Kendo

[Shadowman]

f/13, ISO400, 1/60sec

[pschlute]

Not as good as your last post I am afraid.

The subject has a lot of possibilities but I feel this does not work. The man in the background detracts from the scene, and I feel you are too far from the action to capture any drama. I think getting closer and lower might have benefited.

Sorry to sound negative, especially as I welcome your positive comments on many pictures posted on here. But I would rather be honest.

[Shadowman]

Not as good as your last post I am afraid.

The subject has a lot of possibilities but I feel this does not work. The man in the background detracts from the scene, and I feel you are too far from the action to capture any drama. I think getting closer and lower might have benefited.

Sorry to sound negative, especially as I welcome your positive comments on many pictures posted on here. But I would rather be honest.

Hi Peter,

Wouldn't be a helpful critique otherwise, thanks for commenting.

[Geoff F]

I tend to agree with Peter. An interesting idea but all the trees appear to be leaning by the same amount in the same direction, which is strange. The man stooping and pointing the bald top of his head towards the camera in a disinterested manner also looks wrong. If he had been standing and watching the action I suspect this scene would have worked.

[Shadowman]

I tend to agree with Peter. An interesting idea but all the trees appear to be leaning by the same amount in the same direction, which is strange. The man stooping and pointing the bald top of his head towards the camera in a disinterested manner also looks wrong. If he had been standing and watching the action I suspect this scene would have worked.

Hi Geoff,

They were practicing on a sloping hill, I tried photographing from a higher position but the trees blocked most of the action, was as close as I could get without creating a distraction for other viewers. Thanks for commenting.

[selig1656]

personally would have moved my position to better capture the two subjects engaging, here too much apparent focus draws me to the figure in the back ground.

[Shadowman]

personally would have moved my position to better capture the two subjects engaging, here too much apparent focus draws me to the figure in the back ground.

Hi Raymond,

Thanks for commenting.

[Manfred M]

+1 to Peter's comments. They sum up my thoughts quite well.

Your recent images of the Private Dancer and the Kiss were of much higher quality than this one.

[Shadowman]

+1 to Peter's comments. They sum up my thoughts quite well.

Your recent images of the Private Dancer and the Kiss were of much higher quality than this one.

Hi Manfred,

Thanks for commenting.

[Ken MT]

Those leaning trees bugged me, so I tried rotating and cropping to only include the action. Does this help?

[Shadowman]

Looks nice.

[Manfred M]

Those leaning trees bugged me, so I tried rotating and cropping to only include the action. Does this help?

That has fixed one problem and introduced another. The crop is too tight and the two swordsmen are too cramped in the image frame. They need room to move and it's not there.

[Geoff F]

Maybe with a little bit of careful clone work it may be possible to produce another similar image but with a little bit more space, as Manfred suggested. I suspect there is an acceptable result to be achieved with this scene.

[zen]

Hi John,

Of course I recognize your location in the shot, and have had similar challenges to work through because of the steep hillside, and those dratted trees! I'm thinking had you moved a few feet to your left, so your lens was pointing at the hillside at a 90 degree angle, the trees would be straight, and the man bending over would be hidden by the third man, the watcher. Probably not possible to get a second bite at the apple though.

But a unique subject in a challenging venue, so good for you!

Thanks for sharing!

Zen

[Shadowman]

Hi John,

Of course I recognize your location in the shot, and have had similar challenges to work through because of the steep hillside, and those dratted trees! I'm thinking had you moved a few feet to your left, so your lens was pointing at the hillside at a 90 degree angle, the trees would be straight, and the man bending over would be hidden by the third man, the watcher. Probably not possible to get a second bite at the apple though.

But a unique subject in a challenging venue, so good for you!

Thanks for sharing!

Zen

Hi Zen,

Agree the terrain is a challenge to navigate, I did try to move about as much as possible but the kendo demonstrators were moving just as quickly. Thanks for commenting.

[DanK]

I've come back to this repeatedly. I think the discussions about cropping, etc., are not addressing the key issue. Frankly, I don't think there is an interesting composition in this image regardless. The interesting piece is only that they are in costume, and that isn't enough to carry the day. If I imagine them not in costume, it just doesn't strike me as an interesting image. If you were able to get two of them in actual combat, for example, it could have been a more interesting image.

Sorry to be so negative, but that's how it strikes me.