Naked Man Festival.

[IainM]

This is a photo I took at night at 200mm focal length handheld. It came out fairly nice considering (in terms of exposure and wotnot)

However, I want to know what you think of it separate from the circumstances that it was taken and tell me; is it a good shot? Is it interesting? does it look nice? that sort of thing, because I'm on the fence on this one.




Click for larger version.

Nikon D90
ISO 400
F 5.6
Focal Length 200mm
Shutter Speed 1/10


Cheers,

Iain.

[Jamie Hibbert]

A fantastic shot spoilt by that column.

I think the capture is fantastic and full of interest.

[ressalg]

I would agree with the previous poster. That column totally ruins the shot. The exposure isn't bad and the movement/blur in the image gives it a bit of life.

[truffet]

The column on the right doesn't ruin the shot at all. On the contrary, it balances out the column in the background toward the left. It also adds an interesting element to the photo's setting. The composition is excellent. The only thing I'd say is that it's a little dark--maybe set the ISO higher--and I'd prefer it without the blur. There's obviously a lot of movement in the image--no need to accentuate it with blur. Maybe crop down very slightly, to eliminate some of the empty black space, too. This is pretty compelling overall, though, and I'm thankful it doesn't look like so many of the other (cliched) photos on here.

[IainM]

Hrm thanks for the thoughts, I do think that on reflection I could have bumped up the ISO a fair bit more. I have it in my head that high iso is very bad avoid at all costs! haha.

As for the column, yeah I do and don't like it. perhaps if there were a couple people in front of the column it would look better (there might actually be but they don't show up because of the columns shadow).

Soon there is going to be an exhibition of foreign artists' in my prefecture (think "state") in Japan. As foreigners we can submit any kind of artwork, at a maximum of 3 pieces. I paint and draw so I have done a couple paintings/drawings of which I'll choose two, and then I wanted to submit a photo. This is one I was considering. I think I do have better exposed/composed shots but I liked this one because of the foreigners taking part in a Japanese festival (actually the popularity of this festival is in part due to the number of foreigners that take part - the Japanese love it.) and also I do think it is interesting.
Hrm, perhaps I should've added that on the first post.

Again, thanks for the comments, it really helps hearing people's opinions.

[Athas_orm]

Firstly I find the photograph facinating. Theres just a sea of people in there. I quite like the blur in this situation but I tend to agree with the other posters who don't like the center column.

I don't think it spoils the picture but I do think it detracts.

I'd actually consider a square crop which feels more artistic on the left of the picture.

[Clickhead]

Were you naked?

[LeeR]

What an amazing shot! There is so much going on that you can't help but look at all the different sections of the image looking for clues as to what is going on. Am I bothered by the column? I was at first. Normally I would automatically discard an image with an element that bisected it, but this is no ordinary image.
Years ago there was a photographer for Life magazine who struggled hard to make all of his images 'perfect' and he came darned close. Then one day he realized that 'perfect' was not very realistic. He tore up all his old images and vowed that all of his future images would contain at least some imperfection. Is this composition perfect? No, but damn if its not one of the most powerful I have seen in a long, long time.

[Sistereinstein]

This reminds me of a roman painting - what made you want to shoot this scene?

The colum in the front is somewhat distracting - but your eye is automatically drawn to where the light is.