Hopeless? critique/advice request.

[John_05]

while going through some photos a friend of mine shot, he showed me one he titled "Hopeless". it really was an amazing photo. it showed a friend of his sitting on a rock with his elbow on his knee and his chin resting on his hand near a slightly flooded creek. it looked like he was desperate to get to the other side but with the water being too deep and running too fast, he had a hopeless look about him.

any time i express that much interest in one of his "themed" photos, he encourages me to try my own type of shot along the same theme. after a couple days trying to think of a scenario that would fit a hopeless theme, i came up with this.

i have a couple fairly specific questions regarding the picture.

1, i was wondering if anyone else sees the "hopelesness" in the shot.
2, does the red light hitting the other pieces on the left throw it off, or does it look ok like that?
3, would it look better with a shallower DOF?
4, would it look better if the board was showing more?
5, should i reshoot it with the king turned so its facing directly toward the front, or does the angle look ok?

i still have the board and pieces set up, so reshooting it isnt much of a problem. the only post processing i did with this shot was to clone out a piece that was sitting behind the king, but barely visable. i also increased the contrast a small amount and cropped a very small amount off the right and the top to retain the original aspect ratio, and to give it a more centered look.

i used a remote for the shot, and illuminated the king with a laser pointer, and painted the rest of the board with an LED to get that effect.

thanks for any critique and advice anyone can offer.

 

[Big Mike]

would it look better if the board was showing more?

I think so.

should i reshoot it with the king turned so its facing directly toward the front

I think that might be better.

 

[rmh159]

Wow that's an awesome shot. I really like the idea and creative way to express the idea. My only concern would be that the theme would be lost on people who don't know chess but that doesn't mean it's any less of a picture for it.

To your questions...

1. Definitely though like I said to a person who doesn't know the game it would probably be lost on them.

2. A little bit. I don't think it hurts the image but I think you could emphasize contrast in the pieces more by keeping the blue ones very blue.

3. I'd just say experiment and see. On one hand the small DOF makes the king stand out but on the other the pieces look cool and you lose the sharp detail. I would think you could use a bigger DOF though and still get the attention to the king with the color alone.

4. Maybe a little for reference.

5. Hard to say... if it's facing directly it might look a little too "staged". I think I'd leave it alone but that's just my opinion.

 

[space]

I do like this shot. I dont know how to play chess but with the title and the highlighted piece I can only assume he's screwed I'd say the only improvement would be to try and keep the blue pieces all blue, the slight red on the left doesn't look right. Also I'm not a fan of the font used but thats personnal preference

 

[outdoorlover]

I hae played chess enough to understand that, one against many is hopless!!! But also the king looks as though he has only one move left.
I like the bit of Blue in the others,
I also like the King turned like that, makes it seem as though he is looking for a way out.
I would like to see the board a little better, but I like the DOF

 

[mysteryscribe]

I haven't played chess in years but the theme is not going to be universal since a large number of people do not play at all.

The board, yes show it better I think.

As for the king those who know what it is probably wont care how it is shown, those who don't wont be helped.

It is a good shot regardless of the theme, so I wouldn't worry about that. It works on the simply nice bit of photography level as well...

Short depth of field would probably distract.

Now here is my question for you.

If you are shooting this in digital, and everyone is these days, why not just try all this and see how it looks to you the artist. Your opinion is the most important and you can't really judge till you see it.

 

[John_05]

thanks for the feedback everyone.

Now here is my question for you.

If you are shooting this in digital, and everyone is these days, why not just try all this and see how it looks to you the artist. Your opinion is the most important and you can't really judge till you see it.

i am shooting it in digital, but i have a pretty small apartment. i had to put my tripod up in my kitchen, and set the board up on the table. i checked the first shot i did, and had to move everything just to see the back of the camera. after i set it back up the way i wanted it, i just tried 4 more shots, and this one was the better of the 4 so its the one i used. i only have 1 lens right now, and its a 70-300mm lens so i needed the distance to be able to see the whole board. i could have set it up a little closer, but the lens i have is a lot sharper in the 150-250mm range, so i chose to set it up in my kitchen. i dont have room to do it anywhere else.

i am happy the way it turned out, but i also thought some things could be better too. i can be pretty indecisive, so i thought i would ask the people here about the things i was undecided about before i shot it again. sometimes it helps me to get others opinions for me to help make up my own mind.

i will try a couple more shots tonight. ill have someone else here to hold the laser pointer and paint with the LED. then ill be able to stay behind the camera and check the results i get easier.

thanks again for all the comments and critique!

 

[BoblyBill]

I LOVE THIS SHOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wish I had thought of that... I have been wanting to take some chess shots but my would not compare... Being a chess player, the only thing that I would change (if you really was not happy with the shot which I think that you should be) would show a little bit more of the board to give a chess player more of something to annalize. It could possibly be also that it is "hopeless" because if you were playing somebody that wasn't paying attention it would be quite easy to stalemate. I guess that's why I personally would like a little bit more of a board so that I myself might think of a way to stalemate.

 

[(Ghastly) Krueger]

1, i was wondering if anyone else sees the "hopelesness" in the shot.

Yep, and I think you justhave to know the basic objective of the game to understand it. It's not necessary to understand the rules and possible moves.

2, does the red light hitting the other pieces on the left throw it off, or does it look ok like that?

It looks OK, but if you could lower it a bit, it would be better.

3, would it look better with a shallower DOF?

I don't think so.It has a good battlefield look as it is.

4, would it look better if the board was showing more?

Na, for me its right on the money.

5, should i reshoot it with the king turned so its facing directly toward the front, or does the angle look ok?

The angle looks OK to me. Like RMH said, it would look to staged if it were facing to the camera.

Overall a very good pc, congrats.