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Author Topic: Thailand Locations??  (Read 38947 times)

Ray

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Thailand Locations??
« Reply #60 on: December 23, 2006, 07:09:47 am »

Don't come one step closer, buddy!

(Hey! I'm getting conflicting messages here.  

[attachment=1416:attachment]

Apologies to folks who are actually looking for locations in Thailand, but Khmer ancient dancing appears to have had an enormous influence on classical Thai dancing, so the digression is not too far out.
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Bobtrips

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Thailand Locations??
« Reply #61 on: December 23, 2006, 12:15:03 pm »

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I don't know, Bob. Is the background in the following shot less discordant for you. This is the other side of the wall in the previous shot, just a bit further along.

[attachment=1415:attachment]

[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=92034\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]



I'm a little uncomfortable with replying Ray.  I have a feeling that you aren't comfortable with having people say less than flattering things about your pictures even though you ask for feedback.

That said, I'll venture out onto thin ice.

I find this scaled a bit better.  But as a picture is doesn't work for me.  

It's very posed and artificial.  Were it a "perfect" shot it would make a good postcard for the tourist trade.  If that was what you were after then this is better (IMO) than your first post.  

What might have helped in this particular pose would have been using a box/stand to move your model higher or finding a place where you maintained a diagonal line through belly buttons (or whatever part of bodies work best).  In this frame the woman is positioned too close and too low in relation to the carved dancers.

And the direct stare into the camera just kills it for me.  

All that said, a lot of this feedback feedback verges away from what I would call good photographic critique.  It's more about personal preferences which is a separate issue.
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inspiration.in.print

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Thailand Locations??
« Reply #62 on: December 23, 2006, 06:41:36 pm »

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I returned from my Thailand trip,and just wante to say thank you for all your help,and advise.
You were right...It's hot!!!..In a hasty moment,I managed to DELETE 2gbs of shots from my memeory card by mistake.I was reviewing a shot I had just taken ,and went to delete it..and hit the delete ALL button.A word of cautuon to anyone going to Thailand,sometimes the heat can to you..make sure you review your images when you are well rested,and in a air conditioned space.
Here's a few images I did mange to keep.[attachment=1359:attachment][attachment=1360:attachment][attachment=1361:at
tachment][attachment=1362:attachment][attachment=1363:attachment][attachment=1364
:attachment][attachment=1365:attachment]
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=90423\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


If you hapen to do this agan keep your card separate and recover the images using PC Inspector File Recovery or simular softwair

Robert
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Chris_T

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Thailand Locations??
« Reply #63 on: December 26, 2006, 09:56:52 am »

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Attempted humor aside, I didn't get what I wanted from the discussion.  I applaud Ray for the effort he made in dragging a dancing girl out to the temples and trying to use her to get an interesting atmospheric shot.  I agree with Ray.  He didn't pull it off, at least in the presented shot.

I'm looking for ideas for how to make something like this work.  How does one shoot someone in period clothes and a discordant background and make something more appealing than a tourist postcard?
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=91944\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

See my following reply to Ray.
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Chris_T

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« Reply #64 on: December 26, 2006, 10:31:02 am »

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Don't come one step closer, buddy!

(Hey! I'm getting conflicting messages here.   
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=92042\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

All kidding aside, here are some comments.

- If I post an image, I'm thick skinned enough to expect all kinds of comments.

- As pointed out in Terry Barrett's book, photo criticism should be treated as a communal and ongoing thing: it should include comments from all critics and over a long time.

- Some photographers shoot for their own pleasure and reasons, and don't care what others have to say. Some shoot for an audience and do care deeply how the shots are received. Some are in the middle.

- If I shoot images like yours and Bobtrips' for my own pleasure, I tend to be less "careful" since they are documenting something I have experienced personally. But if I want to share these with others, I will take into consideration who the audience are and what I want to convey.

- As a photographer, one of the most difficult things of shooting such images is to convey my experience to an audience who are not present and may be clueless of the background. Unlike the photographer, they have no sense of the culture, the scale, the smell, the humidity, etc. ect. It is therefore not surprising for someone "ignorant" like myself to arrive at the conclusion that Ray's dancer is wiping something off her foot! One way I handle this kind of shot is trying to put myself in the shoes of such an audience and ask myself will the shot work.

This is way OT, and perhaps a new forum dedicated for image posting and comments is needed.
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Ray

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« Reply #65 on: December 26, 2006, 10:49:03 am »

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As a photographer, one of the most difficult things of shooting such images is to convey my experience to an audience who are not present and may be clueless of the background. Unlike the photographer, they have no sense of the culture, the scale, the smell, the humidity, etc. ect. It is therefore not surprising for someone "ignorant" like myself to arrive at the conclusion that Ray's dancer is wiping something off her foot! One way I handle this kind of shot is trying to put myself in the shoes of such an audience and ask myself will the shot work.

[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=92357\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Chris,
I shoot for my own interest. If someone doesn't like an image or find it interesting, that's fine by me. You're entitled to poke a bit of fun at what appears to be going on   . No hard feelings on my part.
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Lisa Nikodym

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Thailand Locations??
« Reply #66 on: December 26, 2006, 11:48:19 am »

Ray, your Cambodian dancer photos *almost* work really well, but don't quite.  Having the dancer looking straight at the camera is too contrived-looking.  If the dancer had been standing off in a doorway or somewhere partially obscured, looking elsewhere, looking like you've spontaneously caught her dancing unawares, *then* it would probably have been a great photo.  (Though a less honest one...)  Still, a fine idea.

Lisa
« Last Edit: December 26, 2006, 11:49:17 am by nniko »
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Ray

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« Reply #67 on: December 26, 2006, 09:03:02 pm »

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Ray, your Cambodian dancer photos *almost* work really well, but don't quite.  Having the dancer looking straight at the camera is too contrived-looking.  If the dancer had been standing off in a doorway or somewhere partially obscured, looking elsewhere, looking like you've spontaneously caught her dancing unawares, *then* it would probably have been a great photo.  (Though a less honest one...)  Still, a fine idea.

Lisa
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=92362\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Lisa,
That's a fair comment which I'll bear in mind when I process the many other images I have of this dancer. Perhaps I should have learned the Cambodian phrase for 'don't look at the camera', before I embarked on this expedition   .

But you must have noticed when you were at Angkor that many of the apsaras depicted in the bas reliefs on the temple walls also appear to be looking directly at the viewer.

Unfortunately, in that environment, I was fighting against too many variables to do as good a job as I'd liked to have done. I had to choose my locations carefully to avoid as much as possible the hordes of tourists with P&S cameras. Certain backgrounds which I'd found to be the most interesting at certain times of the day, with the best lighting, I had to avoid because of potential crowds. The weather was also very variable. One day, I decided to go out to Beng Mealea in the morning, one of the outer temples that is mostly visited in the afternoons. It turned out to be relatively crowd-free, but by the time we arrived there, a sunny morning had turned into a dull, overcast day.

Has anyone used Corel's KnockOut   ? Looks as though I might have to start cheating.
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Ray

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« Reply #68 on: December 27, 2006, 03:00:58 am »

I guess it's inevitable that I'll show off a few more shots of my favourite Khmer dancer.

Here's her preparing for a few studio shots.

[attachment=1432:attachment]

The guy on her right is her dancing tutor (who runs a dancing school separate from the restaurant, where she works). The woman crouching is the dancer's mother, tenderly attending to her daughter's skirt; the lady on the far left is a studio employee, slightly bored and perhaps wishing that she were the centre of attention.

Here's another ruined shot because she's looking at the camera man. (Dam it! If only I wasn't so attractive!)

[attachment=1433:attachment]

And here's a shot that could be useful because she's not looking at the camera.

[attachment=1435:attachment]
« Last Edit: December 27, 2006, 03:28:38 am by Ray »
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howiesmith

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Thailand Locations??
« Reply #69 on: December 28, 2006, 03:35:03 pm »

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I'm a little uncomfortable with replying Ray.  I have a feeling that you aren't comfortable with having people say less than flattering things about your pictures even though you ask for feedback.

That said, I'll venture out onto thin ice.

 [a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=92072\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

You might try this under "The difficulty of an honest critique" thread started by Ray.
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Ray

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« Reply #70 on: December 28, 2006, 08:26:41 pm »

I don't know where Bob gets the idea that I am not comfortable with people saying less than flattering things about my images, considering that I deliberately goaded him into saying unflattering things.

The embarrassing thing for me in all this, is that I have probably unwittingly insulted a few Indian brides.

As for constructive criticism, the point made about the subject looking directly at the photographer seems perfectly valid. Just goes to show how little experience I have with this type of shooting. I now see that too many of my shots of this lady have the same problem. Am I a victim of my own vanity or just plain incompetent? (No need to answer that rhetorical question   ).

Whilst it's true that many of the apsaras in the bas reliefs directly face the viewer or visitor, sculptures tend not to have eyeballs and in many instances the eyelids are closed and the face often (not always) is slightly averted.

[attachment=1439:attachment]
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stever

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« Reply #71 on: January 04, 2007, 12:51:51 pm »

i had a very good experience at Angkor Wat a couple years ago spending what it took to get a good guide and driver - he new the tour bus schedules, which entrances to use, etc. -- we went out mostly early in the morning and in the afternoon with a midday siesta
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