southeast asia Fill-up station along the Mekong. Laos.

I am curious as to other peoples' opinions about whether I ought to

have used fill flash, or exposure compensation, or a different angle,

to make the old man at this floating gas station on the Mekong "pop".

The guy was more than happy to be photographed, but I had trouble

getting just the right angle, as I too was in a boat. Those 55 gallon

drums are full of gasoline, and yes, it's pumped directly out of them.

I may not have another chance to photograph him, but I want to work

on composition and lighting so that my next participant will receive

the best treatment I can offer. Thank you for your opinions and

suggestions.

Tim,

I think the shot works fairly well given the circumstances.

 

One thing I thought was that the fuel has a nice color to it so it'd have been nice to fill up more of the frame with that and lose some of the background that tends to blow out when exposing for the man.

Again - it's kind of a pie-in-the-sky comment given your position when shooting. Maybe tilting the angle of your camera just a bit to get some angles and a bit more movement in. As well I think this shot would work equally well in B/W. Perhaps a tad of fill flash would have given you slightly better coloration on the man.

 

Just my 02. cents.

BTW - love this part of the world. I used to live for 6 months in Nong Khai just across the Mekong on the Thai side. ;-)

I agree ith Lucas. More light on the face would have given a better shot. But again, it was maybe technicaly not possible and I would also feel a bit akward to ask this man to change the pose etc....Jean.

 

I like the expression of the man, congratulation; to me portrait of unknown people is the most difficult exercise..

Lucas especially, I enjoy looking at your studio shots and am starting to learn more about lighting angles in practice (rather than just "the book says to hold the flash off to the side and up a little"). Prior to looking at the work of some of you here on photo.net, I was ignorant of my own ignorance. Only when I got the slides back did it occur to me "hey, maybe a little fill". I don't know if I had my flash with me, I should have, I usually carry an SB-23 in the day.

 

We met a woman in Thailand who had moved from Nong Khai to Chiang Mai and she felt as you did.

I would highly recommend traveling to Laos; as Lucas mentioned it is a wonderful part of the world, just don't forget your mosquito repellent. As for taking pictures of people who I've just met, it is tougher, but that is why I enjoy it! Probably my favorite photographer is Steve McCurry, and Daniel Bayer here on photo.net also takes pictures with wonderfully thought-out lighting which I would like to emulate. The comment about the fuel resonates with me more now, because it was a major reason for taking the picture. I will post another shot where I remembered to use fill flash in difficult lighting when I am able to request another critique :-).

 

Thanks so much for your comments! I appreciate the advice and will do my best to use it.

Tim, if you have a flash, start using some mild fill flash in situations like this. It'll really help. I saved so many photos this trip by using fill-flash. Occassionally i got too much, and a couple times too little, but mostly i just really saved my photos from being 'almost there's.

and discovering that, at f/2 in the middle of the day on the river, it wasn't going to happen :-). I shot this at something like 1/500 or 1/1000th now that I am thinking back and wondering 'why not'. Usually I bring at least the SB-23 or the big SB-25 w/ a bouncer and sync cord everywhere I go... not coincidentally, I am currently JB-welding a small flash arm together.

 

Anyways, I am cropping a few more pics from the trip where i *did* remember to pop the strobe, and I intend to furnish evidence of *some* competence shortly. When I submitted this shot for critique I was mostly wondering whether it looked bright enough on other peoples' monitors. Now I'm wondering whether I shouldn't have stopped down a bit and got the shutter speed down into the sync range. I could have plopped the polarizer onto the lens but I fear that would have done eerie things to his flesh tones and the fuel's reflections.