Looking for coins

[Antonio Correia]

[Andrew76]

Very nice. I like the framing, I like the expression on the boy's face. It's a great B+W capture. Thanks for sharing - this one speaks volumes!

[Antonio Correia]

Very nice. I like the framing, I like the expression on the boy's face. It's a great B+W capture. Thanks for sharing - this one speaks volumes!

Thank you Andrew

[Goldcoastgolfer]

I can't see anything for some reason...

[Nicola]

so beautiful Antonio, as always!
in my humble opinion the face of the boy is a bit too centered.. what about to crop a bit of space on top and right and leave more room at bottom and left?
ciao
Nicola

[kdoc856]

He is a bit centered, but with the framing I think it works well, and I think to crop this excellent shot you would damage the shot: you need the both the bowls on the right and a bit of space above his head. My vote is to not touch a thing. Love the image.

Kevin

[rpcrowe]

i like this shot... I like the framing and I first look at the boy's hand which leads my eye up to his face...

In what area did you shoot this image?

[Antonio Correia]

Thank you all for the comments.

The boy is in fact, looking for coins among the ashes. This image was made in Kathmandu Nepal, and the ashes are from burnings where people place coins. The boy was collecting them.

@ Mal - Is this the explanation you were looking for ? Hope so.
@ Nicola and Kevin - I am not going to re-crop the image, really. I like it the way it is and to be honest I couldn't do it again as I hardly remember the procedure I followed. I used Silver Efex Pro 2.
I think it is not too centered. It is just fine Nicola and Kevin The round plate and the pillar are essencial elements in the composition.
@ Hello Richard. Have you been in Kathmandu ? This is not exactly in Kathmandu but in a most visited by turists typical village nearby which I can't remember the name

[Colin Southern]

Hi Antonio,

Nice shot

Sometimes I find that I need to crop of some space above a head, but I can't afford to lose anything from either side of the image -- so my only choice is to change the aspect ratio slightly (but which I PREFER not to do). Of recent though, I have started to worry less about maintaining a certain aspect ratio, and just crop the image to where I think an image looks it's best -- and generally, I think I prefer this approach.

So as a "case in point" (hope you don't mind), I've taken the liberty of cropping off a little of the space above the young lads head to see what you think?

[Andrew76]

Hmmmm, I'm not sure. I've been looking at both for a while now. I don't think Colin's crop makes enough of a difference to warrant it (sorry Colin!!). They both look great, and I was just so captivated by the story it tells, that a little off the top really didn't change my opinion of the photo. I would be happy to have either one of those!!

[Colin Southern]

Hmmmm, I'm not sure. I've been looking at both for a while now. I don't think Colin's crop makes enough of a difference to warrant it (sorry Colin!!).

That's OK

In my mind (for my photos anyway), any space used in the photo has to be justified, and as a rule, I usually find that space above heads normally doesn't add anything to my images. In this case, I've tried to add a "subliminal symmetry" by matching the same space above the young lad's head to the space between the bottom of the large pan at bottom left and the bottom of the shot.

So to my eye, the original looks like 90% "hard working pixels" and 10% wasted pixels - whereas with my crop it's 100% hard working pixels. But as you say, not a big deal either way.

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Thanks Antonio - I can see it now and it's a capture worth seeing It was interesting looking at your photo while reading through everyone's comments. At the end of it all, I think technicaly the others have points that are valid. However for me I find that what you've created is an image that captures a great story with a composition that may not necessarily follow the normal rules but however remains very well balanced and works.

[Nicola]

IMHO,
as always in photography, personal taste is much more important than every rules,guidelines...
and among all personal tastes, the owner's one is the most important,
so, again, superb work Antonio, as always!

ciao
Nicola

[Antonio Correia]

Hello all
Thank you for commenting.
The crop done by Colin pleases me more than my own However, I must have the same crop in all my images. I can't present a work with different sizes or ... they can't have small differences. They have a difference or they don't have a difference
Let's assume I want to make an exhibition or, in other words, my images are so good that I decide - or someone else - to make an exhibition out of them.
I couldn't place a 30/40 near a 20/40, mainly if I were presenting 15 or 20 images alike.
Look at my collection of portraits and you find - at least - a continuity over size. But I am struggling in this very collection with the "inside" of these images. I am presenting a young boy near a woman with a lot of difference in age. I wonder if that is correct. If this doesn't make the young to "get out" of the sequence, if you know what I mean.
We have to agree that if you are presenting a photo "isolated"/alone you can change it's size without any trouble. But presenting a collection is different. So, I am clued to the crop 30/40 in portraits as much as I am clued to 30/50 in landscapes.
I think -again - that presenting in a collection of 15 images - these two shown bellow - in spite of excellent images - would be fine. It would be to diminish the value of the images themselves.

-

In fact - for some time - I have moved from one crop to another according to the convenience as much as I was using a canvas. Now, I don't. Canvas: no. Size: rigid.
One thing I know now and this can be important to younger photographers: create a style - not easy - and create a continuity over your body of work. Read this if you please. Star soon with a target in mind.
You don't have a target to make a collection ? Invent one. Create. Innovate.
Enough said for now

No, no. I wanted to say something else.
I couldn't make a different crop in the image of the boy because it is too tight. Needless to post the original one.

[Colin Southern]

Hi Antonio,

I understand all that you're trying to say - and I don't disagree with any of it - but ...

... having had exactly the same thoughts myself, I've none-the-less relaxed my thinking a little on the matter in more recent times.

Some thoughts:

1. When I produce canvases, I DO tend to stick with a small number of standard sizes - but mostly through laziness because I have a number of jigs setup for these sizes; doing a custom frame size takes longer.

2. Most of my work is only displayed on a monitor - and as such - the monitor produces a standard size matte. So it doesn't appear to matter so much if the image size within the matte varies.

3. A uniform size a exhibition is one approach -- I do this myself with 22 x 44" canvases of my landscape -- but I also do 22 x 66" and 22 x 88". I think that what we (consciously or subconsciously) strive for is a uniform pattern; having 5 canvases all lined up and all measuring 22 x 44" is one pattern - but I also have patterns in my studio of 22 x 15" - 22 x 22" - 22 x 66" - 22 x 22" - 22 x 15". Personally, if I needed an different aspect ratio for a particular image then I just do my best to either compensate with a custom matte size, or display it away from those with a consistent size that were being displayed together. Or "Plan B" - have a different image size, but stick to a standard frame size.

Just a few thoughts

[Antonio Correia]

Thank you for your thoughts Colin

[Apprentix]

Wow!Wow!Wow!
Wow!for superb composition!
Wow! for comments made by other members!
Wow! for such a wonderful place to learn from Masters.
Hi! This is my first Posting.From Monterrey,MExico,Beginner,owner of a 550d Canoeost2i
Armando

[Antonio Correia]

Welcome Armando.
Show us your images