lucas_griego

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. ;-)

Paradise isn't on any map... but you can find it here.

Comments and critiques welcome

Nice shot Marc.

Not my personal taste in women. However the nice facial bone structure and the eyes make up for the lack of curves. ;-)

The lighting does a nice job of popping her off the dark background. You've got an interesting mixure of very warm light with harder shadows and the evenly diffused and much cooler light that's on the bottom 2/3rds of her.

Well done. Thanks for posting.

Interesting...

Sure to cause lots of debate.

So let me add my .02 cents

Maria,

Chris never claimed or named this to be a 'street' shot. So when you say it's staged... err.. yeah.. what'd you expect. Why state the obvious? I don't think it's like he was trying to get over or anything.

I think maybe the power of a shot like this is that it is so out of context, it's juxtaposition to what we 'know'. It could be even taken further and shot with massive softboxes... and it'd probably tweek a nerve even more than it does now.

What ads to 'juxtaposition/shock' issue for me is the word 'Homeless 1' in a flourishing script typeface with a glowing treatment.

Nothing wrong with juxtapostion. In fact it's a very powerful and effective tool. The shock that it's given you is evidence of that. I think most people would find it easier to look at a person like this in a street setting. It's not nearly as in your face as a shot like this.

I'm wondering how different a shot like this is from say Dianne Arbus and some of the mongoloid kids she took pictures of or Edward Curtis and the Native Americans.

If anyone cares to throw some thoughts in I'm willing to take a listen.

It'd be interesting to hear some more thoughts on this.

Yeah I kind of thought the same thing when first looking at this shot. "Photoshop"...

But I dunno - it'd be a pretty gnarly job.

As well - it's exactly this kind of thing in nature that plays tricks visually.

Maybe Douglas could give us some info.

Christopher,

It's very hard in this shot to get an idea of what she's doing. Her head starting from her hair just gets lost in the black background. To be able to see that she's holding a braid is real effort. Try posting the retouched shot.

Looks interesting, but I find it too small on even the large version to tell much.

The above/below water surface is a nice effect. But upload a bigger version for us to appreciate!!!

;-)

This was one of several shots done when a friend came by the

studio unexepectedly. We shot with stuff we had laying around

the studio. ?!?!?! What kind of studio has a red sequined bikini

and devil horns laying around? Mine of course!

Comments and critiques welcome

Michael,

This is a powerful image.

The hand and it's expression remind me of the drawings of Burne Hogarth. An exceptional renderer of the human form and long time illustrator of Tarzan - I know that may sound wacky but check out his work if you get a chance - you'll see why I mean that as a compliment.

I certainly found this and other pieces in your folder inspiring! Thanks.

ciao,

Luc

I'm not so crazy for the digital effects.

To me it reminds me of '80s Airbrush T-shirt art. The kid is cute though.

Roberto,

I thought this shot was great.

The guitarist stance, cigarette in his mouth

the backlighting popping his head out of the darkenss are all well done.

The small amount of light illuminating his face is a great touch as well.

The only thing I didn't like was the distracting shadows at the bottom. I re cropped to show you what I mean.

Forget U2 I'd rather see Los Tres any day! ;-)

Nice work man.

ciao,

Luc

Kevin,

Other than it's connection to the 9/11 tragedy

I don't think there is a whole lot going for this shot. Even with the 9/11 info given it doesn't have much emotional impact for me.

Some of your other images are much much stronger than this one.

Ha ha..

Had to come back one more time.

It's still funny!

Itai,

This is a case where I think the symmetical composition really works for you.

It's kind of funny as both of the guys have similar stances, similar hand holding their beer glass, similar facial features, similar hair cuts and receding hairlines and similar amounts of beer in their glass. ;-)

I sort of disagree with Peters 'contact' comment here... as they're standing at a bar talking. So I think the implied contact is strong enough.

The exposure and lighting is well done here.

I like it.

Nice shot.

How can anything that only eats alfalfa want to kill you so much!!! ;-)

I see a broken collarbone coming on!

You captured this one well. Would have liked to see a smaller DOF to focus everything on the rider and the horse - as the background is slightly distracting. But as I've never come close to this kind of a shot maybe just ignore that comment. Great shot.

Your folders show some nice PJ work capturing some decisive and clever moments.

ciao,

Luc

Like your shot - and this whole folder.

Panom Rung Wan? The old Khmer style monument right?

Whenever I need a good 5 minute holiday away from the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong I just click through your folders!

cheers,

luc

Ken,

Very nice.

Very funny as well. You just can't help but crack up when you see this child enjoying herself so much with something as simple as marching through a flock of pigeons! ;-)

Glad you were there to capture it for us!

Al,

One thing you will definitely want to do is make sure that the brand name of the product -e.g. the gold ones on the front of the tubes are both readable and facing the camera. And make sure you have the cleanest slickest samples possible. If that name is even slightly worn or scratched you will have to retouch it.

On your white tube, just out of camera you might try with placing a black piece of card to 'pop' out that edge. Now it's white on white so you have no defintion of edge and that makes it look a bit flat. But take your time and make sure it doesn't give you a funny reflection in the clear part of the other tube. Try black cards on both sides as well. It looke like you have white creeping around on the darker tube - down near the bottom. Adjusting contrast in Photoshop won't help if there's not something there to begin with.

For a white background - shoot them up against a softbox covered with a sheet of tracing velum, or hit your background with about 1/3rd to 1/2 stop over what your shooting on your key light.

When you say f45 I think you mean f4.5

I'd shoot it more around f11 to f16 for a good depth of field - especially since you haven't got any movements on your camera. Most shots you see for this kind of product are shot 4X5 with movements or Med Format.

Ideally what you want for lighting here is a big softbox, or maybe something with some silver reflectance as well.

How will these items appear in the final layout? Will they be just floating? If not you might try getting them on a moderately reflective piece of material - like a formica or some kind of substrate.. this'll give them a base.

Anyhow - hopefully some one will chime in with some more tips. Good luck, let us know how the final shots turn out.

cheers,

Luc

When I see the shot it reminds me for some reason of a rocket about to blast off. Which is good - if that is the intent/interpetation...

or if your happy with the motion in the shot - it does give it an energy of sorts.

If however you were trying for a clean and tight literal night shot of the Eiffel tower then a tripod is the way to go. ;-)

Here I've attempted to light this similar to George Hurrell - The

'Grand Seigneur of the Hollywood Portrait'. I feel I've managed to

capture some of the same mood as the old cinema posters and

stills from the Silver Age of Hollywood Cinema.

Please comment and critique.

Trav,

Came across your shot here and thought the model (wife?) was very nice looking. SE Asian? Perhaps Thai or Cambodian? She's got very attractive bone structure. I know that sounds goofy.. but check out some of my shots and you'll see why I said that.. ;-)

http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=600425&size=lg

or this one as well...

http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=593153&size=lg

cheers,

Luc

Sergei,

Overall this is a pretty nice shot.

You might be surprised to find that many many photographers use simple lighting tools just like bedside lamps and the like.

Japanese glamour/erotica photographers are famous for this. Often they'll use a single bare bulb with no correction for color cast. It can be pretty impressive the results they manage to get with such readily available material.

I think your well on your way here. Your composition and your DOF are working very well here. Your model is attractive in a very natural way and her pose isn't contrived.

Congrats.

cheers,

Luc

M. Ort,

Really like this image.

Perhaps I like it more because it wasn't digitally manipulated. I use Photoshop all the time... but for some reason I still find a certain kind of awe for shots that are done completely in camera.

I think the angel with it's shadows and the texture of the telephone pole(?) with it's staples to be a great mix.

I will now go out and burn through some film trying to get a shot with this kind of feel and texture!! ;-)

cheers,

Luc

Wow. Cool. I feel good about getting such a positive response on this shot. Thanks again for all the responses so far - It gives me the feeling that I am heading in the right direction.

;-)

cheers,

luc