Shadow layers...( better seen large)

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=14880512

Thanks for viewing.

Thanks

The dim light and subdued color, along with the striking shadow, makes for a brooding capture. This makes me anxious.

It is an ominous pose, but the colors -- jewels -- I love even subdued.  This dancer has a great physique!  A very curious scene

The use of layered shadows is very effective and suggests movement even in the still of the photo. His outstretched arms and general body pose attracts my eye and seems quite certain. The way the shadow fades off the edge of the frame creates a lot of depth and additional movement as well.

I think the overall darkness is effective but it feels like there's a sort of film hovering over the photo, with a yellowish cast especially on the skin. What gets in my way here is the low light high ISO (?) noise, especially on darker part of the floor and on his foot. Interesting, though you say it's better seen large, I think the noise becomes more pronounced at the larger size.

 Jeff, you are right as the whole dance is quite  "aggresive", and really talks about human  life struggle.

Donna, you are right as Robin is a great dancer and you can see his skilles in the next versions.

Fred,thanks for your impressions.
The" layers"( on the title) of shadows were not done by PP....( if I well understood you) but the light on the  theater  wall created it.  Bizarre ,but on my monitor there is no nois.I have a 2nd version  a tiny bit brighter I will upload it for you to see , if there is a difference there?
 Bizarre...;-))

 

You did misunderstand. I knew the layers of shadow were created by the lights of the theater. I know you don't post process that way.

Yes, the second photo you uploaded is a slight bit brighter. Look at the dancer's foot. Just above his heel by his ankle, there is a big blotch of red. That's some of the digital noise I'm referring to. There are other smaller blotches, especially on his foot, as well.

Pnina,

The repeating motif on the wall is dramatic and as has been mentioned it does have a sense of power and physicality. The clenched fists and the straight lines from the fists to the head are open to broad interpretation when rendered as shadows.

While I do see the blotches which Fred refers to on Robin's foot and ankle at this small size and resolution I cannot say whether this is noise or something which was physically there. Something which I do notice is a peculiar blockiness to some portions of the image. The stocking over Robins face is divided into 3 rows of equal sized squares from below his nose to the bottom of the stocking. Likewise the large irregular area which looks like a patched area of plaster, on the wall just above the baseboard near the right edge of the frame, is broken down into squares of the same dimension as those on the stocking. It looks like some sort of pixellation however I am not knowledgeable enough to know what it is or why it is there. The entire image seems murky and underexposed.

With both of your impressions I went to the Raw files enlarged it  to see what you were  comenting on, so the red point is a skin  bruise( deleted) ...  The white line on his face were the seam of the stokings..... Gord All my dance photos while on  show are underexposed  till the end my camera allows. (depends on the stage lights too) and Fred, Yes, high ISO too( 1000 here). In any event I started to work on it from scratch...lighed it more as well.The dark lower part is a dark wooden floor. Please tell me if it looks better now?...;-))

Pnina,

The blockiness of which I wrote was not related to the line in the stocking but rather was a sort of digital square edges look. That aspect is gone in your new upload. I had wonders whether the mark on Robin's ankle was a bruise as I did not in the original nor in the new upload see any significant chromatic noise. I've noticed that your 5D has low noise even at higher iso.  I do understand that you work with tricky lighting on stage and that you need to be concerned with blowing highlights when dealing with the brightness and intensity of spotlights. However as a general rule, trying to expose images as far to the right of the histogram as possible, in other words as high of an exposure as possible without blowing the highlights, will give you the maximum amount of data with which to work and consequently the smoothest tone graduations and least amount of digital atifacts.

I will upload a cropped area from your original file to try and show the pixellation to which I originally referred.

Thanks for your taking the time , I know about the histogram and I was not probably carful enough to work on the part you show) , but I worked on the last upload ...).in any event thats why good  friends are for! ...;-))

I have some good news , and I will mail them to you tomorrow.

I'm going to vote for the 2nd versin which I think balances the light the best. You have such a stimulating group of dancers and performance artists to work with; it seems dancers and photography have achieved an admirable level of synergy.

I think the third version goes too far and the levels adjustments are too global, rather than being selective, which I think would have had a more subtle effect. The third version loses the sense of delicacy the original had even though it solves some of the murkiness problems. But it takes on a brightness of feeling and atmosphere which does not seem to be what you were going for here. I think preserving the soft/dim feel of the light is possible, perhaps by working with the color cast to begin with and then certainly working differently with the background light and the light on the dancer himself. Thanks for checking into those spots on the foot. And, as Gordon has commented, I seem to have been mistaken in referring to what I was seeing as noise rather than just as a problem with the quality of the light achieved. These discussions can be really helpful and I appreciate Gordon's response a lot as well as your own willingness to see the photo from different points of view.

Thanks a lot to all 3 of you, it was a good lesson !, and as I wrote to Gordon already, it is wonderful to have friends like you.!I will work again on the second version.

Jack, I think that you  would have enjoyed photographing them as well ...;-))

Fred, thanks for your follow up and as usual your good advice.!

My ultimate 3  wonderful space friends!

Pnina, an interesting read on this photo, which is well deserving of its discussion. I too like the 2nd version best, as my initial thought on opening the photo was that it felt slightly underexposed as well. I like your straightforward composition of this, and as mentioned above, the repetitive patterns of the shadows beyond add to the movement perceived. An intriguing pose -- I sense quite a bit of tension within...  Best, Marjolein