Cooking Up A Storm

[mugge]

This was taken at a night market. There were numerous stalls selling various food and also wine and craft beer. I spent about three hours there trying this and that, photography wise that is C&C most welcome.

Cooking Up A Storm by Ole Hansen, on Flickr

[Shadowman]

Nice enough for a lighting challenge shot, the atmosphere makes for a good composition, I would've perhaps tried shooting from a lower angle; its the workers that are the interesting subjects not so much the buckets and tables.

[Manfred M]

B&W is a good approach for this scene; it is quite complex and by going with this genre, you have certainly simplified the whole place visually. That being said, it is still are busy and complex scene and really does not seem to have a centre of focus that the viewer can engage with.

[mugge]

Thank you John and Manfred for commenting. I guess you are both correct but at the same time I wanted a busy, messy and chaotic atmosphere. Ideally with upturned bins, spilled food and water.

How to create some sense focus in such a picture is beyond my expertise. Perhaps a slight vignette around the two people in the front?

I like chaotic pictures, it is something I'd like to pursue further.
Cheers Ole

[MrB]

What do you think of a dustbin crop, to focus attention more on the activity of the triangle of workers?
E.g. This one is 16:9 -



Cheers.
Philip

[Manfred M]

How to create some sense focus in such a picture is beyond my expertise. Perhaps a slight vignette around the two people in the front?

The issue with this image is really your timing; Cartier-Bresson's "Decisive Moment". For instance, had you waited until the person that is left-most in the frame looked at you, you would have nailed a great shot. As it is, you have recorded what is happening, but that lacks the element that pulls the viewer into your image.

I like chaotic pictures, it is something I'd like to pursue further.

Chaos is fine, but you still need to use some compositional techniques or elements that lead your viewer into and then through the image.

[Geoff F]

Philip's edit has removed a lot of the distraction and also added a bit more contrast, which was my first thought about this scene. Too much mid tone grey.

[DanK]

I agree with Philip and Geoff. In addition to the reasons they gave, the crop makes the image much less visually busy. I also think it draws the eye to the cooks. I don't have the same reaction as Manfred to this one. With the crop, I see the focal center as the triangle comprising the three people on the left, whose shirts appear darkest because they are less obscured by steam. It feels relatively well balanced to me, although I would probably crop a bit from the top, perhaps halfway between the current top edge and the top of the bright light in the center.