Shedding Light on Creativity

[alexclapp]

Hey guys.
i took this image for an art exhibition my old school is doing. the title of the exhibition is 'shedding light on creativity'.
what do you think about the composition and framing?
what could i do to improve the image?
does the lighting work? the idea i had was a shaft of light coming down to highlight the knitting.

btw this is my first post so sorry if i do something wrong
EXIF data: ISO400 f/4.0 1/50s 40mm Canon 40D no flash

[MrJones]

the lightning is nice, though I'm not sure what I'm looking at... missing the head.
but it is an interesting shot that will surely make people stop.

[BigFuzzy]

Sorry you've not gotten too many replies.. this is a difficult image to really judge.
I think it's because all comment will rely on the artistic aspect as there is very little wrong with it on a technical level.

I like the idea of you using the light to spotlight the point of interest. Having said that, the hands knitting just isn't interesting to me. I don't know why, but I just get nothing from them. It's a person knitting. Doesn't tell me much else.

Technically it's a fine b&w and you're lighting and focus is spot on, I guess it's just one of those instances where I just don't "get" or "feel" it.

I think a different angle showing the persons face, but still using the spot light and surrounding darkness would maybe have made it more interesting for me. I can imagine a version with a full shot of the person sitting there, on a chair maybe in an empty (or sparsely furnished) room looking down into her lap as she's knitting and the spotlight (from above) shot into her hands. Some light would bounch back up into her face giving enough detail, but not so much to remove that dark moody feel.

Oh, and I don't like framing, ever. It's just a personal taste of mine.

[LeeR]

I love dramatic lighting and you have used that to great effect here. Technically this image is well executed, but it lacks a bit of emotional appeal. You could, as some have suggested, include the face in the image, but that would be an entirely different shot. I think you can improve this shot as is but just cropping out everything that isn't absolutely necessary. I cropped it down to just hands, yarn and knitting and I think it makes for a much more powerful image without having to reshoot it.

[RecurrentNerve]

Pretty much agree with everyone here - well executed shot, but not so great a subject. I saw the thumbnail with a splash of light, got excited, only to find...knitting.

[alexclapp]

thanks!

i think i understand what everyone is getting at, that there isnt enough/any emotion in the image. originaly the concept i had in my mind was to have the empty room with the shaft of light coming down on the lady. i think i should have followed through with that instead of changing to something that required less set up.

also, i was very pleased with the positive feedback here. everything was usefull, and the replys sounded genuinely interested in helping me.

thankyou!

[PROFusioNZ]

hey alexclapp,

like the direction u were going with this. Technically, looks good.

I would agree with a tighter crop. The subject seems to be the hands so close up of the hands, revealing all the texture, wrinkles and age. It would really make me wonder, what kind of experiences those hands have been through - and give the emotional impact you want in this image.

[Barbara V]

I love the idea of a good hands shot, but there's too much going on around the hands to make me appreciate it. I agree a crop would be in order. To tell you the truth, I can't tell she is knitting... where are the knitting needles?... she looks like she's just holding a sweater or something; at least to me.

[ill_noize]

I think the shot needs more light. Then we may be able to tell what's happening from the jump. If you took many shots, many simply choose another......