Hands, a photo from Shanghai, East

Photographer's Note

In the 1980s, I spent some time working in Shanghai. I found it fascinating to watch the old men playing cards or Chinese chess in a park near my hotel on the Bund. They played with the vitality and intensity characteristic of the Shanghainese.

I cropped, converted to sepia, sharpened, and added quite a bit of noise.

Nobody ha puntuado esta nota como útil.

Critiques | Translate

RandomCameraGuy (3071) 2003-12-05 20:15

Very nice. I love the tight crop and the high contrast. The softness works too, as it lends itself to an old-time type feel.

Nice work!

dawekato (2269) 2003-12-05 22:06

Very expressive. You have captured a whole world with a few details. I don't see the reason for adding the noise. In fact, I'd like to see this sharp as a tack in order to let the natural textures of the hands tell the story about their owners. I do like the sepia, though. Colours may detract from the wonderful composition. I agree that the sepia gives it an old world look. You can almost smell the cigarette smoke and hear the clatter of glasses in a cafe.

[3]

Darren (6823) 2003-12-05 22:09

Your composition here is just fantastic, I like it so much. Very good how you have chosen to keep the players anonymous, showing only their hands, cigarettes and the cards. I really like the toning as well, but agree with Eva (dawekato) about the noise, I feel it interferes slightly. Great shot.

tdanny (663) 2003-12-06 2:13

Very nicely done, the cropping, chgs to sepia and the noise. You hv successfully achieved the the feel of a 'old' picture.

dsidwell (9783) 2003-12-06 2:45

I love the grain in this shot, and the artistic/journalistic feel to it. So lovely and so interesting. Those old hands tell a fascinating story!

clodreno (0) 2003-12-06 4:52

Very expressive. At first I didn't see why you added the noise, then looking more at the picture, it seemed natural to me. Nice.

Edwin (188) 2003-12-06 6:17

A very artistic capture Martin. The impact of these hands in your composition is just amazing. All works very well here. Congrats, this one deserves a 6 out 5 rating!

mitternacht (1839) 2003-12-06 9:00

Really nice! Great move to make this look really old. Good framing and a perfect moment, all the three men holding their hands in different ways and the cigarette really work well. The cards and the chess board, in combination with this, is what makes the picture interesting, IMO.

manny (22032) 2003-12-06 9:51

Wonderful shot! I like the colours, the noise and most of all, the composition. The motion blur of the hands looks very dynamic I can almost jump in and join in the fray.