Glasses & gurgling guts Photo

Photographer’s Note

Another try for digital RGB to BW conversion.

Sometimes glasses makes you a better man, not from the inside but at least from the outside... have you ever spoken once in your lifetime with this monk? I guess not... although you -I too- will find him a wise look at first hand. Glasses effect.

You may also imagine his mind is rising towards higher thoughts while he might lean towards lower contingencies such as trying to forget the gurgles raging in his stomach. The glasses effect again...

Well easy to guess why : this is taken in the morning at Amarapura monastery compound. These monks have not been eating for 20 hours. Nearly 1400 of them are lining up each day in the alley going to a gigantic dining room. Luang Prabang beaten hands down.

Unfortunately there's also one tourist for 10 monks and one tour bus every 20 tourists... get the picture?

That's really not the place I would recommend to visit in Burma as there are so many other quiet places to get familiar with monastery life... neither a the place to get amazing photos, difficult to avoid the ubiquitous korean tourist looking at what's cooking inside the rice pot or even the Burmese TV on assignment, much present when I was there : I tried to benefit from their lighting but it's even lousy as their crap propaganda programs...

Anyway, my message for the day is : next time your stomach gurgles loudly in the end of that too long lasting meeting, put your glasses on... you'll look much clever!

ballyna, Roly, avigur_11, sebautourdumond, KevRyan, arnabchat, bnallama, entrelec, bantonbuju, lewiz, Isabelle, yeah, rowanb, don_narayan, hugolef, PeterC, ndb1958, designsoul, fixed has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

ballyna (1689) 2005-10-18 17:49

hi luko,
nice b&w,DOF perfect.his haircut looks more different in b&w.
regards

avigur_11 (21307) 2005-10-18 17:52

Hi Luko,
Wonderful portrait. The light and the contrast are very well ballanced, and the black space in the BG gives a great depth to this image. Shallow DoF works very well here. Very good shot, and note.

sebautourdumond (3104) 2005-10-18 17:58

Hi Wonderful protrait and also a good BW. 85MM1.8 is really a good lense and you a good photographer. I like your gallery. Congratulations,
Seb

Roly (1960) 2005-10-18 18:02

OK Luko, I got the point. I reckon sunglasses won't do the job, right?
The glasses, the shallow DOF and the smart composition managed to entirely change the unappealing atmosphere you describe in the note. It really conveys peaceful, meditative monastery life. And gurgles, of course.

Zepi (22848) 2005-10-18 18:46

Salut Luko,
Mmmmmmmh, c’est bon ça !
Ce qui me frappe en premier ici, c’est la précision du cadrage, tout est à sa place, ton image se lit comme un livre, j’apprécie !
La profondeur est de champs impeccable.
Le noir et blanc légèrement teinté me plaît pas mal aussi !
Une vraie belle image !
Beau travail Luko
A+
Sébastien

rosiegirl (2042) 2005-10-18 18:52

Yes, glasses may work for this man, but they make me look like a nerd.
I like the short focus on the subject, and the background smudged out- it has a lovely artistic feel to it. I really like the texture and shadow on the fabric. Great work!

Rosie

toni_al (15476) 2005-10-18 19:09

Salut Luko
Un magnifique portrait, avec une excellentte focale. le passage en N&B me plait beaucoup.
C'est du tout bon travail.
@+ Toni

gringofil (0) 2005-10-18 22:20

Very nice B&W conversion, Luko, do you mind sharing your secret? Lovely compo as well, the foreground professor monk looking very serious indeed as his protégé looks on from the background. If you shot this as a straight portrait without the monk in the back it would have been pretty boring (now I see what you mean about heaving more stuff around the subject not just his/her face filling the entire frame). Anyway, Luko, this is most excellent and works wonderfully well. Good work.

arnabchat (7058) 2005-10-19 0:46

a portrait of extremely good quality. grat use of DOF and light. well framed.

bnallama (3755) 2005-10-19 2:30

Hi Luko... Yes! a wonderful BW conversion!!Looking at the DOF and the neatness of the shot I understand why you love your 85mm! Also nice how you have managed to isolate them from thousands of monks and tourist.

It is a time to get myself a pair of glasses..

Regards. Bala

Furachan (0) 2005-10-19 3:24

Encore une lecon de bokeh par un maitre. Parfaite delineation des deux moines, avec emphase bien sur sur M, binocle! Tres belle reussite au niveau N/B aussi - les tons me semblent parfaits et bien detailles.
Une seule suggestion (bete peu-etre) pour le titre: "Glasses for Gurgles"...Ca a plus de PUNCH!
-F

entrelec (8342) 2005-10-19 3:42

Belle photo, pleine d'élégance, cadrage très bien fait, il y a une noblesse dans la posture et l'expression de ce moine.
Bien équilibré par le visage dans le flou.
joel

bantonbuju (48830) 2005-10-19 4:10

hi luko! i live this image (and the note) for their intelligence; artistic-wise this image is a perfection for me, but accompanied by the note it speaks the message loudly; pure delight;
best, jerzy

cyril (2748) 2005-10-19 5:10

Salut Luko,
Excellente note mais c'est dommage je me suis fait opéré des yeux alors pour moi ca marchera plus!!!
Superbe conversion en B&W et tres belle compo.
J'adore le regard du moine.
Cyril

lewiz (1293) 2005-10-19 6:32

Interesting message!
I like this apprentice's almost stern expression, which is really helped by his glasses. Great DoF and good composition.

Isabelle (9018) 2005-10-19 7:01

clever note!
don´t know if you know, or if you have ever noticed, Luko, but if you go to a job interview with a 20 hour hungryness (is this english?) in your stomach, you´ll certainly get the job :) you´ll sound a bit more agressive, just like the way they want us to be.
frame is just exact. and sharpness as well: one can see the youth in his face :)

yeah (213) 2005-10-19 7:18

I like your notes luko. Very good portriat. Greeting you from Mandalay.

dolin (15647) 2005-10-19 8:47

Salut Luko.
A nouveau une superbe compo.
Le moine à lunette, pris de 3/4, j'adore et cette pdc au poil qui le fait se détacher totalement de l'arrière-plan, c'est très bon.
Un cadrage tip-top et un très bon n/b teinté.
La partie noire qui vient remplir cette espace vide est bien vu.
Joli
Fred

don_narayan (2014) 2005-10-19 9:04

fantastic photo. The DoF is so good, nice light on this man, good crop and it looks great in b/w.

jcandeli (40) 2005-10-19 9:19

Now thats more like it! Beautiful monk photo as usual. He looks very sophisticated. Great DOF and lighting. The second monk really adds a nice touch to the photo too. Great job. JP

kikvel (4772) 2005-10-19 9:23

glasses effects are universal, they apply in every country...you can get a very interesting look and be sucessfull... :D

nice shot of this monk, he seems contemplative even with those long hours of decided starvation!

the DOF is great, I am wondering about your 85mm lens
glass effect again

K.

hugolef (4909) 2005-10-19 9:24

Hello Luko
encore une belle leçon de photo ... cette conversion est superbe, le cadrage de ce moine lui donne une telle prestance qu'on en oublie que son estomac crie famine ...
la DOF est superbe et laisse deviner un autre moine et son regard vers son compere ...
merci pour le partage
Amities, hugues

PeterC (2242) 2005-10-19 9:28

Luko,
Super portrait. So sharp and great depth of field and beautiful light. A lovely note aswell. Im new to digital photogrpahy and to photogrpahy in general. Do you have any advice on B&W conversion as mine are so hit and miss. Yours seem so film like
I didnt realise there were som nay Koreans in Burma. Living in Korea they are so inward looking and im surprised so many of them ventures to Burma of all places.
Great work as always

ALSOM (6616) 2005-10-19 9:40

Magnifique n/b !

Le contraste et la pdc mettent en valeur ce jeune bonze. Je ne sais pas si j'ai la même lecture que les autres membres TE, je demarre en bas à gauche sur la petite fille dans le fond pour remonter en diagonale sur le bonze. Donc du plus flou vers le plus nette, tout en diagonale pour apprécier le visage.

Même dans le flou, on devine clairement (ce qui peut parait paradoxale) dans le regard de cette fille un soupçon de curiosité pour ce personnage au 1er plan.

Cette photo mérite plus qu'une médaille de bonze!
Merci,
Al.

rowanb (864) 2005-10-19 9:46

hi luko
funny note =)
good composition, i think the b&w conversion is quite well done
rowan =)

ndb1958 (9249) 2005-10-19 13:38

Beautiful portrait. Very nice b+w. I like the second head on the picture.
Very nice,
Nino

designsoul (21394) 2005-10-19 13:48

Thank God Luko I belong to those individuals who may benefit from your admonition. In fact I found this out a while ago and tend to don my glasses when meeting potential employers/clients etc. Full agreement! :-)
Am just reading Isabelle's note, maybe there's more one has to do for the impact.

But coming to your shot, it is really mature, great dof and a good conversion to sepia. Not much to add to the accolades above, which are a given...

I always wonder why you seek out monasteries. Let me know if you feel like it.
Ciao
Sarolta

Seena (0) 2005-10-19 14:13

wonderful BW pic. but need some more improvments.

eleparc (24059) 2005-10-22 7:07

jaime bien ce cote un peu intello! merci encore pour l'excellente soirée de jeudi soir. meme si jetais passablement crevé...-(
Eric

fixed (3831) 2005-10-23 9:45

hello Luko
bon je m'arrête ici pour le moment (un peu triste de passer son dimanche aprem. derrière son ordi, quand les rayons de soleil sont là...)
très joli!
point fort les lunettes avec ce regarde si sérieux et attentif
toujours un très beau B. Ground et très soigné
un traitement réussi je pense, avec de belles valeurs
aller fais nous encore rêver en postant de si belles images!
merci pour tout
A+
Arnaud

arindam_thokder (3946) 2005-10-26 21:14

Hey Luco, I really like your Portraits; some of them are my fav. I like this composition, a good choice for Vertical and the blur in the background is really nice.

flydragon (0) 2005-10-27 5:33

heeh je vois que tu progresse a pas de géant
dans les conversions num n&b ;o)
j'ai du mal a etre dépaysé avec ce monk
il a un coté intello, remarque avec des lunette
star hollywood année cinquante ça le ferai aussi
sinon comme d'hab une compo léchée.
ce 85mm a 1.8 me fait baver
bonne soirée
••simon••

a sec

Quentin (5278) 2005-11-04 0:37

Salut Luko
C'est une très belle photo N&B. La conversion est bien réussie.
La composition est superbe tout comme l'arrière plan. Bien vu!
A bientôt
Quentin