splitpeasoup

Your India pictures are awesome. They're not only technically superb, they're genuine and sincere in their depiction of the spirit of the land. You're that rare photographer who forgoes the easy exotic gratification of the Taj Mahal and Kumbh Mela yogis to cut straight to the simple heart of India, the life that its 800 million rural core live. Kudos.

 

-Apu

Another nice tiger pic.

 

Though I guess you don't remember the film you used, could you at least let us know whether it was slide or negative? Also curious to know your scan method (whether from slide, neg, or print) and which scanner you used.

Very nice picture. The depth of focus is just perfect!

 

-Apu

"The following is my subjective impression of the scene. A middle-aged man, physically aged a little beyond his years, is struggling to maintain a sense of dignity in a place that has lost all dignity. His poise is that of a person making a last stand, superficially brave, but obviously insecure nevertheless. He is not impervious to his surroundings, as evidenced by the self-mocking twitch of his lip. Although he wants to feel proud of his heritage and life, when confronted with the photographer he feels dissatisfied with his life, and his mixed feelings of self-pity and envy show through. However, he has learnt that he is in no position to do anything about his life and unfortunate circumstances, having tried several times, unsuccessfully, to improve his familys living conditions and quality of life. He was brought up in a religious dynasty, and because of the ingrained principles that still linger in his soul, is reluctant to remove the icon of his faith from his property, although his religion (Hinduism?) has offered no respite to his suffering. His tranquil eyes reflect his resigned state of mind, and the calm hopelessness that has embedded itself in his being." -- Samuel Dilworth

To those who see "exotic" photos as harmless: the above should make clear why they are not.

An "exotic" photo is merely a deliberate perpetuation of existing stereotypes in the Western viewer's mind.

-Apu

"Colonialism is dead and buried, matey, but had it not taken place, the worlds people would still be bickering about which berries are better for curing raw-meat induced diarrhoea..." -- Samuel Dilworth

Mr Dilworth, your perception of pre-British India is ridiculous beyond belief.

Wow! I almost can't believe this is a digital picture; it looks like a classic Zone System pic. Did you digitally edit for contrast? Would be interesting to hear details of lighting and exposure too.

Oh, and another question: for framing this, should I use a white mat or a black one?

 

Thanks,

 

-Apu

I exposed based on my Nikon F80 matrix meter reading. Do you think it

is too dark? Or is the exposure correct for the given composition?

 

I am trying to build a list of situations where my camera matrix

metering cannot be trusted.

Eyecatching, funny and original. Technically, however, there is some room for improvement, IMHO. Assuming that you can recreate the scene at will, I would use softer light, reduce depth of focus, perhaps also move in closer and lower the level of the camera (I mean the one which is taking the picture, not the one in the picture!) to give more importance to the subject.

 

-Apu

Nice picture. I wouldn't say it's too busy at all. However it needs a much greater depth of focus. Right now about half the leaves are badly out of focus. Was there some reason you couldn't have used a slower shutter and smaller aperture (lack of tripod etc)?

 

-Apu

A delightful capturing of the moment. I think, though, that there was no reason to use the portrait format (the sky is pretty drab). If you did that to exclude people who would have otherwise intruded into the frame, you should at least have given the sky less than a third of the frame. You cropped too tightly on the bottom (no pun intended!)

 

Also, I would have reduced the depth of focus to give more importance to the subject... the background is nice but not spectacular.

 

Anyhow, nice and engaging pic.

 

Rgds,

 

-Apu

Thanks for the comments!

 

Richard, I see your point about the dark diagonal line. I wouldn't mind the hikers being to the side except for the fact that they are walking to the right. If they had been walking the other way it would have been just fine.

 

But after thinking it over, I have to agree that cropping on the left simply massacres the picture.

 

Thanks again,

 

-Apu

...or will I be losing too much of the picture that way?