Essential changes

Here is an older example I was working on last year and which, for some reason, popped up on my desktop this morning.
I love the "cut the (visual) crap" principle in photography and PS is a blessing for the creative photographer. The "pure" picture is very hard to make in one go. There are often elements that bother the viewer.

Take this example: What I loved on the spot (and the spot is the island Sifnos - Greece) was the weird perspective of the church combined with the subtle game of shadows. But I especially loved the combination of the huge building and the more traditional blue-topped church in the far background... That to me was the essence of the picture when I took it; that attracted me... I had taken the picture some years before, but for some reason or other it hadn't satisfied me...
But even now, I was bothered by some aspects:

• The tree has no function
• The wire disturbs the picture
• On the bottom-left you can see part of a wall. No way to get the combination of the two buildings without the wall...
• The door is an unnecessary eye catcher
• Is colour necessary in this picture? Does it add value?
  

So I changed a number of things:

• I "cloned away" the door and the wire
• I selected the floor and wall, and warped the whole until the wall had gone. The warping stretches the floor and makes the entire picture a bit more dynamic.
• I greyed-out the sky, changed the whole picture into grey tones, except for the blue dome which underlines the "Greek" spirit of place in this picture...
  

Virtual Vietnam Exhibition

This weekend I have worked on the pictures I took in Vietnam during the last month. In all there are more than 110 photos on different subjects: nature, animals, portraits, abstract, macro, PS-manipulated...
I have sent a newsletter to my friends announcing this online exhibition...
Comments are always welcome here!
;-)

Safe to (kite)surf!

"If I say its safe to (kite-)surf this beach Captain, then its safe to (kite-)surf this beach. I mean I'm not afraid to surf this place, I'll surf this
whole fucking place!"

This memorable quote from "Apocalypse Now" popped up in my mind when I was
picture-hunting on Mui Ne beach.
The kite-surf school was doing a good job there, helped by a perfect wind at
30°C. Great for surfing, great for walking, great for shooting!
The picture here is an exercise on composition. The pulling force between the kite and the surfer is emphasised on the picture by cropping them in extreme opposite
corners. Thus the emptiness (+ fine strings) between the two objects is full of energy. Colour was not functional, so I preferred B&W. The background of the picture should be dark, so as to get most of the composition effect.

Compare the picture to the original... (note also the straightening of the horizon).

Picture of the month on www.theBIGpicturelibrary.com!

Have just received a mail from Matt Woodage from http://www.theBIGpicturelibrary.com :

We have chosen one of your photos as our JANUARY Picture of the Month!!
portret02.jpg - showing two women carrying baskets along a roadside
You can see it by clicking Picture of the Month on our new BROWSE page here:
www.theBIGpicturelibrary.com

Great isn't it? This is the picture he is talking about:

In a mail I added the following comment:

Hi Matt,

Thanks for choosing one of my pictures as picture of the month! Quite an honor, and I'm very pleased! I have chosen your server because I like the interactive way you present the pictures in flash. Additions as comments and optional technical info will indeed be welcome.
The picture was taken on the 27th of December 2006 on the island of Phuquoc, a tiny southern Vietnamese pearl off the Cambodian coast. Taking portraits is not always easy. I try to take them while the people aren't aware, so it makes the pictures more natural. You can see many women like these in Vietnam, carrying the goods in baskets, balancing on a stick on their shoulders. They can carry their weight for many miles!
The exiled Buddhist Tich Nhat Hanh sees in his book "Being Peace" a parallel between the way people in the east carry their burdens and the way the 14 rules of the Tiêp Hiên, a guideline for a Buddhist life, are structured: the most important rule is the middle one (7th) - don't be distracted and exercise on the development of concentration and wisdom. All other rules keep in balance thanks to this one.
This picture was taken with a Canon 350D and an EF 100-400mm lens.
Could you please add a link to my homepage? http://www.hoefkens.be

New Vietnam picture library

I have just installed a new picture library with the photos I took in Vietnam. The pictures are temporary. I have worked them out with PS CS2 on site on my portable, but I will finalise them at home with my digital pen and HQ screen.
Most of the pictures are from the red and white sand dunes at Mui Ne. You can also find a portrait of my 10-year old guide there, who really had an eye for shooting pictures on the sands!
You can find the link in the left menu bar.

Vietnam trip: portraits

When you arrive in a bee-hive like Saigon, it is very hard to know what to shoot first with your digital cam. At the same time it's embarrassing to take out a Canon with a 100-400mm lense in this world of poverty. It took me a while to get used to it. Here are some of the first results of the portrait category. Pictures taken in Saigon, Mui Ne and Phuquoc... Click on the pics to see them larger...