Bagpiper

[sashbar]

 

[sashbar]

No reaction, so I will add another one.

 

[sashbar]

... and another one

 

[DanOstergren30 5]

I like the third one the most, other than the cropped hand. I think what I don't like about the other two and what makes them not stand out to me is that you can't see his eyes. He has very striking eyes especially in that lighting, and not being able to see them in the other two shots kind of makes me feel a bit disconnected from them. The third I like though. Beautiful use of light, an expression that draws me in and great sharpness of detail.

 

[sashbar]

I like the third one the most, other than the cropped hand. I think what I don't like about the other two and what makes them not stand out to me is that you can't see his eyes. He has very striking eyes especially in that lighting, and not being able to see them in the other two shots kind of makes me feel a bit disconnected from them. The third I like though. Beautiful use of light, an expression that draws me in and great sharpness of detail.

Thanks Dan, I was disappointed as well when I realised I cut his hand. Basically ruined a great shot. As for the eyes in Nos 1 and 2 - it does not bother me at all. I think in that respect there is a huge difference between a portrait of a musician and a portrait of a PERFORMING musician. He was absorbed by his music and out of 70 shots I took about 60 were with his eyes closed. And even when it was not, as you see in the next pic - there was nothing you could see in his eyes because he was basically looking inside self, as often happens with performing serious musicians, and make no mistake - this guy is a virtuoso. I was much more interested in using shadows to create an image of a man with two sides. The whole scene was partly lit by sun and I tried to make a good shot on the line between light and dark to accentuate the controversial character. He behaved almost like a clown sometimes but his music was nothing like that. The way he switched from classical to medieval to contemporary to kids tunes was impressive. In the end I could not do exactly what I wanted, sadly.
I posted the first shot because it was probably the closest to what I wanted - the background is dark on his left and light on his right. But there were some interesting shades. Actually I called the first image "The bagpiper and the guitarist", because the shadow looks like a rock guitarist. And the the last image (No 5) has a more frivolous shadow. I call this pic "The musician and the faun".

We talked a bit and he showed me his records where he performed with a big orchestra. What amazed me most though it the fact that there were lots of tourists around with cameras, many with proper DSLRs - better than mine, some stayed and listened and NOONE cared to take a picture. Even though the light was excellent.

 

[sashbar]

No 5

 

[thebasedsloth]

A tighter crop would benefit on all these, and they all lack a good separation from the background. I don't know what you shot these with but a longer focal length and/or wider aperture would have really helped to separate him from the bricks that he's blending into.
And the reason the first couple aren't too appealing, to me, is because they don't LOOK like he's playing his instrument. It looks like he almost dropped it but caught it last second.
The last one is probably the best display of him actually playing it

 

[sashbar]

A tighter crop would benefit on all these, and they all lack a good separation from the background. I don't know what you shot these with but a longer focal length and/or wider aperture would have really helped to separate him from the bricks that he's blending into.
And the reason the first couple aren't too appealing, to me, is because they don't LOOK like he's playing his instrument. It looks like he almost dropped it but caught it last second.
The last one is probably the best display of him actually playing it

Thank you for the comment. I appreciate it.
What you are saying is definately an option. But to be honest I did not want to open the lense (and it was not fast enough anyway, a simple Nikon DX 16-85, it was f/6.3 here mostly), exactly because I liked the rough texture of the walls and wanted to juxtapose him against the walls of this ancient castle. If he blends with the walls a bit, so be it, even better. But blurring the the background and/or tighter crop would not work for me personaly. Especially in the second photo the lines of the stones, the way they radiate - it all accentuates the power of the sound. It is like a giant horn and wanted it look big. A tight crop to me here is a no-no. The guy is playing there exactly because of the acoustics of the place, the reverberating sound that reflects from these walls and this is an essential part of the photo to me personally. ( I immediately remembered a smal hi-end shop in Barcelona with similar stone walls in the listening room. I thought - oh, no, what a weird idea, the guys do not want what they are doing. There was a pretty hi-end system on display worth probably 40-50K USD, and then whese walls... But the sound was very good and I realised it may be not that bad acoustically).
I think the light separates him enough without any artificial tools like selective sharpness aka shallow DoF . But we all see things differently.
I see what you say about him dropping the instrument and it bothered me a bit too. But a bagpipe is a strange instrument. He does not play it with his mouth - he just tops up the air in the bag. He plays by pressing the bag against his body -that's how he regulates the volume of the sound. And of course his hands. But pretending that he plays it like a flute or a trumpet would probably make it LOOK like he is playing for some, but in essense it would be a false impression. He never blows when he plays important notes. Bagpipe is strange instrument.

 

[thebasedsloth]

I'm not trying to go against your artistic vision, and I'm not saying the way you wanted it is wrong, But I'll still explain MY views on this, If you don't mind!
How does an old, wrinkled man with rough skin juxtapose against an ancient wall? Thats old on old! Rough on Rough! Doesn't really make sense, to me.
As for the lines accentuating the power of the sound, I definitely don't see that! For that to have worked I think a much wider angle would have been necessary to add some distortion and add power to the lines.
As for the light separating him, that's only true for a couple of them. The OP and last post has (half) the wall lit the same way he is, and the color of his skin matches too closely to that.

 

[yioties]

The 3rd image is amazing! I love the guys expression!

 

[sashbar]

I'm not trying to go against your artistic vision, and I'm not saying the way you wanted it is wrong, But I'll still explain MY views on this, If you don't mind!
How does an old, wrinkled man with rough skin juxtapose against an ancient wall? Thats old on old! Rough on Rough! Doesn't really make sense, to me.
As for the lines accentuating the power of the sound, I definitely don't see that! For that to have worked I think a much wider angle would have been necessary to add some distortion and add power to the lines.
As for the light separating him, that's only true for a couple of them. The OP and last post has (half) the wall lit the same way he is, and the color of his skin matches too closely to that.

Sure, as I said I highly appreciate your vision and comments and I definitely do not mind any critique.
I still think that OP is ok in terms of separation, because most of his body is against the shadowed part of the wall. The last one - I agree with you here, that is why I did not post it in the first place. As for juxtaposition - I do not see rough against rough - I see soft against hard. Much wider angle - I did not want any distortion. I go completely against the flow here, but I instinctively do not like artificial gimmicks like selective color, selective sharpness, unnatural distorsion etc in any story telling shots. I prefer to keep it simple, do not want to distort the reality. It is like shouting to make people understand, if you know what I mean.