Return to Tranquility

Vithala Temple (Hampi) returns to tranquility and quietude with electric car ferrying off last batch of visitors.

Appreciate your comments and feedback.

How does that look ?

How does that look ?

 

Much better. I'm feeling the "tranquility" much more with this interpretation.

How does that look ?

The lightening of the front of the Temple and the road undermines the mood for me and comes across as false. Given the position of the sun, the original treatment was both closer to a natural feel and made for a more atmospheric photo.

I prefer it without the car, but the lightening of the front of the Temple and the road undermines the mood for me and comes across as false. Given the position of the sun, the original treatment was both closer to a natural feel and made for a more atmospheric photo.

Besides taking the car out, how would you suggest changing it?

Besides taking the car out, how would you suggest changing it?

I wouldn’t have taken the car out. Full disclosure: I edited my post before seeing your question. I prefer it without car, but since the car seemed to be the story Santharam wanted to tell, I wouldn’t have removed it. In this case, the car and its deadness was the only thing I found wanting in the photo. I thought the original lighting and scene was just fine.

I respect the image as it is, but with the sun and the electric cart both in, attention is drawn two different directions.

I would have, if possible, liked to have moved to the left to get the sun closer to the temple.

just a crude sketch with the perspective not attempted

I respect the image as it is, but with the sun and the electric cart both in, attention is drawn two different directions.

 

I would have, if possible, liked to have moved to the left to get the sun closer to the temple.

 

just a crude sketch with the perspective not attempted

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JDMvW your sketch is very close to my original suggested version, yes that works for me.

your sketch is very close to my original suggested version, yes that works for me.

Of course you did, and I should have cited you, but got lost in my own thought process, if any.o_O

santharam I'm curious, is the cart part of the story?

See Santharam’s intro to the photo in his first post. He seemed to want to convey a return to tranquility as the last visitors left in the anachronistic electric car.

First of all thanks to PN for bringing back this forum. Keen observations and in depth insight to why a photograph works or why it doesn't help a lot, especially a rookie like me, in providing direction and improving skills.

Many thanks to all suggestions and constructive comments. Each and every opinion is very helpful and educative.. _/\_ _/\_

Not sure about the composition and use of colour. The composition make this difficult to focus on a subject, not sure if it's the setting sun or the electric car or both, would like to see the sun more central, but still low in the sky, perhaps just to the right of the temple. Colour or b&w, if colour perhaps a little more light to show what colour is there. Looks a great location which I'm sure is well photographed.

Thanks Ken for your active involvement and detailed reply. Your observations and suggested modifications are very helpful. Shooting from a different PoV might have improved the picture as you suggested.

I like the way the sunset happens out of the corner of my eye. Instead of a subject, I see a story in the overall scene. The car does nothing for me. Maybe if it was backlit and radiating light through the windshield it would add something. But as it is, it’s a dull object, in shadow, with no seeming life. There may be a story about that vehicle and the return to tranquility but it’s not told as shot.

Thanks @samstevens for your constructive comment. The picture was taken to convey a feeling/mood.

Being a holiday season the crowd was huge and boisterous. I could neither shoot nor enjoy the place and its beauty in peace. When the guards evacuated every other visitor at the closing hours I requested them to allow me stay in for a few more minutes to shoot the monuments without human element. The place that was so noisy felt very peaceful after the crowd retreat. In this picture I wanted to convey what I felt in those few minutes of quietude - retreating human intervention brought back tranquility to the place. The last returning cart is included in the frame to represent receding human intervention.

Looks like I did not convey well what I felt. :)

 

Looks like I did not convey well what I felt. :)

I think that you did convey what you describe, BUT it required your description for us (or at least me) to understand. "Tranquility" might have been a better story, which could be conveyed in one image, with no words added.

I just ran across the shot in this Olympus advertisement linked below. It may not be the same temple, but the setting sun and concept are similar, but from a different perspective. Did you take a shot after the cart left? Could you have said "Tranquility" in one image?

https://www.outdoorphotographer.com/photography-gear/cameras/olympus-om-d-e-m1x-ready-for-anything/?utm_source=sfmc-newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=inspiring-people-act-behalf-nature

Looks like I did not convey well what I felt.

Even without your explanation, the car was obviously in the picture for a reason or you would have waited a couple of seconds for it to be out of the frame. It might not be necessary trying to convey something as literal as the last car of the day leaving and representing human intervention receding. That thought could be your inspiration but the picture would not have to show such a specific narration. It could simply inspire you to include the car in a way as to show it being out of place, ironic, or jarring. If you did want to be more literal, then a different angle and sense of timing, where the photo actually suggests the car leaving the frame might have worked.

I congratulate you on the attempt. To me, the more typical route would be simply to photograph a tranquil temple at sunset. Your thought to suggest the disruptiveness of the car to that tranquility adds an extra layer and that’s what thoughtful and perceptive photographers often try to do. So I applaud the effort and encourage you to keep thinking in stories (even non-literal ones) and layers and I bet you’ll come up with satisfying, multi-dimensional pictures.

Did you take a shot after the cart left?

Thank you. Unfortunately, no. Perhaps my concentration was more on how to bring disruptive element into the scene.

Even without your explanation, the car was obviously in the picture for a reason or you would have waited a couple of seconds for it to be out of the frame. It might not be necessary trying to convey something as literal as the last car of the day leaving and representing human intervention receding. That thought could be your inspiration but the picture would not have to show such a specific narration. It could simply inspire you to include the car in a way as to show it being out of place, ironic, or jarring. If you did want to be more literal, then a different angle and sense of timing, where the photo actually suggests the car leaving the frame might have worked.

 

I congratulate you on the attempt. To me, the more typical route would be simply to photograph a tranquil temple at sunset. Your thought to suggest the disruptiveness of the car to that tranquility adds an extra layer and that’s what thoughtful and perceptive photographers often try to do. So I applaud the effort and encourage you to keep thinking in stories (even non-literal ones) and layers and I bet you’ll come up with satisfying, multi-dimensional pictures.

Many thanks for the great feedback and encouraging words. Your suggestions made me brood about my literal approach to a scene, recognize the need to breakdown a complex feeling to simple elements of presentation and finally, effective depiction of those elements. I will try to improve upon all the shortcomings pointed out here. Once again thanks to all.

shortcomings

Not shortcomings, opportunities!