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Konica Minolta Users | all galleries >> KM Challenges Hall of Fame >> HOF C36 to C40 > 1st - Three ladies of Avignon, by Tom Pariz
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25-JUN-2005

1st - Three ladies of Avignon, by Tom Pariz

Minolta DiMAGE A1
1/8s f/3.2 at 16.0mm iso100 with Flash full exif

other sizes: small medium original auto
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Konica Minolta Users02-Jul-2005 20:42
Very pleasant image, very well balanced. I love it. You got there some amazing glasses…
Nuno Cruz
Guest 02-Jul-2005 05:54
This is a wonderful image to look at!!! What else can I say? Good job.
Guest 29-Jun-2005 07:03
Bob, I'm glad you're on board with the priorities here too. ;^)

You can see from the bends in the glasses stems that Tom has already applied some compression of some kind. Good call on space for comments.

John
cbses 29-Jun-2005 02:00
Tom,
You may have to compress your image a bit...I'm afraid John's comments put this entry well over the 200 kB limit :)
Seriously though, nothing much that I could add to the prior posts - a very nice shot.
Bob
Guest 28-Jun-2005 02:33
Great work MM. Very pleasing image with good choice of subject composed and lit very effectively, right down to the symmetrical lighting of the flutes and stems of the glasses. The more I look, the more I see and the more I think about what you have created and what can be done. In light of all the recent comments about commenting/critiquing, this will be an unusually long critique to provide some food for thought on some of the ways to think about choosing a subject, composing, lighting, critically analysing and enjoying images as this image provides such a good example. My critique here is not meant to suggest that anyone should be writing long and in-depth critiques; it just seems timely right now to grab this opportunity to back up some of the recently posted theory on critiquing with a real world example that covers quite a range of considerations.

MM, your image is a great people substitute. I like your explanation of the meaning with the sequence from open/exposed/larger/most extrovert up front through open but guarded/party covered in between and finally to hiding/partly covered/smaller/more private/introvert behind. The title and your explanation work perfectly to help explain what you are seeking to portray.

While that arrangement and the choices of glasses work symbolically, the arrangement also works in the visual sense so that you can still see through the closer glasses to those behind.

As an aside, if you only have one leg, it might as well be a good one, right? ;^)

A blue background + neutral subject like this still works for me in the blues theme, even if it might not be universally accepted as being as strong a fit as other entries that have blue subjects. Did you consider using blue light to light the glasses on both sides, or blue one side and white the other, maybe with white to light the wall and table, or blue on one and white on the other, or some other combination to get some blue into the subject rather than just the blue you see through the subject? Maybe this is better than any of those combinations anyway, but maybe worth considering. Blue reflections from the glasses may even nail the theme down for anyone who might love the image as an image, but not be convinced about how strongly it satisfies the theme. Hopefully that's not too strong an issue for anyone. In any case, it would probably be good to leave some white in there as a colour reference so that it doesn't just look like you've taken an image and colorised it to blue as that would probably be less appealing to some people. Blue captured at the time of photographing rather than during processing will no doubt be important to some people.

Alternatively, it might be interesting to pick out one glass in blue. That would be difficult with lighting, but you could instead have some blue liquid like Blue Curacao (or just water with blue food dye) in one of the glasses. I would fill the front/right glass two thirds of the way. That would still let blue light from behind come through that glass, highlight the glass as the focal point in the subject and further symbolise that one being open in general and more specifically open to life's indulgences/experiences.

I see what you mean about the noise and tonal rendition (separate communication), but those limitations are not overly distracting. However, I'm wondering why you chose to use your A1 rather than your 7D for this one so could you nail the noise issue at least. Don't you have both?

Your basic composition makes good use of connecting/highlighting/complementing lines and the rule of thirds. The upper blue light is great from top right corner to the left end of the 'horizon', with greater intensity and definition in the upper part to highlight the flutes at the tops of the glasses in the upper third of the frame. It also does a good job of complementing the angle of the bases of the glasses and lower blue light to mirror those lines to some extent. The lower blue light is also great in the lower right ROT area leading down to the lower right corner and angled to complement the line of the bases of the glasses and upper blue light. Likewise, the angle of the line through the bases of the glasses works pretty well within its section of the image bounded at the upper edge by the 'horizon' and complements the angle of the lower blue light and the upper blue light quite well. The 'horizon' also helps to highlight the interestingly shaped glass stems and is well positioned a third of the way up the frame.

If I was doing this one, the only subtle change in compsition I would have tried would have been with the lines of the 'horizon' and bases of the glasses. I would have retained the idea of the lighting lines more or less as you have done them. I would also have kept the tops of the glasses level and the 'horizon' line a third of the way up the frame, still slicing through the centres of the stems of the glasses as you have done. However, I would have tried putting the line through the bases of the glasses pointing exactly from the left end of the 'horizon' to the lower right corner of the frame to provide fixed points of reference and to even better complement/mirror (although at a different angle) the line of the upper blue light. I would also have angled the 'horizon' more down at the right to put its angle closer to half way between level (tops of the glasses) and the new angle of the line of the bases of the glasses. That would create a smoother and more natural rotation of those 'hard' lines (tops, horizon, bases), as opposed to the lighting lines, in sequence as you look from top to bottom and bottom to top of the image, while also leading to exact points/corners in your composition like the blue lighting does. However, these minor composition details are just how my brain works and may not even do much for the aesthetics of the image.

If you're really keen, I would love to see you redo this one with the lighting ideas, angles and positions I've described to see what difference they would make, if any.

The blue lighting is a great complement to the other angles in this one and turns what would have been a plainer and simply pretty image into something special, not only meaningful, but also gorgeous and captivating. Very well conceived and executed. John
Konica Minolta Users27-Jun-2005 22:39
Hi Tom

I like everything as is in this pic. The leveled top of the glasses matches the bottom 'break' line of the reflection created by the frame. The diagonal placement of feet of the glasses matches nicely with the diagonal blue light castings. Really good.

Alain
Guest 27-Jun-2005 11:52
Guys, thanks for noticing this image. How it was done? In a dark room. Dark background with blue reflector light. Three glasses stand on a desk, with reflective glass top. I also needed white light source coming from left, plus a short stoke of a flash. Quite long exposure to eliminate noise, if possible.
I thought reflection looks cool, so I didn'w want to remove anything, Csaba. Like every lady every glass has its own features I wanted to reflect both in picture and in ourselves. One has hidden personality, one is open, but has crossed legs and arms, like it's dancing and hiding herself, and yet the third looks similar to first one but is quite open and communicative.
I like to explore through pictures, not just take shots. More thought and more abstraction is conveys, more hapy I am. Hope you'll like my explanation. -Tom. P.
Konica Minolta Users27-Jun-2005 06:06
Very good shape and light compositions. I would try to clone out the reflections of the glasses at the bottom as the three lines lead to nowhere. Second, I would make the breaking in the bottom part parallel to the line of the glasses' top. Regards, MCsaba
Konica Minolta Users25-Jun-2005 22:52
Well composed and nicely lit still. A beauty.
Fred
Konica Minolta Users25-Jun-2005 20:44
Beautiful shapes, harmonic composition, and great lighting. The only thing I could object to, is that rather the background light than the main subject is blue, but the blue color dominates, and that is what matters. Now please tell me, how did you do that superb lighting?

bracket
Guest 25-Jun-2005 15:01
Fantastic lighting, and I like the composition too.