Orangutan #2

now this pose is even better! love the shyness portrayed here Ashley
once again I would work on the overall highlights, and maybe recover just a teeny bit of shadow detail from the face

The hand and shoulder nestling the face makes for a very interesting image, Ashley. It frames it so well that I, too, wish for a little more highlight in the face so that as the prime part of the subject it can stand out.

Ashley, I love this comp.

Many thanks Morkel, Wayne, and Barbara for your kind comments and suggestions :^)

Before I make prints of this I will remember your advice and rework the highlights and shadows for greater effect, thank you again and much appreciated :^)

All the best,

Ashley

Hi Ashley,

I find this shot more interesting than your previous one (tho' I liked that one too). I like the overall composition, including cropping/framing and positioning of the subject within the frame. The face is expressive and the semi-circle created by the hand and arm adds to the composition. Ultimately, tho', I think the harshness of the lighting is the limiting factor here - and there's nothing you could do to control this (and, if I were you, I'd go real easy on any further efforts to extract shadow detail and balance the exposure - real easy to go over the line here and look "unnatural").

While a believer in selective focus to control eye-flow, I have mixed feelings about the out-of-focus hand - between its brightness and interesting creases and folds it does draw one's attention (at least mine) and that it is so out-of-focus is, in a way, a bit disappointing. So, what could have been a powerful asset to the image becomes neutral at best or, to some (including me), possibly a bit of a distraction.

But it's both a thought-provoking and an emotion-illiciting image - and in that regard quite a success!

Cheers...thanks for sharing this one...

Brad

Good composition! My first thought was how nicely the hand and arm framed that expression. I do wish you had enough depth of field to have better detail in the hand, however. Still, this is a pleasing image.

Many thanks Brad and Lon for your valued input :^)

Having already made a few attempts at lighting the facial area more, as you suggest, it's very tricky to add selective lighting that shows much benefit without leaving anything of an unnatural effect.

As to the hand being unfortunately out of focus, you may find this hard to believe, but until you pointed this out I never actually noticed it, I guess because my mind always seems to lock immediately onto the subject's expression in this picture and my imagination runs away with ideas of what it could possibly be thinking ;^)

OK, here's a question for you: If either of you'd been in this situation - using a 70-200mm f/2.8 + 2x TC set at 400mm - what would you have set the aperture at to ensure the hand was was well enough within the DOF?

Hey Ashley,

You ask:

If either of you'd been in this situation - using a 70-200mm f/2.8 + 2x TC set at 400mm - what would you have set the aperture at to ensure the hand was was well enough within the DOF?

I can't answer that question without knowing the distance the subject was away from the camera (to calculate the DOF at various apertures). And more importantly, when I look at your tech specs, I'm not sure it would have been possible to render the hand sharply at an ISO that would have produced a decent image. If you were using a camera I used I'd be better able to judge how far the ISO could be pushed (and therefore whether or not the higher ISO compromise needed to close the aperture down more would have been worth it), but as a Nikon guy I have never shot with a 7D and don't know how far (ISO wise) I'd be willing to push that camera.

Every shot we take is, more or less, an optimization process among a large number of creative/technical variables and/or constraints - some shots are simply outside what current technology will let us do. I pass on shots on a daily basis simply because the gear I have with me at the time simply won't let me do what's needed to get the shot I want. At the end of the day your limiting factor was likely simply the amount of available light - it likely was sufficient to allow you to stop down enough to get that hand in focus.

But...don't forget everyone has different image standards and/or aesthetic preferences - if you didn't notice the hand and liked the shot prior to the comments Lon and I made - well, it works for you! You can't please everyone - and the most important one for most photographers to please is themselves!

Cheers...

Brad

Hi Ashley... I really love the pose and expression you've captured here. Really well composed too. Playing with some exposure adjustments as others have mentioned may make this awesome image even better. Nice work.

Hi Ashley, I like this shot, well done ! nice composition and good space, the green adds nicely and the pose is interesting, I think it works well, did you get any of the orang looking at you in a similar pose ? just wondering what it would have looked like in comparison.
cheers Stu

Many thanks for your feedback Brad, John, and Stu :^)

Brad: When I first installed my Lightroom 3 it was possible to see the actual "distance from subject" in the meta data of each photo, however, for some reason when I downloaded one of the LR3's updates I found this useful piece of information was no longer there. If you or anyone else happens to know how I can get this back or find "distance from subject" information in another way, I would be very grateful to know.

While I completely agree that a photographer's primary aim in the pleasing department should be to produce work that pleases themselves first and foremost, as this is surely what will sustain and add even more to their passion and interest in improvement, for better or worse I've totally committed myself to turning my passion into a career that will eventually allow me to make at least enough income to support my family. This being the case, I believe I need to focus much more on what elements in a photograph will be most appealing to the majority of people I'll be looking to market my work to.

This is one of the reasons why I find these forums to be invaluable; although I have to admit it's sometimes uncomfortable reading constructive criticism by way of feedback on one photo or another I've posted that I considered more than just pleasing to my eye, for the most part every pointer I've had so far I've immediately agreed with or at least came to agree with not that long after.

Fortunately my ego isn't so large ;^) so I'm able to accept general opinion and readily learn from it, the only thing I'm really hoping for is that I'll have enough time and opportunity to learn quickly enough so I can start making an income before our savings run dry. As an old mentor of mine once wrote, "Don't wish that things were easier, wish that you can become better!" ;^)

Stu: Funnily enough, I only have one image where the subject was looking in my direction, which I guess is understandable enough, seeing as I'm not all that interesting to look at ;^p That photo though isn't all that great to look at either ;^)

Thanks again one and all for your input and wishing you all a great week ahead :^)

Ashley