Photo Challenge 3 – Blue
December 1, 2008 by rockportrait
Our previous challenge was potentially a little difficult for a bunch of busy bees (although everyone rose to the occasion), so this time it was back to basics – “blue”.
Steve’s submission:
My thoughts: Personally I found it very hard to decide which way to go. I’m a fan of the Carlton Football Club, AKA The Blues, so the obvious way to go was with them. Then I had an idea to create an abstract shot of a blue sequined glam top I have, using a technique called light painting. I keep telling people I am not really creative, and my dismal failure with this idea proved it at least to myself. Perhaps it was too late at night and I was using the wrong torch, but either way I hated the results. So in the end I have gone with an image of a little girl at a market stall in Sa Pa, Vietnam. She was sitting there for a long time, looking just miserable. Granted she may have been asleep as Vietnamese girls do work very hard from a very young age. What I saw surrounding her were plenty of signs of a daily battle to simply keep starvation at bay, so I read her body language as being a combination of both weariness and misery – she’s blue on life.
Shot on a Panasonic FZ18 at 1/320sec, F4, ISO 200
Mat’s submission:
My thoughts: I love this mirror, and I love the idea. I’d prefer for Mat to be more heavily exposed in the mirror, but I do get a rather ethereal feel from it, which by the sounds of it was Mat’s intention. I don’t see his blue expression, but I can imagine it from the body language. Without explanation I am more likely to think it is just someone walking through the frame. With a longer exposure or wider aperture I could see the expression more clearly. I’d also like to see the walls whitened using curves and colour balance.
Mat says: For this shot I used the theme in three ways. The blue frame on the mirror, my blue shirt and the somewhat blue expression on my face. I shot this in low light with a 30 second exposure giving me enough
time to walk into the shot and pose for a few seconds before walking out of the shot again to give my reflection a faded ghostly appearance. It took a few attempts before I got one that looked ok.
Joepi’s submission:
My thoughts: I really like this shot a lot. The blue dress sets off the little girl’s carefree smile just perfectly. Joepi has captured her in a position that shows vibrant movement, and I can imagine her skipping. I’m not at all distracted by the background, which makes the blue dress really stand out. If I was going to be picky at all, and this really applies less to travel photography as we’re often documenting fleeting moments the best we can, I’d like to see the rest of her front foot and her bag and right hand not hidden by her dress. A bit sharper in the face would be ideal too. But at f1.8 from a moving tuk tuk she’s taken a great shot.
Joepi says: I was being carried around the city on a little bike tuktuk when I had a chance to take this shot. I like how her blue uniform just stood out amidst the gray city background, not to mention her smile as she realized my camera was pointing at her. It was quite a challenge to have a moving subject and me moving at the same time. After several clicks I was happy to have gotten a few good shots of this pretty little Vietnamese girl heading to school with a ruler in her pocket and her lunch in hand.
Focal Length 50 mm
G’day,
I like the fact that we’ve all gone for portraits this week and still managed to produce something quite different to each other.
Agreed, Matt! It’s one theme alright, but it sure provokes different thoughts on each photograph. Steve, I like the fact that you were able to catch this moment. I noticed that people would normally shy away as soon as they see a camera especially if they’re not in the jolliest of moods. But you shouldn’t have mentioned that she was sleeping! I keep going back to the picture trying to figure it out!
Matt, I love the mirror too (in all it’s underwater quirky design.) I would have preferred that you made it a tighter shot though. On the first look, all I saw was the mirror. I hadn’t noticed that you were in the photo until I read the blog and took a second look. The “fading” concept is also good (and that was a good technique for you to use there without having to edit the photo to make it look like that) but it would have been better if your image was a little clearer to depict the theme better and showcase your expression more. On my own photograph I believe I could have done better with the sharpness of the photo (and all the things that Steve said.) I guess it’s the perfect excuse to travel some more to practice photography! 