three makes a crowd, a photo from Zanzibar, East

Photographer's Note

Three boys playing around for the photographer outside our hotel in Stone Town.

Whereas people in mainland Tanzania (i.e. what used to be Tanganyika) are mainly Christians, the population of Zanzibar is predominantly muslim. Prior to the elections coming up in 2005 many zanzibari people are predicting clashes and civil unrest at all stages of the elections, claiming that the mainland government sends contract mobs to register as voters and stir things up. On the other hand, on the mainland they claim that the zanzibaris are down-right separatists...

elena oznaczył to zdjęcie jeko użyteczne

Critiques | Translate

paguru (1056) 2004-11-03 11:22

Hi Edvard,
lots of views but not comments or critiques for this photo. Hm. I think this is a good image, but its effect is lost because of a few issues. The main point is probably that the background is too dominant, the boys' faces are a little lost against the colors and contrasts of that board wall. Maybe it would help to select and desaturate it in Photoshop, or to decrease its contrast. Another issue might be that the boys' feet are cut off, which is bad for your composition.
I hope you don't mind my crtiticism, I really think this is a nice image, technically very well done, and a good note as well.
Regards,
Oliver

elena (1054) 2005-02-27 22:09

it was fun to see the eye of that third kid playing peek a boo with the photographer... i agree maybe dessaturating the wall would help, together with adding a little brightness to the main kid's face and applying unsharp mask to his eyes... i waould like to see their feet too, or to make a more drastic cut, somehow it doesn't work well to cut people at knee level....
you may want to go take a look at PedroC photos... ;)

ecanon (0) 2005-04-26 20:47

Edvard,
This photo has so much texture, when looking at it I feel as if I could touch the doors in the background and they would feel as rough as they look.

Since we, the viewer, do not know how this shot was set up, and the nature of young boys playing in the streets as young boys do. I have to say capturing this moment in time with the third young boy peeking at you is what works. Yes, having the boys' feet in the shot would have helped but as a war correspondent once told me, "capturing the moment and evoking emotion within the viewer is more important than the perfect shot. The perfect shot does not exist. If you want the perfect shot work in a studio."
I am interested in communicating with you about your photo entitled "Mad Beach". Is there an email address I can contact you at?

Thank you.

Eric Canon

snuggleaphagus (4146) 2005-04-26 20:59

A great photo with a good composition. The boys faces are so interesting and i wish we could see more details.
The texture of the wall behind them is excellent. The crackling paint the old wood and the various colors are great.

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