Another one from India (no specific title)

Unlike the "Waiting For A Fare" post. This one (though candid) was much more deliberate.

Agra is famous for The Taj Mahal (tomb\mausoleum for Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz), but that's not the only one there. The area or park (not quite sure what to call it) is an entire complex of tombs and mausoleums. The one in these two pics belongs to a Muslim saint or Holy Man. It's the back. Woman aren't or weren't allowed in the front (at least in 1990 they weren't). I don't know what occasion or situation caused her to be there, but I got the distinct impression (from her demeanor), that it wasn't a happy one.

 

Did I capture that?

 

The first image is how it came out of the scanner, and I am thinking of maybe rescanning at a higher resolution and possibly re-editing.

 

 

 

The photo - without your text comment - suggests to me a person (probably a woman) sitting crossed-legged and looking through an ornate window at something inside. I like the color contrast. In general, I find 'street portaits' taken from behind the person (or people) to be less interesting than those showing at least part of a face.

 

It's worth experimenting with different crops, I think. The top one is fine but places the woman (through the foreground) 'at a distance'. the close-up crop doesn't give her much 'breathing space' horizontally. So perhaps somewhere in between? You could also experiment with horizontal crops rather than vertical crops

Edited March 10, 2022 by mikemorrell

This photo stirs emotions, I looked before reading and saw sadness and isolation. The hand is eloquent and the she is looking down not through. You tell me it is a holy site and the sense of exclusion reminds me of the medieval church with the congregation kept back from the alter and the miraculous. It says something to me about the position of women in this society but I make this point with hesitation. Shot from the back it doesn't intrude on the grief and that is to be welcomed. The crop is the better photo but I prefer the first which gives the context. A photo of real worth, thank you, Charles.

Thankyou!

I'm not sure cropping it in helps here because it also amplifies the technical problems of the photo, mainly lack of sharpness, and I think a lack of contrast To me this type of image is requires more technical proficiency in either the taking and processing of the image or both. But I also think if the imager had the proper detail in it, the cropped version would be a nice image. I like the way her feet are tucked under her, etc. Could be a nice pic if you could fix those problems, but something that unsharp is going to be difficult to fix.

As indicated in the initial post. This is one that I'm thinking of maybe rescanning at a higher resolution, which may enable me to address (at least partially if not completely) the problems you (Barry) point out. Aside from that. Did I capture the impression I got from her demeanor?

Did I capture the impression I got from her demeanor?

No. But that’s ok. I don’t think you have to capture an impression. I think you can create one.

 

What you’ve captured, in terms of her demeanor, is vague and could be open to many interpretations, from prayerful to serene to unhappy (what you perceived) to serious to many other things. Without seeing a face or more specific gestures or symbols, as a viewer I wouldn’t read much into her demeanor at this point.

 

I think this has more potential as a documentary shot, which can still have an emotional pull to it. I’m not sure you’ll be able to universally convey sadness or that you should even try. But what I think can be done is for you to work with that impression of sadness you had and post process this in such a way as to align the photo itself, as opposed to just the woman, with that feeling. Sadness has a lot of unnamed brothers, sisters, and cousins, even a third cousin or two once removed. Get into that head and post process in that direction, working with what you’ve captured to create something inspired by these perceptions and feelings. I don’t think you have to stray from realism in order to do this, but of course you might want to. I do think that the I cropped version may allow you some space to achieve some feeling impressions. I’d start there and if cropping to a closeup seems like it will work better for what you want, I wouldn’t rule it out.

It holds interest for me ... she appears to be worshiping a God or lost loved relative, after hours. It arouses emotion and I think it's important with this shot to show the full scene to provide context as Charles said, but with a tiny amount of cropping to focus attention on the woman a bit more, she seems to be the main subject, but the architecture is interesting also.

 

A little cropping on the bottom and right side, for consideration, although some careful darkening of the square column on the extreme right would probably help too, to suppress that slight distraction. I tried cropping it out completely, but the photo didn't look too good after that.

As indicated in the initial post. This is one that I'm thinking of maybe rescanning at a higher resolution, which may enable me to address (at least partially if not completely) the problems you (Barry) point out. Aside from that. Did I capture the impression I got from her demeanor?

Well, yes, there is an impression are mood possible here. Sort of along the lines of what Sam said just above, I think it's there but you have to pull it out. Here's just a quick doodle in Photo Shop, if you don't mind. Not really looking at the crop, but just other available adjustments.

 

If I was really doing this I'd mess around with getting a little more separation of her hand and feet from the surrounding tonality and maybe just brighten her just a tad more as I think I messed that up a bit, but the main thing is, there's things you can do to bring out mood in a photo.

Here, this is more what I had in mind, sorry for the dithering.

Haven't commented out here in quite some time, but I do still browse occasionally and came across this image. Per the photographer's pondering above how this might be best processed, this is exactly the sort of image I had in mind when I initiated the post-processing challenge some years ago. While I enjoy looking at what the post-processing challenge has become (ie. often wild modifications that make the photo completely different), perhaps this photographer could be helped by submitting this as a post-processing challenge in the 'digital darkroom' forum and requesting that participants avoid adding elements that aren't there.

Well, yes, there is an impression are mood possible here. Sort of along the lines of what Sam said just above, I think it's there but you have to pull it out. Here's just a quick doodle in Photo Shop, if you don't mind. Not really looking at the crop, but just other available adjustments.

 

[ATTACH=full]1420855[/ATTACH]

If I was really doing this I'd mess around with getting a little more separation of her hand and feet from the surrounding tonality and maybe just brighten her just a tad more as I think I messed that up a bit, but the main thing is, there's things you can do to bring out mood in a photo.

 

Thanks all for the comments and suggestions. I am going to rescan at a higher resolution and re-edit (possibly even replace the older with the newer rather than simply keep both)

 

Don't mind the doodling at all (one image worth a thousand words)

Haven't commented out here in quite some time, but I do still browse occasionally and came across this image. Per the photographer's pondering above how this might be best processed, this is exactly the sort of image I had in mind when I initiated the post-processing challenge some years ago. While I enjoy looking at what the post-processing challenge has become (ie. often wild modifications that make the photo completely different), perhaps this photographer could be helped by submitting this as a post-processing challenge in the 'digital darkroom' forum and requesting that participants avoid adding elements that aren't there.

 

It probably wouldn't hurt. Even though there will sometimes be overlap in discussions, there is a different emphasis on image critique than in the post-processing thread. A little more of a discussion of what the image is about or could be about, what the photographer is intending and sometimes discussion on how to achieve that. Both are useful.

Edited March 20, 2022 by http://www.photo.net/barryfisher

It probably wouldn't hurt. Even though there will sometimes be overlap in discussions, there is a different emphasis on image critique than in the post-processing thread. A little more of a discussion of what the image is about or could be about, what the photographer is intending and sometimes discussion on how to achieve that. Both are useful.

 

Thank you!

Striking image. I personally would like to see some of the foreground floor cropped out. I believe it would make it stronger.

I find her demeanor to be successfully rendered because, if vague, it is very human in character, a clear but not directly known combination of intention and action. These elements plus the essential mystery in the image make it very compelling IMO.

Haven't stopped by for awhile. Working on a project to get all the pre-digital negatives and slides in some kind of organized mess as opposed to a disorganized one.

Thanks all for the comments and suggestions. I'll take them into account and apply them in the rescan\reedit. See the difference in the assorted dithers in the string.