Men of Vision

This is one of my trials for a night time picture of a statue
in our downtown district. not really trying for anything
specific just playing with the camera and settings. Im still
trying to find my way around the exposure / aperture of my
camera

Posted by BILL HOLTON on Mon, 06/20/11 19:47
[ Back to Index | Home | Previous Image | Next Image ]


Comments by Jan Bjorklund on Mon, 06/20/11 20:06

The contrast between the statue and the darkened night helps to make the figures stand out in the image but I just feel that there is a better way to present this subject matter which could have brought out more of the detailing in the individual figures.

I was interested in finding out where this statue was located and I did a Google and found it is in Beaumont, Texas and along with the Google there was a b&w version of the statue with the bottom edge being just below the hands of the four gentlemen.


Comments by BILL HOLTON on Mon, 06/20/11 20:34

Yes Beaumont is correct, so I need to try for better or more detail of
the statue?


Comments by Jeff Dye on Mon, 06/20/11 22:22

Because you were using direct flash all the nooks and crannies are filled in and you also have
large hand shadows. The facial features are flattened and appear soft/out of focus. If you
have to use flash see if you can dial it down to -7, -1, etc. Natural side lighting would
probably be better if the statues are situated to catch early or late day sun. The background
light on the right could be cropped out and the other cloned out. Try moving in closer and
compose at a more dramatic upward angle.


Comments by BILL HOLTON on Tue, 06/21/11 19:45

OK. I was using the spotlights that illuminate the statue therefore
getting the large hand shadows. should i try for a close up of the faces
instead? i thought it would be better with the original title at the
bottom of the statue.


Comments by Jeff Dye on Tue, 06/21/11 20:20

You could do a head and shoulders composition or the bottom of the frame could be
just under the lowermost hand. The problem with excluding the name is that the feet
are already mostly cut off and eliminating the sign would further cut them off. The only
way to possibly avoid that is to get on a ladder and be ai the same height as the
statues. They're probably best photographed on a cloudy/overcast day to avoid the
hand puppet shadows.


Comments by Jan Bjorklund on Tue, 06/21/11 20:45

Here is a location I found with an image of the Men of Vision statue.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ed-latawiec/3241234599/in/photostream/

I found the cropping of the sign and lower portion of the mens' legs created an interesting view with the emphasis given to the varied hand positions of the four men.