***Connected to the gods***

This shot was taken during the Gin Jay festival in Thailand.

 

I am interested in critiques of this shot, especially from those

shooting b/w or editorial work.

 

I am specifically interested in the following:

 

1) Is the shot by itself (w/out the caption) interesting enough

to stand on it's own?

 

2) Does reading the supplied caption add or detract from the

shot?

 

3) Is it the kind of shot you'd expect to see published in a travel

mag or say a 'travel' type column?

 

4) As far as the tonality and grain of the shot is there anything

that can be improved?

 

5) Would any kind of filtering helped to improve this shot?

 

6) Could I have improved the composition somehow?

 

Thanks for taking the time to view it!

 

cheers,

Luc

1) Is the shot by itself (w/out the caption) interesting enough to stand on it's own?

Yes, even if we do not know whats going on

 

2) Does reading the supplied caption add or detract from the shot?

We cant read (too small)

 

3) Is it the kind of shot you'd expect to see published in a travel mag or say a 'travel' type column?

Yes

4) As far as the tonality and grain of the shot is there anything that can be improved?

 

5) Would any kind of filtering helped to improve this shot?

 

6) Could I have improved the composition somehow?

The composition is fine to me, the top is too bright but this can easily be corrected.

I cant post on this forum at the time If you have time can I ask you the favour of having a look on one of my pic, This one: http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=365970 thank you Jean

 

 

 

 

 

 

In general I don't like to see captions connected to photographs, I feel as though the title is often enough. On "photo.net" you can always put an explanation in the comments section below, after all this is a photography web sight and not a book. In the case of this image, I do not see an exception, and feel that the caption does indeed detract from the picture as when first looking at it I spent most of my time trying to read the caption which as Jean points out is far too small anyway.

 

This is a great peice of photo-journalism and is more than able to stand on its own, perhaps with a different title. You have certainly captured a decisive moment.

 

As for filtration - I have a yellow filter attatched to my lens as a matter of course when shooting in Black & White, as I like the slight increase in contrast that it affords the shot, but I am unsure if this was needed in this picture.

 

Try experimenting with the usual Yellow, Orange and Red, but try the interresting results Blues and Greens can produce.

 

On the whole a great photograph - Well done!

Thanks for the comments so far..

Jean - thanks for pointing out how damn small the type is! Thought I made it big enough to read.. but now viewing it even on the LARGE file it is still too small.. will check out your shot by the way. Good to hear from you!

 

Nicholas - Thanks for the insight. I had real reservations about posting a photo with a text caption. Your right it would have been better in the comment/description section than in photo itself. And yeah - small type is a pain.

 

I did take note on your observation about the type detracting away from the shot as it tends to make you want to read the type first.. and then go to the shot.. hmmm. Next time I'll post just the shot. ha ha..now it's really bugging me. As well you'll note that I went back in and added that I used an 81B warm up filter on this shot.. didn't remember it 'till you mentioned it.

 

There is one guy on photo.net doing what I think is very cool b/w work and using a red 25 filter to a nice effect - His name is Paolo Cardone and this link should take you (hopefully) to one of his shots I really like:

 

http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=503041&size=lg

 

Thanks for the kind word about this shot - much appreciated as well is the critique!

 

cheers,

Luc

Go to google and do a search for "Phil Borges". He shoots a lot of 3rd world cultures/people and in a display of his images I saw recently all of his photos had an explanatory piece of text on the glass. He is clearly trying to make a political statement with his images, which are very powerful. I think the key is to be succinct enough to explain but not detract from the image.

May be I'm not the best to comment, but here goes my 3 cents:

 

1) Is the shot by itself (w/out the caption) ...? Yes, sure. Makes me wonder what's going on here. The title answer the question.

 

2) Does reading the supplied caption add or detract from the shot? Doesn't add too much...

 

3) Is it the kind of shot you'd expect to see published in a travel mag or say a 'travel' type column? May be not the right question. May be you should ask "Is this what my client want to sell from this place".

 

6) Could I have improved the composition somehow?

No, it's perfect like it's now.

 

Keep posting!

Love the way you put the little explanation section with your picture. Makes the picture have more meaning. I wish EVERYONE did this. Maybe I could make sense of their pictures.

I like this shot. I didn't find the caption/text helpful. The title was enough. Now... why warming filter? I just wonder. However, the tilted composition makes miracles on this shot: it adds motion, vibration, dynamism. In sum: I really like it, and I'd like it even more without the note.

 

However, I must admit that the reason I clicked on this photo was curiosity to read that text. I'll change my O rating to a 10. Generous? Why not!

I like this piece. It's focused, moving, and intense. You did a good job isolating the subject from the surrounding, wich in this case is not an easy thing to do. The combination of the sholder-level angle and the close-up perspective of the foreground, make me feels like I was there peaking... Facing with the same situation, most people would have shoot over the sholder for a clear shot, which would gives a totally different perspective and feeling. Also I like the limping man in the background, adds to the heavy environment in this shot.

 

No comment on the caption... I don't think it adds to the photo. Also, I don't think it's a distraction to me. By far, very nice work.

No question this image stands on it's own.. However, reading the text made it even more interesting. If I were to stumble on this shot in National Geographic...It would fit in with the story, quality and interesting content one would usually find there.