Tekong revisited


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sprintist

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Nov 13, 2006
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Dug up an old photo and fiddled with it again today since I had no photos to edit anymore..

Well personally i liked the sky and composition which was quite impromptu and hasty. Was taken when I wasn't really good at photography some time back. Thinking back, this picture was indeed quite well taken. So would like to share, and does your opinion parallels mine or differs?
 

very dramatic touch to the scene in your post processing, however there's misopportunity at the point of shooting as the silhouette don't tell much about these people and what they are really doing with respect to the context, there's no recognizable interest in the human element due to lack of information inside the frame.
 

very dramatic touch to the scene in your post processing, however there's misopportunity at the point of shooting as the silhouette don't tell much about these people and what they are really doing with respect to the context, there's no recognizable interest in the human element due to lack of information inside the frame.

Well i thought they did though. The subjects were posing for a picture. They wanted to snap the sunset like i did just that I snap them doing it so instead of them posing for me. ;)
 

Well i thought they did though. The subjects were posing for a picture. They wanted to snap the sunset like i did just that I snap them doing it so instead of them posing for me. ;)

you see, that's when people who do not know what was going on will not know. i can guess that it's a scene at 'pop' (judging by your age) or something like that, that's when a short passage to go with the picture would change entirely how a person sees this picture.
 

i think it's a nice photo. and knowing that it was taken during your pop makes it better. but not everyone knows that.

i do agree with eikin that the photo lacks context, and perhaps a shot with the sihouette of people in the foreground were larger would help - with the (then bigger) jockey caps as a clue.
 

... when people who do not know what was going on will not know ...
Maybe there is no need to know.

Whether it is Tekong or Brunei or Timbaktu or hell, does not in any way detract from the photograph being a picture.

What we can see is a hellishly dramatic sunset.

What we can also see are silhouettes of people using P&S to shoot the sunset and some orderly rows of other people.

Why and who are these people are unknown, a mystery, an open question, left for the viewer's interpretation and imagination.

Maybe they are queueing up for entry into hell, or yet something like POP, which to some are not entirely different things. Or maybe exiting hell, who knows.

So again I emphatically say that if a picture needs word, it is lesser a picture for it.

The truth is more than words can say, and thus we have pictures.

I think this picture is the better without you knowing the exact context. Then it is really your imagination, if you have any.

And not many picture can fire any imagination at all!

I could have called this picture simply, Untitled.
 

Maybe there is no need to know.

Whether it is Tekong or Brunei or Timbaktu or hell, does not in any way detract from the photograph being a picture.

What we can see is a hellishly dramatic sunset.

What we can also see are silhouettes of people using P&S to shoot the sunset and some orderly rows of other people.

Why and who are these people are unknown, a mystery, an open question, left for the viewer's interpretation and imagination.

Maybe they are queueing up for entry into hell, or yet something like POP, which to some are not entirely different things. Or maybe exiting hell, who knows.

So again I emphatically say that if a picture needs word, it is lesser a picture for it.

The truth is more than words can say, and thus we have pictures.

I think this picture is the better without you knowing the exact context. Then it is really your imagination, if you have any.

And not many picture can fire any imagination at all!

I could have called this picture simply, Untitled.

unfortunately one needs to view the work in the way it is presented. it is titled 'Tekong revisited.' it is not a neutral title like 'sunset' or 'taking pictures,' and therefore the picture is to be judged according to the intention set by the person who produced this work. i can see Tekong as an inference of the venue, but the word 'revisited' is somewhat lost in the unclear silhouette. yes 'untitled' would have put this picture in better light.

but, even if the picture is 'untitled,' the form of the silhouette is disappointingly muddy and unclear to make out what exactly is happening, and beckons the viewer to look for more information around. it's not sparking imagination, it sparks questions due to lack of clarity in execution.
 

If the TS didn't mention that this was taken in Tekong, no one would've been the wiser as to the location.

Dramatic shot. Kinda reminds me of some sci-fi movie setting where the crowds are just standing there looking up at something up beyond.
 

exactly! it doesnt matter what, who and where those people are.

i think you are following in the wrong line of thinking. it's not about what, who, where, it's about whether the picture is able to communicate. as mentioned in my first comment, the silhouette lacks recognizable interest. for example, if it's just a silhouette of a single person looking into the sky, or a single person pointing the camera into the sky, that would have allowed much better space for imagination than a mass of dark figures. one looks at the picture and ask 'maybe it's this, maybe it's that' rather than say 'i feel this from the picture' therefore for this picture to work, since it misses on the silhouette, it will require some explanation.
 

Making Silhouette Work

i believe alot of people knows how to make a good picture of a silhouette, but for the benefit of those not familiar with making silhouette work for their pictures and to illustrate how silhouette needs to contain recognizable information to ignite interest in the viewer, let me just pick a couple of pictures i've come across that take advantage of the simple form of shadows to make a story

http://i.pbase.com/o4/45/626745/1/54212271.BoyonWaldenFramed.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/image/50730847.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/jachurch/image/52112582/large.jpg
http://mk23.image.pbase.com/g3/31/290731/2/55663097.cracking_out_900px.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/herb1rm/image/34933563/large.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/jenniemarie/image/56408531/medium.jpg
http://i.pbase.com/o4/30/654330/1/58263821.anglerfamily.jpg

it's about how elements interact in the frame to complete the picture rather than having parts split in picture that operate independently of each other.

The Blind Spot


the 2 most important element for making a silhouette picture are

#1 there's (the possibility of) beautiful light in the environment
#2 there's interesting form/activities

the blind spot comes when the framing of #2 fails to relate back to the (imagined) interest in the scene. it's not enough to simply shoot a group of people doing something interesting against a beautiful light, the artist need also to consider the right angle at which the right moment for the right form/action can be captured.
 

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