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ctfchallenge | all galleries >> Challenge 71 - Umbrellas >> Challenge 71 : Exhibition > Splash
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Kenneth Christian

Splash


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Rod 02-Jan-2005 10:55
I totally agree with Lonnit. A superb shot................maybe we could clone in a football team:-)
ctfchallenge02-Jan-2005 08:20
I commented on list about it. The shot is brillian as is. The crowd supports the action without interfering with it. There are unimportant empty stands on the left that go with the unimportant person on the left, and there are crowds of people behind the action of the umbrella people. It's all very balanced. The crowds even support the shape of the umbrellas. The flatness of the background means that it doesn't interfere with or compete with the forground. This shot is just spectacular! I find it flawless. :) ~ Lonnit
Rod 01-Jan-2005 04:06
I tried it & it looked terrible. What did work for me was cloning the left half of the crowd over to the right hand side. The shot really balanced for me old eyes then:-)
Rod 01-Jan-2005 03:44
Just a thought Lonnit, what do you think the shot would look like if the white field was cloned up to the top of the shot? Getting rid of the stands & people. Hard to say without seeing it.
Rod 01-Jan-2005 03:41
It's not so much the people being pure white Lonnit it's more their burnt out featureless. If I was ever good enough to get a shot like this I would be in turmoil as I would see the fault. I don't know if the people can be cloned out without it showing, but my eyes just can't accept the featureless people........Nor should yours.........................Only kidding:-)
ctfchallenge31-Dec-2004 18:10
Funny Rod, but my eye is just not drawn to them. I stick right there by the 2 umbrellas. If I do bounce up to those in the middle for a sec, I come right back off and don't get stuck. I'm wondering if maybe your monitor is too bright causing them to be pure white. They are not pure white on mine. I'd say maybe my monitor is off, but I just got a new one and I had no problem on the old one either. Possible? ~ Lonnit
Rod 30-Dec-2004 08:13
No worries Kenneth, I love to talk about the essence of a good photograph. I really didn't explain myself too clearly, the problem I have with the overexposure is with the people standing halfway along the sideline, the field looks fine & as you say enhances the foreground. But my eye has real problems with those bleached out people making them a real distraction from a great shot. Perfect exposures & perfect composition is the realm of what we used to call camera club thinking, boring lifeless shots with no feel, but to get a feeling in a shot we can't have any distractions in the frame from the mood of the shot. I think quite a few people just look at the focal point & not the whole frame. Lonnit, if you have another look at some Bresson photos you will see that every element in the whole frame work towards the focal point no distractions at all. He must have thrown out heaps of great shots because the whole frame wasn’t right. His instant in time wasn't just the person you are looking at it's everyone in the frame. Including the dog:-)
ctfchallenge30-Dec-2004 05:57
The instant I saw it I immediately thought "Henri Cartier-Bresson"! It's a flawless image and the exposure is absolutely fantasticly perfect for the whole essence of the shot. I was teasing about the twenties - I was trying to cutely say it looke like an old photo. It really is a wonderful shot - one of the most masterful to appear in these challenges. :) Kudos! ~ Lonnit
ctfchallenge29-Dec-2004 17:30
I like the image as it is. It portrays a dreary mood with a touch of playfulness which captured my attention. Great caption, too. Shu
ctfchallenge29-Dec-2004 15:15
Actually, Rod, I like the image as is. I could have burned in the background or even removed it completely, but that would have lessened the impact of the main subject, the people in the foreground. In my opinion, not every photograph has to be perfectly exposed and perfectly focused to be effective. In fact, those conditions are often impossible to achieve outside of a studio. In my photographs, I try to capture life around me as I see it, unposed with blemishes and all. I'm trying to capture a mood, not a perfect exposure. I can capture perfect exposures all day long in my front yard, but the subject matter will probably never have the impact of this image. In fact, I think this particular photo is probably as close as I'll ever come to emulating the great Henri Cartier-Bresson! Please, Rod, don't take offense at my ramblings. I truly appreciate your criticism. And, Lonnit ... I don't think you are a dingbat :) -- Kenneth
Rod 29-Dec-2004 06:18
In floodlit conditions you did really well getting as good a shot Kenneth. Lonnit, so overexposed backgrounds are a feature of photography in the roaring twenties was it?:-) Sorry about her Kenneth, Lonnit’s a real dingbat, but a top sort
ctfchallenge29-Dec-2004 05:50
Lonnit, I am getting older ... but I'm not THAT old! :) This was shot in the late 70s at a rainy night football game in a small town in Mississippi. -- Kenneth
ctfchallenge28-Dec-2004 06:40
Are you kidding Rod! The background gives it all it's old-fashioned flavor! This had to have been shot in the twenties! Doesnt' it remind you of your teens? LOL! ;) ~ Lonnit
ctfchallenge27-Dec-2004 15:13
Thanks Lonnit, Rod and thefly for your comments. -- Kenneth
ctfchallenge27-Dec-2004 13:06
This is great. I love the contrast between the foreground and background. theFly
Rod 27-Dec-2004 06:37
Nicely caught, but the overexposed background spoils it for me.
ctfchallenge27-Dec-2004 05:30
Of course this is yours Kenneth! Superb shot. ~ Lonnit