for luko and animesh Photo

Photographer’s Note

for luko and animesh....

Naga sadhus after their bath at the ardh kumbh mela.

realised that my negative wasn't placed properly in the holder the first time and therefore i hae more of the ears now. also tried to bring in more details in the horse this time. still one of my toughest prints.

s10001in, AnimeshRay, saamb, bfly, designsoul, prantik has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

pedrocarmo (1281) 2007-02-12 18:25

Strange photo ...
But it captured my atention
Too bad you couldn't bring more details
Anyway I like it

AdrianW (2243) 2007-02-12 18:43

Nice shot Sohrab! You captured the boy well, and B&W suits the scene well. Unfortunately the halo around the boy is distracting, and I feel you could bring more shadow detail out - just using Shadows/Highlights would really help. Are you calibrated?

Initially wasn't convinced about the thing in the bottom left of the frame either, but it's useful as it provides something that the boy might be looking at. Just wish we could see a bit more of what it is - it's tantalizing, but ultimately frustrating.

Overall, not (IMO) one of your best - sorry!

Miks (1707) 2007-02-12 19:05

A real challenge, but a big improvement from the original.

The image is definately worth working on. A great diagonal from the lower left to the upper right holds all the elements (guy on horse I, drumstich, guy on horse II and horse head) together. Great depth in the shot from the head in the foreground to the people in the background as well. Good with some more detail in the horse head.

I wonder whether it would improve the image even further if you burned out the sky completely. Just an idea. But it is obviously a great shot as it stands.

Best,
Mikkel

s10001in (1485) 2007-02-12 20:11 [Comment]

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AnimeshRay (8886) 2007-02-12 21:52

Toughest or not, I love it. It indeed has that 'epic' quality. The hair of the boy alighting, the drum beat...I think I spoke about it earlier. Luko has suggested more detail on the horse's face. For me--just my opinion--that is really unimportant. There is this primitive quality in this photo, the rumble of the drum, in rhythm with movement of the boys, the horse's head turned in profile, dark as if in silhouette, like a silhouette in a cave painting, and that darkly ominous sky reminiscent of a tragic upheaval...together I find this image irresistible.
A

bfly (5737) 2007-02-13 2:16

hi there..
I like Animesh's comments a lot...it is very epic with the medusa hair, no daily details on anything, drum, marigolds etc... they are just doing something very simple but your catch made it a fairy tale..
(pity I could not read comments on the original post..or can I ?)
hugs

faubry (32429) 2007-02-13 3:11

hello Sorhab, again this shot but white less around head.. it s better, good composition
thanks
francine

bstreeck (177) 2007-02-13 4:00

Hi Sohrab, amazing, a lot of your work. So is this one.

On this one, I like the brightness and contrast of the repost, but the tighter crop of the original gives the picture a tighter feeling...

Just my 2c.

Furachan (0) 2007-02-13 6:34

Yes, there is a bit more detail in the horse's head and the ears are "clear" but yuo know what, Sohrab, I liked the first version fine - I mean to my "innocent" eyes, there is not a huge difference though it's interesting to see you fine tuning your work like this...
Best,
Francis

ndb1958 (9249) 2007-02-13 13:09

Did you catch the aura of this young guy? Great image. It is out of time. Beautiful b+w. Best wishes, Nino

Praetzer (1657) 2007-02-13 14:27

but i like the contrast. Congrats. ALfred

Luko (13896) 2007-02-13 15:47

I'll be again a stickler... what bothers me here is your masking on the drummer boy. Obviously the roblem with this one comes from the sky also, as material needs to be pulled out.

I'll give you a few hints you may try :

- pre(or post) flash the print, it helps much bringing up light greys : when you're finished with your exposure take the neg out of the enlarger, put a very very soft filter like 0, screw the lens to f/22 or whatever very narrow aperture. Light up the enlarger for about 1 sec not more. warning : you'll then need to expose less the overall print.

- develop the white areas with HOT and little diluted developper : mix hot water with a 1/4 proportion of developper, take a cotton pad and gently pat the areas of the exposed print with hot developper (of course this should be done in the dark, just after you've normaly developped your print but not fixed yet)

- two baths print revelation, but you'll need the help of a chemist who knows about soft developers you can go there, select "Dr. Beers' developper" and upload the formula. It's a two bath developper that helps getting proper greys even with a very contrasty print.

- be more specific with your masking, cut a black cardboard from the shape of the areas you want to mask, you cannot use your hands only to mask this one.

Good Luck

[3] +

designsoul (21394) 2007-02-13 21:47

Hi Sohrab,
What a gorgeous shot and a tremendous decisive moment here. The graininess, the composition are clearly spellbinding... a very fine angle. The only thing that is somewhat bothersome to me is the overt halo around the boy... for that, I much prefer the Workshop's original. It looks far more natural to me. For that, I would give two smilies. For this one, however amazing all the other aspects of the shot, I lean towards one smile now... but the work is truly original and etches itself in my mind.
take care,
sasa

JuanBaldero (0) 2007-02-21 16:17 [Comment]

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