Competition, a photo from Tamil Nadu, South

Photographer's Note

All over Tamil Nadu schools are organizing competitions for classical dance, music and songs. She was waiting, talking to her friend before she had to go on podium to do her performance.

I took my zoom to isolate her from the public around as a classical portrait appropriate to her traditional outfit.

In the WS a pose from the Bharata Natyam, I was doubting to put the WS as post, you tell me wich one you like most ....

jaywalker, stego, coco, jhm, bhorerpakhi oznaczył to zdjęcie jeko użyteczne

Critiques | Translate

jaywalker (16105) 2006-12-20 6:48

Hi Henk, An excellent portrait & superb focus the shallow DOF is wonderful, perfect colours & light, great shot, kind regards Wilson.

barrufeto_77 (28888) 2006-12-20 7:04

Hi Henk.

My compliments! This picture is really enjoyable! The details and the colours are brilliant.

Rgs, Oscar

daddo (28748) 2006-12-20 7:09

Hi Henk. Stunning portrait, full of life, elegance and marvellous colour.A fleeting moment rich with emotion and beauty. My sincere compliments Henk. Regards. Klaudio.

batalay (41261) 2006-12-20 7:12

Hello Henk,

This is one of the most addictive sites in cyberspace. I want to commend you for a very good portrait, indeed one of themost compelling compositions I've seen anywhere. Your composition, colors and the sharpness are super. What you have perhaps intuitively (perhaps consciously) done is to crop this photo so that the centerline (vertical bisector) passes near one eye of your subject. The ideal would be to have that line even closer.

I am an artist/scientist, but the greatest was Leonardo da Vinci. I wrote a book called, 'Math and the Mona Lisa,' about the intersection of art and science, art and mathematics.. I have a rigorous education, Leonardo had no education, and developed most of his ideas on his own.

In 1998 it was discovered by Christopher Tyler, British born psychologist working in San Francisco, that in all great portraits the vertical bisector or "centerline" passes through an eye. This is never taught in art schools, and Dr. Tyler discovered it accidentally. The discovery made the front page of the New York Times. In 2000 I chaired a conference in Seoul, Korea and invtited Dr. Tyler to the conference and got to know him quite well. If you will look through my gallery, find "Eyes" (of a tiny blond child) and "Portrait of Alexander" (a bust of Alexander the Great, you will see how I cropped the photoof the chemistry teacher.

You've done a superb job. Thank you, happy holidays, and greetings from Virginia
Bulent

stego (24132) 2006-12-20 7:51

Hi Henk,
WOW, this one really impresses me much! :o You were lucky with her exotic beauty, makeup, clothes and jewels, but much merit goes to your amazing talents. Everything is perfect: her pose, pov, dof(!), sharpness, colors.
Congratulations!
As for the WS, I think it's great also, it deserves a post of its own. It doesn't making sense putting the options between it and this one and the WS, as they are diferent subjects. Usually it's very dificult to me to point which one "I like best" when in the presence of two photos that I like much, as in this case, but if you insist, I prefer this one because it really punched me.
TFS, Regards, Jose

PeterDF (421) 2006-12-20 10:05

She is quite spectacular in her make-up and costume and your photo is, too! I think the way you've photographed her with parts of her face and shoulder in focus while other parts blend softly away really adds a touch of beauty to the photo. And the colors of her dress go perfectly with the background and your photographic style. Very nicely done!

coco (30439) 2006-12-20 10:13

And hi again, Henk.
Really a very remarkable portrait what let to us contemplate and also admire how dress this woman.
Is not only only the dress: is her culture, is her daily life.
Good and very interesting.

Regards.

added later:
I cannot chose between the WS and the main photo, both are different but good too

jamesraj (32) 2006-12-20 10:43

Henk, it is a beauty .. both the girl and the capture .. !

kensimage (8563) 2006-12-20 11:00

Nicely done, Henk. I like the contrast between her formal traditional costume and her informal pose. I like it better than the WS because the WS seems slightly posed and artificial. Nice light and appropriately shallow DOF here. Regards, Ken.

patcras (14) 2006-12-20 11:30

Jongens, jongens, das nu eens een shicke madam. Breng die volgend jaar maar mee naar huis!
Met deze foto hebt ge u weer eens overtroffen!

guillaumejm (0) 2006-12-20 16:08

Hello Henk,
I like this one very much. The focus setting is perfect. Good light on the very nice face. Fine colours. The WS is nice too, but I prefer this one.
Kind regards
JMarc

DarkoG (8) 2006-12-21 2:58

Very good, colorfull, pin sharp photo. Her make up is brilliant.
About WS photo It is quite different from this one and deserve to be posted not as WS.
Regards Darko.

sanalytis (1634) 2006-12-21 3:11

Hi Henk,

Amazing portrait.The colors are brilliant and you did a great job on the DOF. I can look at this image all day.

Great job,

Spiros

summersun (4978) 2006-12-21 3:15

alaagana ! a really beautiful portrait Henk...
she looks like she's coming out of a dream, her make up is so perfect, I love the moment you have captured, her mouth half opened, she was about to say something ?
great details in all her jewels ( you know how much I love those shiny little things ;)
Vanessa

jhm (211738) 2006-12-21 8:19

Hallo Henk,

U gaat er nogal snel door, man dit is mooi, ja ook uw WS is schitterend Henk, 1600 ISO en 1 punt focus, het is mooi gedaan ontegensprekelijk, kleuren en samenstelling zijn zeer mooi!

Groeten,
John.

everlasting (19978) 2006-12-23 2:05

Beautiful colours and a I love the soft focus, she appears dreamlike. Her natural pose is delightful.
PS: I dont hit TN, staying in the north Madhya Pradesh, maybe next time........
Take care,
Elaine

bhorerpakhi (559) 2006-12-23 2:57

Hello Henk,
An action shot and 1600 ISO has minimized motion blur. But noise reduction has made the picture a little IMO. But I still like it for the elegant look.
Poulomi

chanjits (4460) 2006-12-25 5:55

marvelous portrait great point of view and well composed sir thanks for sharing

scalerman (26900) 2007-01-01 14:15

Henk: what a rich portrait. I think your choice of restrictive framing works just fine for this amazing shot. best, c

THY (1659) 2007-04-29 5:36

I ahve one question
Is it ok to take photos of people on the steet in India?
Do we need to ask for consent? I noticed you have a lot of professional camera. Did you bring all of them along? I will be there on 11 May. Please advise.

kiks (12805) 2010-10-18 5:20

The sharpnes of the face and warm light in combination with the soft focus around the head is great.
Best regards
KIKs