music Madredeus (Portugal)

The balance of tones and the contrast of light and dark areas. And you've captured a great facial expression.

(Didn't know Phil Jupitus {English Comic} played guitar...)

Good job here. Lucky moment you picked up on. Normally I don't like it when the SUBJECT is placed in the center, but I kind of think you're forced to here -- so in the end it was a good decision you made. Excellent feel, gives the feel of a NYC jazz club. Well Done.

Great tones and composition. The fact that she is in the center actually gives the image great balance. It does have a very Wenders like quality, great shot.

It's a pitty there isn't more detail in the dress, but the composition is awesome. This is a truely great photo.

Photo of a Portugese group Madredeus, performing on world music

festival Druga Godba 2001 in Ljubljana. The group became famous after

appearance in Wim Wenders film.

very nice shot..lots of atmosphere and feeling..i think it would have been even beter if she had a little head room,but... well done

Great expression and lighing. Getting the other musicians in as part of the background well lit and in focus really helps this stand apart.

So well captured the mood that this group creates! And knowing their music, it seems that I'm almost hearing them right now.

 

It deserves to be a POW.

Nice shot, but rather common for concert photography. It seems to capture anyway the atmosphere of Madredeus.

The photograph is lit well and it has great balance, but I am not very sure about her facial expression. I know that often the expression can make or break a photograph, and I think her expression could be a bit more dramatic. Others seem to like it though..... Congratulations.

Madredeus is the name of the musical group. They are from Portugal. I would guess that the picture was shot during a concert in Slovenia.

Awesome composition, with the light playing nicely with the smoke. Good mixture of light and dark area. Ratings are much too low - sadly enough, the average user on Photo.net is not interested by B&W and goes for hyper-saturated Velvia colors. Those who truely appreciate B&W usually shoot some themselves and know the skills involved. Many also develop and print, which makes them even more sensible to good B&W work. Desaturated color images rarely have the same impact.

Great composition. Perfect timing of singer. A viewer can really get involve with the whole happening. The illusion of depth created by smoke (tinting the background) is a key element of this image's success. Right on!

A woman who can convey emotion to this extent whilst keeping such a conservative stance is wonderful to witness let alone capture with a camera . The mood of deep lonely emotion is captured excellently here and is enhanced with the stark contrasts and tones. The sense of lonliness is also conveyed by the 3 characters having their own clearly defined areas on the print - the singer being centered works as does the photo in total.

 

Well Done!

The choice of film was a good choice, fuji b+w has wicked contrast for that situation. Being a music photographer Im a little jaded to the whole scene but a photo like this makes me happy to be in the field.

I love this shot in B+W - you would lose the whole feeling of the composition were it in color. However, I might have printed it down half a grade or so - the contrast is a bit hard for my taste. The highlights are so big and bright that they are distracting, and it would have been nice to see additional detail in her dress.

For a number of weeks a can't argue with the choice of POW. I'm glad elves finally stopped awarding POW to vacation snapshots. Vuk, back to you ;-)

Photo of a Portugese group Madredeus, performing on world music festival Druga Godba 2001 in summer open air theatre Krizanke in Ljubljana. The group became famous after appearance in Wim Wenders film. Their music, lights and smoke created very special atmosphere. Photographing was only allowed at first two or three songs, and we were not allowed to move under the stage because the television camera on rails. It was a problem with my maximum 105 mm. Film Fuji Neopan 400 was pushed to 1600.

 

 

Great range of tones, and great composition. Love the foggy effect around the musicians.

Another great POW. Terrific lighting, these shots are really hard to do well and it sounds like you had to work under time pressure as well. Great effort.

It would seem the site administrators have listened to "our" complaints too well. Three B&W's in a row!

Someone says they like the choice of film. I haven't used this emulsion. I'd like to believe Neopan is capable of better results. Were this Tri-X I'm sure I could predict the squeals of protest. (This picture would represent a terrible exhibition of the capabilities of Tri-X.)

Typically (and regrettably) we have been afforded zero details in the technical notes, so we must shoot blind. Another shame. I hope the photographer comes forward to help us out.

I'd like to refer to the central figure of this image (the singer) as our subject, but I'm not certain she is. If she is (and she probably was in the photographer's mind) then she's out of focus--at least her face appears to be. There is so little shadow detail (actually none at all) that it's impossible to know with respect to, say, her dress.

With that in mind I get the impression this image has been heavily cropped. That would account for the soft focus, wholly or partially. Then again, it seems as if the musicians behind the singer have (if anything) better facial detail--if that's true (hard to say with so much soft focus all around) then the photgrapher simply missed his focus point outright. (With 400 ISO film in a nightclub setting I imagine this was shot wide open with whatever lens--again, no technical at no more 1/60, possibly 1/30, hand held of course.) So, unless the photographer's subject was not the group/scene itself (or the singer) but rather the two musicians in the bacground . . . he blew it.

Re exposure: this film emulsion might be of inherently indifferent quality re its low-light characteristics (or merely a bad roll--that happens), it could be the scan (if it's a scan of a print that might explain some of these issues), it could be a result of mistakes made in software manipulation. The bottom line is that technically speaking (exposure, focus, development, digital treatment) this is a mediocre to poor image.

I would grade its compostion higher, perhaps above average on balance----the smoke/mist is a nice touch. I think it might be a bit tight, almost to the point where I want to ask the photographer to dolly out a few feet so I could see the entire scene, but I don't know. Again, the negative might have such information on it but was cropped to leave us with what we see.

James, where is it stated that this film was pushed two stops? I missed that completely. Also, who says the lens was 105mm? Why couldn't it have been a 50mm? In fact, that's the focal length I'd have used had I wanted to get this image, my Zuiko 50mm f1.2.

Anyway, this isn't in focus and unless I'm seeing things that focus is off by six or seven feet.

I agree with the rest of what you've said re the details of scan, and if it is from a print what size was that print--that would make a difference.

I wish people were obliged to provide technical notes for POW's. Since we know that the administrators do listen to our complaints and suggestions . . . that is my suggestion for next week.

The photgrapher himself, in his posting titled "Thanks for your comments", exactly three entries above your first posting here, cited both the lens and the film speed data.

Nobody is forcing you to comment on these photos Tris.

If you have a bone to pick, pick it! Otherwise, why not limit your contributions to this thread to something more . . . beneficial?

Since you are apparently unclear on the concept of the verb to critique I shall afford you this definition from Webster's 3rd: "An act of criticizing; especially: a critical examination or estimate of a thing or situation (as a work of art or literature) with a view to determining its nature and limitations or its conformity to standards."

In other words, it behooves members of an art critique forum (this is a sort of forum--the comments section of any photograph is a forum for the purpose to critique photos, to determine strengths and weaknesses) to try to find fault with the art. You're supposed to find fault, if you can. If you merely employ this space for the publication of inanities such as "Wow!" or "Great!" then you not only confuse your work but waste everyone's time--whether "they" realize their time is being wasted or not.

Thank you for your contribution, as I am sure you thank me for this rejoinder.

You have captured great atmosphere - and I also like the apparent "absence" of background. Congratulations on pic of the week.