# A Light Read (EDIT)



## petach (Sep 15, 2013)

Canon 5d Mk2




A Light Read by petach123 (Peter Tachauer), on Flickr


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## dave (Sep 15, 2013)

*Re: A Light Read*

Hi,

I like the panorama you posted, however for me this image is too staged. Reading is an immersive pastime. I am not sure how staging like like this does it justice.

It has the sense of a photo in which you were so focused on tehnique you forgot about making it interesting. I do really like the way it is lit, especially the book, although I would have liked such a portrait to show the person's face just a little more.

That is just my thoughts, with the best of intentions,

Dave


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## RAKAMRAK (Sep 15, 2013)

*Re: A Light Read*

OP, your photo reminds me of renaissance painting style and I like it (Staged or not). Except that there is too much black space on the right side which results in a loss of balance. I would either crop it out or while taking the pic would keep a table with something on it lit with a reflector from the right side.


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## bigmag13 (Sep 15, 2013)

*Re: A Light Read*



RAKAMRAK said:


> OP, your photo reminds me of renaissance painting style and I like it (Staged or not). Except that there is too much black space on the right side which results in a loss of balance. I would either crop it out or while taking the pic would keep a table with something on it lit with a reflector from the right side.



+1


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## petach (Sep 15, 2013)

*Re: A Light Read*

Thanks for the critique guys. Actually, this was a snatched shot. The guy is Dutch and we were in a stately home not far from Heathrow (National Trust) He was reading a brochure or something with light coming from a window to the side. Hee is still wearing his coat and scarfe as it was cold. I just lifted the camera and shot him. I later pp'd it with silver efex pro 2 and LR. I appreciate not to the taste of all viewers. Some like it...some not so much. I didn't like it centred, so kept the space to the right, but maye I should have put a thin white line around the shot to contain it?

Once again, thanks for the critique. Really, this is more like an internal street shot rather than portrait and I worked with what I had for that brief moment. It was natural...so not posed. He had no idea. The pp after the shot is fair game.

Cheers

Pete


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## robbinzo (Sep 15, 2013)

*Re: A Light Read*

I personally like the picture as it is and I don't think that it needs anything added.
It captures a moment, which is what photography is all about.
I agree that cropping out the dark to the right would help the shot.


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## dave (Sep 15, 2013)

*Re: A Light Read*

Well, colour me stuffed!

My interpretation was different originally but with that story it is pretty impressive. Shows how different my usual reading places are to some people's.


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## axtstern (Sep 15, 2013)

*Re: A Light Read*

A dutch model in a Rembrand like Picture... Impression and Background Story fit well. Looks like I shoot give all those NIK Modules I never use a try.


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## petach (Sep 15, 2013)

*Re: A Light Read*

cheers guys.....I do appreciate you stopping by to comment. I have Parkinsons and that causes tremor to the left hand. I have a split second from raising the camera to my eye.....to pressing the button before tremor kicks off in earnest. Like a rocking motion.


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## CharlieB (Sep 15, 2013)

*Re: A Light Read*

The image is one thing, how you got there is another.

I like the image. Very tidy. My only negative comment is that perhaps the subjects knee could have been a little darker...

Years ago, Eastman Kodak published a book that really good... all about the studio lighting of the day. It was a collection of lighting styles of various working professionals. I remember Monte Zucker was in it, maybe twenty different photographers in total. One of those made his living by creating photographic images that were lit in the style of the classic art of the Dutch Masters, with somber backgrounds, vivid faces and rich colors on the subject. I still have that book someplace, and it never fails to fascinate me... the way people can be presented in so many ways, each tasteful if done well.

You image is done well. Congrats on it.


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## RAKAMRAK (Sep 15, 2013)

*Re: A Light Read*

After knowing that it is not a staged photo, not a studio photo I like it even more. Rather now I admire the light and shade of the photo (the unnecessary right side notwithstanding).


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## Famateur (Sep 15, 2013)

*Re: A Light Read*

Love the shot, and the background story makes it that much better. My only nit-pick is the balance of the composition. To my eye, it's not that there's too much black on the right side but not _enough _black on the left side. If it was me, I'd be tempted to expand the canvas a bit to the left in Photoshop (well, GIMP for me  ) and fill with black. 

Either way, the issue with balance is that it's a little too close to half-and-half, which makes the right "half" _feel _more empty.

EDIT: Looking at it again, the square aspect ratio of the image accentuates the half-and-half feel. Adding the black to the left side to make it a rectangular aspect (although not so much that it pushes the subject to the center) would be perfect...for my taste.


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## petach (Sep 16, 2013)

Photo cropped. Better? worse? or evens Stevens?


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## Famateur (Sep 16, 2013)

petach said:


> Photo cropped. Better? worse? or evens Stevens?


Much better for balance. It's easier to ignore that his invisible leg would be cut off than having the empty black half of the square aspect ratio. Either way, it's a fantastic image, in my opinion. Nice work.


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## rpt (Sep 16, 2013)

I like it a lot. The fact that there is so much black to the right makes you "fill in" missing pieces. I don't think it needs a border.


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## Jim Saunders (Sep 16, 2013)

I hadn't seen the image before, but I like it a lot. I'm not surprised that others saw the Rembrandt angle too.

Jim


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## Click (Sep 16, 2013)

Famateur said:


> petach said:
> 
> 
> > Photo cropped. Better? worse? or evens Stevens?
> ...



I agree, I prefer also this one. Well done Petach.


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## petach (Sep 18, 2013)

thank you all for taking the time to comment so constructively.


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## Jay Khaos (Sep 18, 2013)

I seem to be the only one, but I disagree that centered = balanced. I love the lighting and B&W choice and I think the white space adds positively to the minimalism. Personally, I might even add more white space (black) to the right until the guy's head is at the 1/3 length, before I'd choose to crop it in. For me, more white space adds to the dark, immersed feel and would make the photo feel less staged IMO

I agree with the knee brightness seeming a little high, that was the first thing that caught my eye.


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## petach (Sep 19, 2013)

Jay Khaos said:


> I seem to be the only one, but I disagree that centered = balanced. I love the lighting and B&W choice and I think the white space adds positively to the minimalism. Personally, I might even add more white space (black) to the right until the guy's head is at the 1/3 length, before I'd choose to crop it in. For me, more white space adds to the dark, immersed feel and would make the photo feel less staged IMO
> 
> I agree with the knee brightness seeming a little high, that was the first thing that caught my eye.



You probably articulated what was in my mind when I created/posted the shot. I have kept both versions but I much prefer my original with the space to the mans right hand side to give him room to move into or breathe or whatever....metaphorically speaking. I was also tempted to put a very very thin white border on to "contain" the picture.

Thanks again for the critique, appreciated.


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## RAKAMRAK (Sep 19, 2013)

Jay Khaos said:


> I seem to be the only one, but I disagree that centered = balanced. I love the lighting and B&W choice and I think the white space adds positively to the minimalism. Personally, I might even add more white space (black) to the right until the guy's head is at the 1/3 length, before I'd choose to crop it in. For me, more white space adds to the dark, immersed feel and would make the photo feel less staged IMO
> 
> I agree with the knee brightness seeming a little high, that was the first thing that caught my eye.



Since I was one of the early commentators to this post who opined negatively about the black empty space to the right of the subject (the current version of the photo no longer has that) so I thought a clarification would be in order. I do not think that "centered = balanced". But I definitely think in the current composition with just the subject in the far left of the frame without anything other than dark emptiness to the right made it look unbalanced to me. There are numerous occasions when such a composition (subject on one side of the frame and emptiness on the other) may create a strong story but this situation did not look like that to me. Rule of the third is also a nice thumb rule to go to but there also we need something on the opposite vertex to balance it.


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## petach (Sep 19, 2013)

RAKAMRAK said:


> Jay Khaos said:
> 
> 
> > I seem to be the only one, but I disagree that centered = balanced. I love the lighting and B&W choice and I think the white space adds positively to the minimalism. Personally, I might even add more white space (black) to the right until the guy's head is at the 1/3 length, before I'd choose to crop it in. For me, more white space adds to the dark, immersed feel and would make the photo feel less staged IMO
> ...



Oh, I wouldn't say you opined negatively at all. It was constructive and very welcome thank you, and I am pleased you took the trouble to.


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## Pugshot (Sep 19, 2013)

I like the image very much - just the way it is. Very evocative. I don't mind the amount of black - it serves to isolate the important parts of the image and is very effective as negative space. Personally, the back story is interesting, but ultimately I don't really care where the subject was sitting. Because of the surrounding blackness, I can make up my own story of where he's sitting, what he's doing, etc., - and that engages my mind when I view the photograph. Isn't that what we all strive to do with our photography? To the extent I would do anything, I would darken the portion of his coat that is getting reflective light bounced into it by the book, and maybe try to darken the pages of the book - if there's any detail to be gotten from that (probably not). But even if you didn't change a thing, I think this is a beautiful image. It really made an impression and I could see myself returning to view it again and again. Very well done.


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## Roger Jones (Sep 19, 2013)

Chiaroscuro is great but I want to see into the shadows. Just a little bit of separation between figure and ground gives more depth to the image. Rembrandt uses dark shadows but they have detail. More detail in the highlights helps as well.


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