Monk

[Lava Lamp]

I saw some Tibetan monks slowly finishing a sand painitng today. This shot was taken with a D200 and 28-70 f/2.8 lens at f/5.6 and 1/160. Your thoughts and comments appreciated.

[drg]

Hey!

I'll try not to hijack this thread, but I've been meaning to get several posted (a few from about 500) of these monks and one of their works. I've posted several images from around the periphery of the event, but had some commitments for the rest of photos I needed to attempt to fulfill first.

I shot them this past fall at Illinois Wesleyan University while they were there. This is part of the group that Richard Gere has been helping to promote and sponsor.

Are you going to go to the closing ceremony? It is definitely worth the time.

Pretty good shot by the way. Where are they currently?

[gahspidy]

Lava, this is an interesting view of this Monk working on the sand painting. the weakest part of the image for me is the background, but it does not hurt it much. Hope to see more of these, if you have

[Ronnoco]

Lava, this is an interesting view of this Monk working on the sand painting. the weakest part of the image for me is the background, but it does not hurt it much. Hope to see more of these, if you have

I agree with Garry about the background and suggest it be taken out in Photoshop. It is easily done. Make it all that beige wall colour.

Ronnoco

[yogestee]

Lava Lamp,,,,with environmental portraits as with this one background (or foreground) will or will not be a problem depending on how you view things...You just don't have the control you have in say a studio and most images are grab shots...It is a fact you will get some sort of clutter or distracting elements in the image...I tend to leave them there as part of the environment or a reference point..
The background in this image isn't too distracting IMHO and I would leave it there...If you clone it out you will have an off white space which will look totally out of place..Maybe a softening of the background in PS would suit here..
Other than that,,,one fine environmental portrait...I love the look of concerntration on the monk...Sharp as a pin with nice skin tones,,,well composed...

Jurgen
Australia

[Lava Lamp]

Hey!

I'll try not to hijack this thread, but I've been meaning to get several posted (a few from about 500) of these monks and one of their works. I've posted several images from around the periphery of the event, but had some commitments for the rest of photos I needed to attempt to fulfill first.

I shot them this past fall at Illinois Wesleyan University while they were there. This is part of the group that Richard Gere has been helping to promote and sponsor.

Are you going to go to the closing ceremony? It is definitely worth the time.

Pretty good shot by the way. Where are they currently?

"My" monks were in FL. I just had a few minutes and couldn't see the ceremony -- I know they were doing a chant the next day.

[Lava Lamp]

Lava Lamp,,,,with environmental portraits as with this one background (or foreground) will or will not be a problem depending on how you view things...You just don't have the control you have in say a studio and most images are grab shots...It is a fact you will get some sort of clutter or distracting elements in the image...I tend to leave them there as part of the environment or a reference point..
The background in this image isn't too distracting IMHO and I would leave it there...If you clone it out you will have an off white space which will look totally out of place..Maybe a softening of the background in PS would suit here..
Other than that,,,one fine environmental portrait...I love the look of concerntration on the monk...Sharp as a pin with nice skin tones,,,well composed...

Jurgen
Australia

You've posted some great on-location photos of monks, as I recall, and my indoor western background creates a different sense of place than something more rustic like you've provided. I found this one challenging. The sand painting is rich in detail in a way that you can't see in my photo at f/5.6, but I couldn't get much higher in the light that I had and I also wanted some background blur. Ideally, I would have been two feet away with a wide-angle, but that wasn't possible, or appropriate!