black & white. Begging In The Temple. <a href="http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=3576245">Please compare with the colour version.</a>

Comments welcome!

very powerful ... everything is working great !! job well done

Yes, I agree the photograph is very powerful and very well done. I think that it is an excellent use of Black and White ... the shadows ... lighted areas work out very well. Great job and thanks for sharing it.

Great pic. Very good comp and B&W!

Good photo, in my opinion, although rather conventional (well, there is nothing wrong about conventionality, is it). From technical point of view perphaps some effort could have been made to bring textures in the burnt-out highlights back to life (but may be this affects only this scaled down picture here, may be in the full resolution the texture is there, hard to judge from this sample). But as I said - good photo anyway.

This wonderful photo, as others you've posted, exemplifies a technique that I've been trying to illustrate not only in photography in general but in 'street' photography in particular.

 

That is the use of one device or another to draw the viewer's eye into the photo -- which results in a photo that not only is three (or multi-) dimensional, instead of two-dimensional, and thus infinitely more interesting.

 

The viewer's eye ordinarily first is drawn to the center of a photo, and even placing a subject off-center, draws the viewer's attention and makes for a more complex and interesting photo. Here you have made use of a device used by excellent photographers, including H Cartier-Bresson himself, drawing the different 'planes' that one experiences into one two-dimensional frame.

 

Moreover in this photo, if one looks carefully, the highlight in the lower center, is mirrored by the highlight of the rear door or window, tied together by highlight on the intervening flooring, and brought right up to the viewer by the shaded floor at the frame's bottom.

 

Multiple plane photos such as this are ones that the eye can wander through, and the mind can wonder on.

 

Forget the comment about too bright highlights, and to heck with worry about dark areas, I know your camera, the Digilux-2, and I know this is the absolutely best capture technically possible with your camera, and probably little can be done to make it technically 'better'.

 

But why 'better' by eliminating the 'blown' highlights. Why not leave them 'bright' -- after all when we see a subject, there are areas that simply are too bright to look at, and why can't we portray the same with the camera.

 

This is an indoor photo in a darkly lighted area, and any area of sunlight would be too bright to view directly if an eye is adjusted for the darkness.

 

This is a wonderful photo, and I wonder, are you in London and going through your SE Asia photos from before, or are you back in SE Asia taking new and more wonderful photos, as I don't remember this one.

 

You might consider an e-mail reply, as I'm very interested, although your public might be interested in posted response.

 

Respectfully,

 

John (Crosley)

I have great admiration for anyone who can take this type of photograph. What, if any, are the ethics involved? What do you do - take the photograph - presumably without 'permission' - and then? Give the beggar something? Something more than you otherwise would, as a salve to your conscience? Steel yourself and give her nothing?

superb shot great depth

I have read Mr. John Crosley's comment with great interest - with my knowledge now expanded I can but repeat what I have already stated above - good photo.

Nevertheless his remark about "forgetting the too bright highlights" is totally misplaced - well, do whatever makes you happy. I agree that "probably little can be done to make it technically 'better'" but I am coming there from very opposite direction - I think just a small portion of work could possibly have been carried out in the postprocessing to make the picture better. The camera issue and its technical possibilities or limitations doesn't make much sense here (or may be just the opposite - because of the hardware limitations one needs the help the picture a bit). And I still think that there is indeed a quality difference between "bright" and "blown" highlights.

In any case, thanks for sharing this photo here.

Very nice Miles. I like the motion blur in the cane & feet. Really nice exposure!

wow great photo, makes me want to go out and take much better photos than I can :) I like the spot light effect in the forground and way she is just off center.

After seeing this image in both color and black & white all I can say is that I am very excited to start exploring black & white photography for my own images. There is no comparison between the two. I totally prefer this version and this is coming from a COLOR photographer.

I applaud to the idea of sharing both BW and colour versions. The colour version clearly shows there is enough room and potential for improvements of the BW transfer.

Thankyou for your incisive words.

When I composed this I did something which I seem to do a lot which is to balance the subject(s) with something else suitable. Here I placed the woman in the bottom left and the sunlit door in the top right. Regarding the highlights on the ground and in the window, these were exaggerated when converting from colour to black and white using the channel mixer and I always add a little contrast via curves in the process. I actually like the effect and is partly influenced by an infrared photographer I met in Siem Reap in Cambodia. When you use Kodak HIE (black & white infrared) film the highlights often glow and bloom due to the lack of an anti halation layer and this gives an ethereal quality which is most suited to the temples of Cambodia. This is what I was aiming for here.

I have also posted the colour version for comparison and, to my eye, this black & white version is far superior and much closer to capturing the atmosphere as I recall it.

Thanks for taking the time John. I always enjoy your critiques of my photos and especially of your own fine work.

Regards, Miles.

Thanks Jayme, didn't expect to find you here again!

Thanks so much Derek. it's a wonderful place to take photos as you know so well. Cheers, Miles.

Thanks for your comments. I hope you find a reasonable explanation in my words to John Crosley. Let me know what you think, Miles.

Thankyou so much for your comments. I have just looked through your superb portfolio and am hugely impressed. They remind me of the brilliant photos of Steve McCurry. I look forward to seeing your work in black and white and how differently it makes you work.

Regards, Miles.

Beautiful photo.Very nice

Great job, very nice light. I am very impressed.

Miles- give me just a little credit. One bad photo does not make or break the photographer! :)

I have plenty of bad ones! :)

great shot.

 

love the b&W.

 

I just got back from Malaysia and stuggled with the bright light in situations like this.

 

But now I can see what needs to be done...:)

hello i am doing a photo auction to benfit the red cross i would like to use this photo

 

i am setting up a photo auction to bennifet the Red

Cross it is FREE to any one to summit a maxium of 5

photos 8x10 min 0f 300dpi jpg we are tring to keep the

content about PG i have some one that will print all

photos to be sold at the auction for FREE dead line is

NOV.1 and the action will be held NOV.18 in

Harrsonburg VA you can mail me a cd at

 

Nathan Combs

265 N. Main st. apt 218

Harrisonburg VA

22802 USA

 

if you have ???

540-820-2060

smoke4@rocketmail.com

my web site is

http://nathan.artisthome.com

 

i have set up an email that i can recive photos

nathancombs22802@gmail.com

 

printing will be done by Robert Good photography for

FREE

 

thank you

nathan combs