hide n seek

[Palachandra]

My friend wanted his portrait with the pillars of one of the temple. So instead of shooting from front i tried a different composition. I asked him to sit in between the pillars showing half of his body and his eye.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/palachandra/2229775685/" title="HIDE N SEEK by Palachandra, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2074/2229775685_ed25702b60.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="HIDE N SEEK" /></a>

I used aparture priority shooting mode and selected f3.5 to get shallow DOF.

The PP done: cropping, B&W conversion using picasa filtered B&W conversion.
Let me know your comments on DOF i used and the composition.

[Olivier H]

I find the idea very good and the realisation pretty good too.

About the pose, the fingers sticking out behind his knee are a bit disturbing for me.
Also I would like to see a little bit more of the face, to give more intention in the "hiding". For now, one could think his head randomly popped out when you depressed the shutter release.

However, the shot works for me as is. :)

[snapdragon]

My friend wanted his portrait with the pillars of one of the temple. So instead of shooting from front i tried a different composition. I asked him to sit in between the pillars showing half of his body and his eye.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/palachandra/2229775685/" title="HIDE N SEEK by Palachandra, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2074/2229775685_ed25702b60.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="HIDE N SEEK" /></a>

I used aparture priority shooting mode and selected f3.5 to get shallow DOF.

The PP done: cropping, B&W conversion using picasa filtered B&W conversion.
Let me know your comments on DOF i used and the composition.

I like the idea behind the shot ,DOF looks good to me ,the comp, I would like to see his eye on the the line of thirds rule , perhaps getting closer or zooming in more , as is i would try croping closer if you can . I think that croping the bottom of the photo just above his hand works .

[Saralonde]

Good idea to try and take it in an unusual way. I, too, would like to see a little more of his face. The pillar in front of him and the dark area behind his head and the rest of his body almost - but not quite - try to compete for attention. A little more face would eliminate that.

[Sandie]

I really like it. I like the head tilt and placement. The eye is so small in the frame, yet so cammanding in attention. It says a lot. I really want to go sit down and just comfort him, not with words, but with a still presence.

If you could reshoot or are great with PS, the few things that bother me are: the fingers, the white clump of paper(?) on the stairs in the background, extra space on the left of the frame, the black cape thing above his head and I am not sure what is going on with the fuzzy egde on the right.

Overall great shot! It has lots of emotional impact.

[ELAY]

I like the pillars and the DOF you got with them and I love the tones you got in your BW conversion.

I am with the others though -- a bit more face next time.

EL

[deck]

Congratulations for thinking out of the box, the concept produces a lot of tension especially since you showed so little of the face, but I think thats a good concept to work on, good but not yet great so keep practicing.
I think there is good use of DOF but theres still room for improvement, usually good DOF involves patterns, the pillar would have been the pattern but it ends short.
personally I think the background and the space to the left is not really needed, perhaps a tighter shot would help, try to crop it just to see it it would look better.
Again, I commend you for thinking out of the box, thats a very good practice!
Hope this is taken constructively! :)
Keep Shooting,
Deck ;)

[Palachandra]

Thank you all for your inputs... and yes cropping and close up looks good.

However I am not good at PP, so will keep in mind your inputs and will try different combinations.

[deck]

Thank you all for your inputs... and yes cropping and close up looks good.

However I am not good at PP, so will keep in mind your inputs and will try different combinations.

No prob, if youre not good at PP, try to get the shot right, you can always try other angles, besides, digital is free ;)

[Palachandra]

:) Finally I come up with another crop and liked it better than first post:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/palachandra/2232858034/" title="EYE by Palachandra, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2146/2232858034_0979f30c86.jpg" width="401" height="500" alt="EYE" /></a>

No prob, if youre not good at PP, try to get the shot right, you can always try other angles, besides, digital is free ;)

[jiminyClickit]

Palachandra,

Essence: you have window of the soul between pillars of strength. You are very good at this, taking away just enough. Has your friend seen this?

[deck]

A more straight to the point picture and one that matches the title without too much distracting elements, still veering away from the thirds rule but i think its ok, the DOF is more obvious with this photo ;)

[Palachandra]

Jim,

"window of the soul between pillars of strength" - what an interpretation. Thank you soo much. Yes he have seen this and much happy with the result too.

Palachandra,

Essence: you have window of the soul between pillars of strength. You are very good at this, taking away just enough. Has your friend seen this?

Deck,

Thank you for looking it again and for your inputs.