Candid Portait in a context

[S_Sanyal]

Hi all, This is an experiment in investigating the response I get for this sort of thing, which I see in the "People" forum is not your usual type of portrait. I have aimed to put the person in his context and gambled frame space and detail... I shall, at this point divulge nothing of the story behind this, my questions below are related partly to technique, partly to composition and lastly, but not least, to your impression of the picture as a viewer. If you think this isnt too exciting, I accept as b/w film photography seems a bit regressive, but I enjoy it all the same

I figured 740 px is too small . Click on image to view larger version on flickr:

I seek to know the following:

1. Does this image tell any story, about the person, his home etc?
2. Is the subject (man) too small in terms of frame space, would you like to see it cropped tighter on to the man?
3. Please mind that in doing a tighter crop, I gamble my space of the wall in foreground, shadows on it and the door...which are as important a "subject" in my story!!! how do i deal with this..
4. .Things are dark in the frame within frame, it was done to "veil" detail...does that add or take away?I have attempted to keep the lighting as I found it, using shadows and shade, detail of the interior wasnt important to me (the interior was darker and I stuck to that), any comments?

...I like this image a lot. I am posting it to see what impressions it has on viewers...so any other remarks are very welcome....

Exposure data (I'm shooting film for 2 months now, all my posts are scanned negatives):
Camera, lens and film: Asahi Pentax K1000, w Sunagor 135 mm 1:2.8 telephoto lens with Kodak T-max100ASA b/w film
Shutter speed: 1/15 s, Aperture: f/8

[abarickman]

Hi,

My initial impression is not positive. I don't mind the use of negative space but the general darkness inside the house does not provide anything interesting and it just kinda becomes mush.

1. It does not for me.
2. I think with the lack of any contrast in the house it would not help.
3. I would not.
4. I am glad this was intentional but in my humble opinion if just does not work for the reasons above.

Thank you for posting the image.

[BigFuzzy]

Originally Posted by S_Sanyal

I seek to know the following:

1. Does this image tell any story, about the person, his home etc?
2. Is the subject (man) too small in terms of frame space, would you like to see it cropped tighter on to the man?
3. Please mind that in doing a tighter crop, I gamble my space of the wall in foreground, shadows on it and the door...which are as important a "subject" in my story!!! how do i deal with this..
4. .Things are dark in the frame within frame, it was done to "veil" detail...does that add or take away?I have attempted to keep the lighting as I found it, using shadows and shade, detail of the interior wasnt important to me (the interior was darker and I stuck to that), any comments?

Hi Sanyal,
Thanks for all the info and nice direction on what you'd like from us. Here's how I see it:

1. No, not really. It's hard to tell this is even a home. It could be a courtyard, an open space behind a home, but it didn't feel like a home, so it doesn't tell me anything about the home his life. As for him, look at my answer #4.

2. I don't think he's too small, but the problem I have in this regard is, well, read #4.

3. I actually think the crop is fine if #4 (below) weren't a problem. Though I probably would have added a bit on the bottom to see the floor a bit.

4. This is where the image fails for me. It's simply too dark. If I can't see anything, I can't read anything into it. I can barely even tell it's a man (and I'm pretty sure my monitor is well calibrated and I'm looking at the 'original' size on flickr). I just can't see anything about him to read any story into this whatsoever. Is it a man? Boy? Woman even? Is that a sack of something next to him, or his legs under a blanket? What's all that 'stuff' around him? All I can easily identify is that there's half a man's silhouette kind of hidden behind a palm tree who's sitting in either a yard, or courtyard somewhere outside yet behind a wall.
I think you fell into a bit of the trap in that your mind knows what's going on, and fills in the blanks whereas the viewer (at least this viewer!) needs more to be able to read anything into this.


Not related to your questions:
a) There is a lot of noise in this image, which, since you were using 100 film shouldn't really have been the case, so I think your scanning process introduced a lot of unpleasant (to me) noise. Especially the area above his head is where I noticed it.
B) the image feels grey to me, especially the whites.
C) Is it really "starting the day" because the shadows and light imply (to me) that it's closer to mid-day to me (could be wrong though).
D) and why put your watermark RIGHT in the doorway which is already difficult to see into, now it's cluttered with more stuff.

I hope this is the sort of feedback you were looking for?

[S_Sanyal]

Thanks AJ Barickman and Al Borelli, brutal but fantastic feedback!

Now both of you have great monochrome portraits, AJ's bride picture and Al's surfer seemed like appropriate references...

Is it really "starting the day" because the shadows and light imply (to me) that it's closer to mid-day to me (could be wrong though).

Yes, 7 am. shadows of tree are on the wall foreground are from behind me...possibly at a 30 degree angle

why put your watermark RIGHT in the doorway which is already difficult to see into, now it's cluttered with more stuff.

Sorry about this inconvenience, I didnt bother changing my lightroom publish settings


Now, getting a bit more specific...

the image feels grey to me, especially the whites.

I would have blown the shadows on the wall, which I considered important to the scene...what may one do about this, lightening the shot to say, 1/8 sec or less would have surely blown it!


This is true

I actually think the crop is fine if #4 (below) weren't a problem. Though I probably would have added a bit on the bottom to see the floor a bit.

I realised that w the entire doorway showing, the "home" may have been more evident...

I think with the lack of any contrast in the house it would not help.

Yes, I see hwat you're talking about, how may one solve this?!

This is where the image fails for me. It's simply too dark. If I can't see anything, I can't read anything into it. I can barely even tell it's a man (and I'm pretty sure my monitor is well calibrated and I'm looking at the 'original' size on flickr). I just can't see anything about him to read any story into this whatsoever. Is it a man? Boy? Woman even? Is that a sack of something next to him, or his legs under a blanket? What's all that 'stuff' around him? All I can easily identify is that there's half a man's silhouette kind of hidden behind a palm tree who's sitting in either a yard, or courtyard somewhere outside yet behind a wall.

The man is chopping firewood for his kiln to cook rice on..the wall of the courtyard throws everything inside in shadow..


I am limited of course by the negative scans which I have to get done by local labs here, so i have to live with that in reference to

There is a lot of noise in this image, which, since you were using 100 film shouldn't really have been the case, so I think your scanning process introduced a lot of unpleasant (to me) noise. Especially the area above his head is where I noticed it.

Kodak T-Max 100 is finest grain, about Rs 250 (US$ 5) a roll!, so its a pity!!

Assuming that you would WANT to photograph this scene (composition), I'd really be grateful for pointers to improve the image for the next time I'm confonted with such challenging light situation, where I have nothing but available light and my camera settings available to work with...Thanks

[RLucas]

Originally Posted by S_Sanyal

Assuming that you would WANT to photograph this scene (composition), I'd really be grateful for pointers to improve the image for the next time I'm confonted with such challenging light situation, where I have nothing but available light and my camera settings available to work with...Thanks

The only way with this much difference in the light,would be to meter, and properly expose for your subject ( the man), and blow the highlights out. You can't have it both ways.

I would get closer too. The wall add nothing contextual the image.