Mother & Son (


eR1c

New Member
Mar 18, 2006
7
0
0
Singapore
Mother & Son (母与子)
MotherSon.jpg


1. In which area is critique or feedback to be given?
Composition, Exposure

2. What were you hoping to achieve with this image?
Mother and son working together late at night to earn a living

3. Under what circumstance was the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)
Photo was taken during in Beijing along a road side store at night. The mother and son are selling '羊肉串‘ (china style of mutton 'satay' - Kawap) at night to earn a living. Mother and son took turns to barbeque, but when there are lots of orders, they work together.

4. Thread-starter's personal thoughts about the image.
i shoot the photo darker and also without flash to enhance the mood of the night. The only lightings are the street lights and the hanging light bulb that the stall used for work.

Only adjusted the levels to darken the photo slightly and also reduce a bit of over saturation of red. No cropping was done.

C&C welcomed.
Thanx in advance. :)
 

Hi, couple of quick comments. Hope you find them relevant.

1. Can't make out what they were doing from the composition, till I read your depiction. The impact of the picture is significantly lower if viewer can't establish the subject matter, which in this case, is the cooking action (purpose of togetherness) of the son and mother.

2. The angle of capture is straight-fwd and does not accentuate the mood. While the strong light source created a decent outline of the son, the mum was hidden in his shadow. I was initially contemplating a stronger overall contrast to accentuate the bright outline of the former, but that would make the mum pale more in comparison.

3. I also find that the top and RHS are rather distracting, so you might wanna consider a tighter crop.
 

1st up: late at night. sadly, i cant tell the difference here. it looks like day. could u explain more abt the conditions? like if it was indoors.

2: i cant see wad they are doing! tats sad
 

I concur. Cannot understand the story you are trying to tell. :cool:

same and Simon Cowell would say "boring" or "forgettable".
couldn't tell whether mother or sister or gf or wife. The poses don't give much information on the work they do. Instead of full front(or for this case full back) maybe u can change the angle? the lighting behind the store in a way do not tell the time of the day.
 

Last edited:
can't see the surrounding + what they are doing are the biggest prob for me...:)
 

Thanx for all the critiques, will take note in future. :)