of reaching almost all the way beyond the laptop to use the mouse. :dunno:

 

[stupidbloke]

i dunno maybe some backlight to outline his head or a rim light for the left hand side?

 

[newlife]

wow! i love the sense of humour in mrnight86mare:bsmilie: in adding horns to the shadow.....infact its the truth disguised as humourcoming back to the original pic taken by mrcalebkshooting the pic in a wide aperture is big:nono:the wall,background, shadow shud have been sharp,so does tthe whole pic:think: cz alienating the background, shadow from the subject actually tells the viewer the loss of connectivity.......the best part of the pic is the mouse being totally sharp than the rest of the pic,including the girl... very simple pic but can become imposing........ lots of stories creeping in my mind but the mrcalebk wants tech feedback only.......sad for me but good for him....

 

[flipfreak]

wad was the consideration for using a low key lighting for the pic? i don't really get the idea for the photo.

 

[night86mare]

shooting the pic in a wide aperture is big:nono:the wall,background, shadow shud have been sharp,so does tthe whole pic:think:

:bsmilie::bsmilie::bsmilie:

f/22 for the win!

 

[calebk]

if you mean the photograph to be conceptual, why not make it more interesting - a few quick tweaks with the clone and/or liquify tool can get you interesting results

here's a quick and frivolous one to show what i meant.. :bsmilie: pardon the haloing, but i'm too lazy to do it slowly

anyways, one thing that struck me was the extreme amount on space on the left, maybe a 4x3 crop would work better here.

the lighting seems fine to me, though i would prefer a little shift to differentiate the subject's head, here it is blended into the shadows.. a tad weird

and yes, the mouse is really weird, it is not placed normally either, for normal usage, unless your subject has a weird habit of reaching almost all the way beyond the laptop to use the mouse. :dunno:

Yeah I think you are right, a lot of excess space. Yet, at the same time I feel that it brings a contradicting sense to the picture, being connected to the world via this machine, but yet essentially being all alone. The negative space exaggerates the solitary situation.

Yes I would love to do a reshoot now, on hindsight. The light is positioned off, causing his head to blend with the background.

Hmm, now that you mention it, yes the mouse is in a strange position...don't know why he left it that way when I asked him for both hands on the keyboard.

wow! i love the sense of humour in mrnight86mare...in adding horns to the shadow.....infact its the truth disguised as humour. coming back to the original pic taken by mrcalebk. shooting the pic in a wide aperture is big (nono) the wall,background, shadow shud have been sharp,so does tthe whole pic...cz alienating the background, shadow from the subject actually tells the viewer the loss of connectivity.......the best part of the pic is the mouse being totally sharp than the rest of the pic,including the girl... very simple pic but can become imposing........ lots of stories creeping in my mind but the mrcalebk wants tech feedback only.......sad for me but good for him....

Did you verify what aperture I shot at? It's f/5.6 at 20mm. Hardly a wide aperture if you ask me. Shadow on the wall will not be sharp, even stopped down to f/22. It is a basic case of the nature of the light source, its distance from the subject, and how hard/soft the light source is. Stopping down will not get me sharper shadows at all.

I also don't know how you came to the conclusion that the mouse is sharper than the rest of the picture. May I bring your attention to the grain of the wooden table, the spectacle frames of my friend (A GUY, MIND YOU, NOT A GIRL), and his eyes. The whites and blacks of his eyes are clearly distinct; not the least bit what I would call out of focus.

And in case you have not read the warning post Eikin posted to you in another thread, please do check on how to responsibly post critique, and what critique is about.

wad was the consideration for using a low key lighting for the pic? i don't really get the idea for the photo.

It was shot very hurriedly as the photo was needed within the hour. I could not find a location within the office to do a nice looking, properly lit shot, so I went to the conference room and did it with a single hard light.

On hindsight, after realising my story behind the photo, I guess you could say the low key was used because you can be connected through technology to the whole world, but at the end of it all, you're all alone.

 

[flipfreak]

It was shot very hurriedly as the photo was needed within the hour. I could not find a location within the office to do a nice looking, properly lit shot, so I went to the conference room and did it with a single hard light.

On hindsight, after realising my story behind the photo, I guess you could say the low key was used because you can be connected through technology to the whole world, but at the end of it all, you're all alone.

your model doesn't portray a strong enough sense of solitude in the photo. the expression looks abit off.

probably u can try one strobe firing from the pc screen into his face. another one from behind him lighting up the wall.

 

[calebk]

your model doesn't portray a strong enough sense of solitude in the photo. the expression looks abit off.

probably u can try one strobe firing from the pc screen into his face. another one from behind him lighting up the wall.

Mmm thanks for the advice. Perhaps I need to learn from you how to guide model's expressions. Hahaha. I'm really very new to shooting posed people, as opposed to shooting people naturally in an event etc...

I don't have that many strobes to play with (though it might be fun if I did...). In fact, this was shot with a constant light, a 300W (i think it's 300W or 350W) tungsten light, intended for cinematic film usage. (I am on attachment with a production company.)

 

[flipfreak]

Mmm thanks for the advice. Perhaps I need to learn from you how to guide model's expressions. Hahaha. I'm really very new to shooting posed people, as opposed to shooting people naturally in an event etc...

I don't have that many strobes to play with (though it might be fun if I did...). In fact, this was shot with a constant light, a 300W (i think it's 300W or 350W) tungsten light, intended for cinematic film usage. (I am on attachment with a production company.)

just pop one in his face then. use the continuous one for the background with a snoot or grid or cookie.

ask him to look like someone from a certain movie that u want the expression to resemble la. like rambo or something. :bsmilie:

 

[newlife]

mrcalebk if u think u shot a great pic and u dont understand my critique,then learn to ignore it and move on mr eikin knows his job well as a moderator, and let him do what he thinks is right........i am within my boundaries as a member to comment on pics :think:learn to worry about taking better pics and not worry what anyone here is commenting or warning me:bsmilie:

 

[JacePhoto]

Wow, Night86mare, i wish you give me pointers like that for my pictures! It certainly makes the picture more 'interesting'. My own take is the model doesnt add to the picture and the theme is mis-matched. Sorry.

 

[eikin]

mrcalebk if u think u shot a great pic and u dont understand my critique,then learn to ignore it and move on mr eikin knows his job well as a moderator, and let him do what he thinks is right........i am within my boundaries as a member to comment on pics :think:learn to worry about taking better pics and not worry what anyone here is commenting or warning me:bsmilie:

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