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Canon DSLR Challenge | all galleries >> CSLR Challenge 52: Nautical (hosted by Bruce Jones) >> Eligible > 7th Place
Awaiting Passengers
by Vikas
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October 12, 2005 Vikas

7th Place
Awaiting Passengers
by Vikas


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Canon DSLR Challenge16-Oct-2005 22:27
Vikas, I do really like this shot, and to me it is a crack-up that the guy with the pole appears to be on his cell phone. My comments on this would be that since you blurred the background on this I would look at two points of the image to help make that 'added' blur less apparent. On the top line of the boat, behind the guys crouched down, there is a darkness that may be part of the boat, but appears to be in the water, that seems a bit too in focus or dark. The other thing that could be blurred more to blend the blur better is something floating in the water above the ropes at the back of the boat, between the boat and the border. I also don't like the black thing which overlaps the water in the lower left of the image, I find this detracts from the image. Chris
alexeig16-Oct-2005 20:07
I love this thin figure which brings the action to the shot
Guest 15-Oct-2005 21:31
Vikas, I think it is the great amount of light grey and not very much white that made me say that I might like this better in color. Black and white often needs more contrast than does color, so I tried to increase the contrast with curves (preserving the shadow detail) and I liked it a lot better.

I goofed around some more and also came up with a whole different kind of interpretation: instead of the aforementioned curves layer, a Channel mixer adjustment layer with the following settings: Red channel R, G, B = +150%, 0%, 0%; Green channel R, G, B, = 0%, +84%, 0%; Blue channel R, G, B, = 0%, 0%, 0%. Constant=0% on all channels. Oops, its not the Gold-challenge anymore...
Vikas Malhotra15-Oct-2005 05:58
Olaf, I personally prefer this in B&W; actually when I was shooting this pic, I had already visualised it in B&W instead of colour. Something about this pic made me want to use B&W.

Dorys thanks for your comments, appreciate your suggestion. I think you are probably right about the blurring and will try it out and see if that looks better. Thanks again.

Chris, thanks a lot for your comments. Actually I invariably forget to add the asterix after the title to my pics, so please feel free to assume that there is one after all my pics and look forward to any and all constructive criticism. Yup, India is a fascinating country full of surprises and mysteries waiting to be explored. But again, living in the middle of a cosmopolitan city (the capital, New Delhi), one is limited to some extent to try and find THE shot one is looking for, especially as at times one stops seeing as one is so used to the environment around, having grown up here. But the possibilities are endless, I think, if one really puts ones mind to it and I think this is true of most places in the world, be it suburban US or The Big Apple. However, the moment one moves out of the metropolitan areas in India, its a different world, an India still in the last century, rural villages, thatched mud houses, tubewells for water, fascinating old palaces and houses, lovely women wearing gorgeous coloured sarees and jewellery and men with huge multicoloured turbans, stunning old forts dating back hundreds of years, so yes it is a fascinating palette for sure. Also, India is still one of the few places in the world where people like to get their pics taken and in fact, when shooting crowds, I usually have some come up to me and ask to have their pic taken. :-) Thanks again for looking and for your comments.

Cheers, Vikas.
Canon DSLR Challenge14-Oct-2005 03:01
I won't make a comment about the photo per se, as I don't see an asterisk, however, I will make a comment about your photos in general. The photos that I have seen are well composed, technically done well and so on, I do not doubt your talents as a photographer, and your eye. Your subjects almost always fancinate me, as they are a far off land and an exotic culture. I almost always giggle when I see one of your photos in the contest as I think wow it would be cool to have that pallet to shoot from. Living in the suburbs in middle America sometimes seems like I don't stand a chance with my shooting environment. That is the thing that I really like about your photos, they make me think about my environment and the cool or interesting things about it, and how to give others a feeling of my life, or my part of the world. Thanks for sharing your part of the world. Chris
Canon DSLR Challenge13-Oct-2005 23:19
Vikas, I think this photo does have great potential but I agree with Doctah about the blur just behind the front boat. I'm wondering if one or two layers on the background set at different blurs would look more natural. ? It did catch my eye off the thumbnail. ~dorys
Guest 13-Oct-2005 20:36
Without knowing, I think I'd prefer this in color.
Vikas Malhotra13-Oct-2005 16:52
LOL Armin, your comment really made me smile. This was actually shot on the banks of the river Yamuna (well actually a small stream now with this area being the widest and deepest (at about 4 feet deep).

Cheers, Vikas.
Canon DSLR Challenge13-Oct-2005 10:56
Vikas, how did you get this shot, don't tell us you travelled the 2000 km mentioned
for this entry? :-)
Cheers, ~ Armin
Vikas Malhotra13-Oct-2005 07:45
Thanks Ed/Doctah. Yup the b/g was slightly blurred in PP, shot was at 2.8 I think and was blurred to begin with, I just added to it to get the effect I was after. Thanks.

Cheers, Vikas.
Canon DSLR Challenge13-Oct-2005 03:40
Nice shot, but the background seems to drop so abruptly into "out of focus" that it seems unnatural. Did you use any gaussian blur or was this just a wide open aperture? -Doctah
Canon DSLR Challenge12-Oct-2005 17:28
Nice shot - a photojournalist/documentary feel to this one. -Ed Hahn