Their Secret Photo

Photographer’s Note

Went out to Notre Dame cathedral, last sunday. The idea was to get new pics for my Bloody Tourists collection on pbase. Paris being the first city in the world, with regards to the number of tourists per year, I couldn't seriously mention the word tourism without some home city examples.

Unfortunately it was a dull cloud covered afternoon. Tourists are like vegetals they either turn their face to the sun or shine under the rain... but cloudy days simply don't make it. Of course there's the odd chinese tourist bus... but nothing more...

Then I got inside NotreDame cathedral as I knew there was available candlelight, another photo passion. I always shoot at asian people in their temples, let's get local for once.

I spotted this couple, apparently they had something common and deep to share as they stayed for quite a long time. A thought for a dear relative? a child not born yet? Cloudy days on their own lives? Their secret.

---------------------------------

Really had Internet connections problems since 4 days, hence could not even catch anything on TE. For parisian people, stay away from cable network operators!! This is going better since yesterday evening, I hope.

giorgimer, CeccoPhoto, Newair, Porteplume, luisafonso, brevbrev14, gelor, kajspice, arjun_das, sidstakes, KevRyan, coco, bfly, eleparc, delkoo, p_m_geraldes, Brian, pascal-harbi, tigra, Wandering_Dan, kdialyna has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

giorgimer (21478) 2007-06-26 3:18

Hi Liko,

very fascinating image, I like the soft light given by the candles, well done!

Giorgio

bwiti (402) 2007-06-26 3:18

Elle est belle celle-ci, toute en douceur et secret... J'aime votre travail sur la lumiere et le fait que vous ayez cadré à la verticale en incluant les autres "plateaux"... Félicitations pour cette charmante composition...

Newair (321) 2007-06-26 3:24

Luko,

The lighting and DOF are superb here. I like the vantage point you took including the other candles in the foreground. This is a good composition and it has a very warm feeling, TFS

Alan

Porteplume (3257) 2007-06-26 3:29

Bonjour Luko,
I like the way we are taken right away to the enlighted faces and wondering, just like you, what was going on in their minds...
But I also tryed to imagine how the image would have been if horizontally composed, loosing a bit of the dark bottom but getting more space at the left?
Amicalement - Viviane

luisafonso (858) 2007-06-26 3:43

The folded umbrella tells one part of your story. The candles, the caring expression and the shared shirt color tells the other. It's great to see you in Paris. It's really a pity that you don't go out in your city often. I would love to see Paris through your eyes and not from the eyes of snappy tourists. I can't recall the last time I've seen a good photo from Paris on TE... (probably it was from Grazyna) I like the photo very much.

Quentin (5278) 2007-06-26 4:46

Salut Luko
Très belle image de se couple entrain d'allumer leur bougie.
J'aime beaucoup cette fenêtre sur l'intimité de la scène et la
lumière qui émane des bougies. Bravo!
Quentin

CeccoPhoto (2711) 2007-06-26 4:57

Hi Luko,
This photo give me the love of their.
Good moment, I like the POV and the frame.

Excellent composition, CeccoPhoto!!

gelor (3224) 2007-06-26 5:09

Bonjour Luko,
Une très belle image avec une maîtrise de la lumière exceptionnelle ! La composition renvoie sur les visages de ce couple et l'oeil est attiré par le visage souriant et serein de la dame. Excellent !
Gérard

arjun_das (1850) 2007-06-26 5:23

excellent capture of the moment in minimal lighting condition. very good use of shallow dof. candles are excellent too. tfs.

vapours (7913) 2007-06-26 7:46

I thought that was a bottle of champagne he was holding at first...which straight away to me added a positive outlook on the scene. The soft lighting from the candles and shadows provide a great mood.

Furachan (0) 2007-06-26 9:16

Splendid light here. Really, Luko you should try the Canon 5D - I hear it does really well in available light. Still you managed ok here ;o) DOF from front to back is subtly effective, adding a soupcon of spirituality to the proceedings, almost a kind of discretion...
I would have thought this would encourage you to shoot more in your backyard, as it were, not jst in...Tamil adu.

sidstakes (770) 2007-06-26 13:40

Hi Luko,
Just found this one ..nice photograph Luko. As Francis said, something from your own backyard...what I find interesting is how warm the scene is...the focus being laid squarely on the couple...I just wonder if you have tried different dof's on this particular scene...you know..like put the candles in sharp focus in one shot..and then on the couple next...Also, I just wonder if the considerable dark space in the lower end of the photograph justfies it's presence..few things I felt while looking at this photograph of your's..
Nice one!
Regards,
Siddhartha

coco (28146) 2007-06-27 2:34

Hi Luko.

Splendid work with a difficult light. The scene is very good and we are close them but they don't mind.
Also a good composition and deep.

Well done.

bfly (5737) 2007-06-27 3:31

hi Luko,
this looks like a sf capture :)..their overall whites, cut of the shirts, clean cut stone walls, round shapes of candles gave me this feeling..I never saw tealights in a temple before too ? I thought they still use the traditional thin white ones everywhere..
light is very good..and I wonder how silent is your camera ? you are so close to them, yet they dont mind..I cannot overcome my fear of such shots, is it because my camera is loud like a pressure cooker ?
all the best
fusun

brevbrev14 (372) 2007-06-27 6:09

Hi Luko,what a light here!!
superb management of it!!
the dark and the lights are so well taken here..
beautiful work!
ciao!
Valeria

eleparc (24059) 2007-06-27 13:14

Luko, je dois te dire bravo pour cette photo! Elle est tout ce que j'ai tjrs voulu faire sans y parvenir... pas de flou, des couleurs d'une douceur incroyable, et bref une superbe photo! et j'adore les photos de bougies dans les eglises... moi pas de pb recemment avec noos...touch wood!
Eric

p_m_geraldes (774) 2007-06-27 18:05

Hi, Luko

I like this one very much. The candles' light and the couple expressions make this photo.
The exposure, compo and dof are simply perfect.

Regards
Pedro

prezntime (3945) 2007-06-27 23:19

Wow Luko...
You know, it's not a bad photo by any means...but...it seems a little timid for you. Quite typical is what I'm hinting. The lovely light falling on the lovely couple; It's all a little too mushy for me. This is a photo for a magazine advert for red wine or some damn thing...just too...nice. Now your skill definately shows, no question. It is not easy to make such a professional shot...but the life is missing a little bit...the interaction with the viewer. There doesn't appear to be a secret here to me, they're too f&%king serene. If he was glancing towards her out of the corner of his eyes with a somewhat suprised/concerned look, I could imagine the thought "you're not wishing for a baby are you?"
Something to that effect...Don't get me wrong, I respect you. This is why I feel as though I can speak candidly.

See ya,
Chris.

delkoo (34810) 2007-06-28 3:28

bonsoir loko
on l'im^ression de voir une sequence de film tellement la lumiere est bonne et les acteurs concentrés sur leurs roles; pas évident de faire la photo dans de telle conditions.
mais pourquoi avez-t-ils un parapluie??

DIDIER

pascal-harbi (991) 2007-07-05 5:55

Cette fois ci, c'est l'image qui illustre le texte. J'ai ri au début du texte, et dans "Bloody Tourists" j'ai été voir le thème touriste/voyageur (on pourrait rajouter routard à la liste) :-D Combien de fois je me suis défendu d'être un touriste ... et avec quelle fierté je me déclarais routard ou voyageur. Je me rends compte que je ne suis pas le seul à être passé par là.

J'ai été touché également par le dernier paragraphe... je pense que pour réussir une belle photo, le photographe doit aimer son sujet (dans le sens empathie), ce qui est apparamment le cas au vu du résultat (photo) et du texte.

A bientôt, Pascal

tigra (2968) 2007-07-07 2:38

Hello Luko
Wonderful image, very emotional and tender.
Thanks for sharing!
Katia

InasiaJones (20705) 2007-07-10 2:40

Salut Luko,

Un autre tour de passe-passe pour t’immiscer discrètement dans ce moment de spiritualité. L’exercice peut sembler plus périlleux qu’en Inde, mais le résultat en vaut la peine.

Bon, si j’ai bien lu tes derniers commentaires, t’es accroc aux chandelles, aux parapluies et aux vélos... Ben t’as réussi à inclure deux de tes éléments fétiches dans cette image, mais ça doit pas être facile d’élaborer une photo contenant les trois; c’est comme "roche-papier-ciseau", il y en a toujours un qui prend le dessus sur les autres...

En plus de la stabilité que te procure le IS, je vois que tu as dû pousser tes ISO presqu’au max, et le bruit semble malgré tout restreint. Utilise-tu un "third party filter", du genre Noise Ninja, ou tu réussis à te débrouiller avec le boiteux "Noise Reduction" de Photoshop?

Quoiqu’il en soit, bravo pour cette composition où les lampions créent vraiment un moment solennel. Je crois que tu as attendu patiemment le bon moment afin de dénicher cette parfaite paire de "touristes ensanglantés" qui conviennent parfaitement à la scène, de par leurs vêtements appareillés et leur tronche dégageant la dose de sérénité qui s’imposait.

J’aurais peut-être souhaité qu’ils soient moins centrés verticalement, en montant légèrement le cadrage et en retranchant un peu d’obscurité sous les lampions, mais peut-être qu’un obstacle apparaissait plus haut et que tu voulais éviter de le prendre. Sinon, en montrant davantage le haut du mur, on aurait peut-être pu voir la lumière joliment s’estomper.

Amitiés,

André

Darren (6819) 2007-07-18 2:34

Hi Luko. A very nice shot here, like you I am always drawn to candlelight. The colors/exposure are very nice and I think you caught just the right moment. The only thing about this shot is that to me you are a little too far away (or maybe not zoomed in enough) in that the couple feels a little distant to me and I don't care for the black area at the bottom. Overall, a very nice shot.

Wandering_Dan (3297) 2007-08-27 15:24

I like the colors and the shading, and capturing the thought on their faces was excellent. The dark in front doesn't bother me (I'm a big fan of chiaroscuro), but the out-of-focus candles do, especially since it seems discontinuous - all in focus behind them, all seriously out of focus in front. Could you have stepped further back and cropped in PP?

How did you get rid of the noise? At ISO 1600, there almost has to be some.

Dan

Stepan (27175) 2007-09-06 23:09

En fait, je me rends compte que je ne connais pas trop ta galerie...
J'aime bien l'ambiance "cachée" ou "secrète" ici, que la réalisation rend très bien. Une super ambiance.
Stéphane

kdialyna (3076) 2007-10-07 12:05

Hi Luko
Exceptional composition with the light from the candles to makes even more intense the expression of attention from these two, in what they do.
Very good the diagonal placement of candles in the frame gives very good prospect.
The excellent exploitation of the existing light as well as the very good exposure did not create any void of lighting.
For the only thing I am not so sure is that is to much black space in front.
Kostas