An Insistent Subject

[dubaiphil]

This guy demanded he had his portrait taken, which makes a nice change! I liked the headgear which made a nice contrast to the usual clothing worn by stall keepers in this market.

After the shoot, he then insisted on a colour print!

Anyway, here's the B&W version:

[Mark von Kanel]

Great pic as ever Phil. the wide angle emphasis the hand a little to much but it helps that its not in focus at that point. do you always shoot portraits at 35mm?

[dubaiphil]

Great pic as ever Phil. the wide angle emphasis the hand a little to much but it helps that its not in focus at that point. do you always shoot portraits at 35mm?

I stopped down to f6.3 but it still wasn't enough, but I don't mind the slight OOF of the hands. I was more concerned about getting a little separation between the man and background than that.

I've been using the 35mm as a walkabout quite a lot recently and prefer it to my 50mm - there's not a lot of space in the market so a little wide isn't such a bad thing. And here I am plotting my next Zeiss purchase now! 2,0/25 or 2,8/100, that is the question!

[Mark von Kanel]

Ha your getting no help from me to get you in trouble with the wife, ive still got my own dilemma... d800 d600.... and i actually ment that i liked the oof on the hands it helps reduce the emphasis. now i mus go and look at these lens's

[Mike Buckley]

I like this a lot. I wonder if I would like it even more if more of the bag that he has in his lap was displayed.

Just out of curiosity, are the bags storing onions?

[jeeperman]

Fantastic image Phil, the conversion is spot on as well. Although with one look at those paws.....I think you had better get him that colored print!

[Donald]

It's the variety and richness of the textures right across the image that I find so impressive. The bags and ?? (onions?) that make up the background are just fantastic. Another high quality bit of work.

[Nat]

Yes, high quality B&W, you are my inspiration!! Such detail and the ...what Donald said richness of the image.....Good work.

[dubaiphil]

I like this a lot. I wonder if I would like it even more if more of the bag that he has in his lap was displayed.

Just out of curiosity, are the bags storing onions?

Thanks Mike.

The wall behind is made of bags of onions stacked high, which I thought would make a good backdrop despite the man sitting pretty close to it. In front of him is another pile of bags of onions, which is what he's leaning on.

There was then a space of around 1 ft where I could put my legs while sitting on a pile of potatoes for the shot - not a lot of room to play with and with 35mm here I wanted to get a 3/4 shot if possible.

[dubaiphil]

Fantastic image Phil, the conversion is spot on as well. Although with one look at those paws.....I think you had better get him that colored print!

Thanks Paul

This guy owns a few stalls in the market and invited me over as I've seen him before. He was posing nicely in front of his staff, and I didn't want to change that as it's a very strong pose suiting his role as a boss. With 35mm being slightly wide angle, his hands are closer to the lens that his face and torso, so they are enlarged slightly by the focal length.

[dubaiphil]

It's the variety and richness of the textures right across the image that I find so impressive. The bags and ?? (onions?) that make up the background are just fantastic. Another high quality bit of work.

Thanks Donald. The Carl Zeiss really brings out the textures nicely and the tones you get when you convert to B&W are fantastic. On DX is was nice - on FX I LOVE it!!!!!

[dubaiphil]

Yes, high quality B&W, you are my inspiration!! Such detail and the ...what Donald said richness of the image.....Good work.

Thanks Nat! This was easy really. These subjects pose so naturally! His original position was a little more compromised and there were background distractions. A move 6 ft to the right got rid of those and created a solid wall of onions to anchor the shot.

After that is was just f6.3, -1EV and I was there.

The light was fantastic again, and I'm learning nowadays how to find it and use it better. The roof in this market has an 8ft vertical opening on four sides. In this case that meant the equivalent of two big softboxes on the left and right, plus one over my head.

[Rhoads238]

Fantastic image Phil. As others have said the tones and textures are just stunning. His pose is most certianly one of power. His hands must have grown to this size from years of stacking bags of onions. They look like about 100 lb bags so that would be a considerable amount of effort to stack them all. Although im sure as mentioned above the distortion is working in his favor to give him those mamoth hands.

-Jason