Uncle Hat

[LomoPhotographer]

Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture: f/2.0
Focal Length: 50 mm
This was taken at Chinatown, the place where many uncles play chess.
The back view of this uncle caught my attention.
I can't describe the feeling becos I don't have the vocab or enough description to support what I feel.

1. In what area is critique to be sought?
Overall please? The composition, the contrast, lighting and stuff like that.

2. What one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
How to bring out more feel from this picture? I can't feel the punch enough tho.

3. Under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)
He was sitting at the bench where other uncles are playing chess near him, I caught attention and I squat on the bench behind him, w/o him knowing and *snap*. The time was around 4pm, quite good lighting tho as there was shade.

4. What the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture
Tigher crop or something can be better? I did a tigher crop tho, if any guys need please do say and I will post up, or anybody just do a quick crop and post up here. But personally I did the tigher crop I feel like not as good as this one tho, cos my main focus of this is his back and his hat.

Cheers

 

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

bump 5th Sept 2009

 

[cheguthamrin]

Why take from the back?
Why not the front, since you'll get his expressions under the hat better than his back.
I like the variety of colours here, but could have shown more of whats in front of him than just his back.

 

[LomoPhotographer]

bump 5th Sept 2009

Hmmm, what is this. lolol

 

[LomoPhotographer]

Why take from the back?
Why not the front, since you'll get his expressions under the hat better than his back.
I like the variety of colours here, but could have shown more of whats in front of him than just his back.

Um, this is a good question. Actually I didn go in front and see how he looked like, but hmm how can I put this. I don't know why but just to shoot from the back, lol.
I will be better yea, shoot from the front.
Umm thanks bro! For the inputs, and I will take note of the inputs!

 

[night86mare]

someone (sathea) once told me that, if there is no eye contact, there jolly well be a good reason for it.

here, what is the reason?

without eye contact, human photos tend to be lacking something, it is not 100% must; for example, silhouettes to convey anonymity, a lone shadow to convey loneliness, plausible open-ended expression to leave it to the viewers' attention.

but i see none of that here!

 

[LomoPhotographer]

someone (sathea) once told me that, if there is no eye contact, there jolly well be a good reason for it.

here, what is the reason?

without eye contact, human photos tend to be lacking something, it is not 100% must; for example, silhouettes to convey anonymity, a lone shadow to convey loneliness, plausible open-ended expression to leave it to the viewers' attention.

but i see none of that here!

Oh, so that means it becomes nothing yea, this pic.
Okay. Thank youuuuuu!

 

[ruffgaws]

i thought taking the uncle from the back was interesting. will be more impactful if your background is more narrative.

 

[shaoken]

To me, if you're taking from the back, why not try a landscape orientation?

If it's a landscape orientation, it portrays that the man is looking at the people, movement and objects in front of him.
For your pic, to me, it portrays he's just sitting there.

 

[gibberi3h]

Would it be better if you took a full length photo showing his legs as well?

I find it hard to take photos of stranger's faces especially when I haven't asked for their permission too.

 

[ruffgaws]

Would it be better if you took a full length photo showing his legs as well?

I find it hard to take photos of stranger's faces especially when I haven't asked for their permission too.

yes me too!

 

[redmonsoon]

I find it hard to take photos of stranger's faces especially when I haven't asked for their permission too.

Well, theres this statement by Joe McNally, "Its easier for a photographer to seek forgiveness than to ask for permission"...

Food for thot,hmmm...lol:bsmilie:

 

[timotheus]

personally, there should be a reason for why you shot it from the back.

I can only assume a few things because there isn't enough to show what goes on in this picture given that he's so tightly cropped and forced into the middle of the picture.

Were you afraid of getting his attention if you moved to his front? Taking street sometimes requires very bold moves. Unafraid of the weird stares and the occasional annoyed wave of the hand telling you not to take the picture.

However, since you liked this back shot so much, i'll oblige and suggest what could enhance it..
As i mentioned above, it was tightly cropped. Seeing that he had angled his head a little to the left, what you could have done, was to shoot this horizontally and then open up the left side to show the viewer what he was looking at. You could also wait for him to turn a little more to add to the angle.

At the end of looking at this picture, all I could say to myself was: Nice colour, Nice depth of field. But so what? there wasn't a story and there wasnt a drawing factor.

 

[Beyond The Pixel]

this picture is meaningless.