Porcelain Buddha - 2000th post!

[Didache]

Hi all

Last week I went to the British Museum and, among other things, I took photos of a series of large (bigger than life-size) porcelain Chinese figures. They were rather nice, and over 500 years old, so I thought I would try to do something a little different with them.

This is a Buddha figure. I was after a painterly effect. The tree is meant to be reminiscent of the Bo tree under which the Buddha received enlightenment.

Cheers
Mike

[MB1]

I think the Buddha is too sharp and glossy for the matt background. There is something about those strong shadows around the face and hands too. It leaves me with a feeling that the foreground and background don't work as well together as they might.

OTOH it is a good idea and the composition works for me. So I'd say it is good but not a winner.

Yet.

[Photo-John]

Congratulations on your 2000th post, Didache! Thanks for sharing so much with us

I really like this image. It's not the kind of image I'd normally expect to see here but I like what you've done. This is more montage than photo but I think you've done a pretty good job of it and the meaning come through very well. Sometimes it's just not possible to "capture" a concept in one image and I believe creating this way is perfectly legitimate. There was a time when I did a lot of collage work and even drew and painted on my photos.

I have two criticisms for this image. The first is that it feels a bit too tight and square to me. I admit that could just be personal preference and feel free to dismiss that if you want. The other, MB1 already mentioned. The lighting quality of the Buddha and the background are a bit too different. This doesn't ruin the image for me - not at all. But it does catch my attention and distract me a bit. I can tell you did some work on making the whole image uniform. But it might be worth the effort to try and minimize the bright highlights on the Buddha.

Great conceptual image - especially for your 2000th post. I like that this is more than just a straight photograph, too. It's good for all of us to work a little bit harder at putting real meaning into our photos - whether we do it via montage or by straight photography. I think most of the photos on the Critique forum are more composition and not so much meaning. So I'm always pleased when I see someone leading the way with imagery that works at a deeper level.

[Anbesol]

love it, excellent composition.

The presence of museum lighting on the Buddhas porcelain texture particularly on his face and the shadows on his neck give away its museum location. I think thats what MB and John are probably referring to. However, can't really critique this since there is absolutely nothing you could have done to get another kind of light (at least, not without upsetting the curators). Not sure how you could process this to remove said lighting disparity.

Sorry I've got no ideas on how to improve it.

[hminx]

As to the lighting thing, you could isolate the buddha then using selective color tool reduce the whites and cyans only, I tried it and it seemed to help. Also by moving the marching ants sightly beyond the buddha it cut down on some of the haloing. Although with the buddha a halo doesn't look quite so out of place....

[GB1]

Mike -- Congrats on the big milestone. I like the image too, nicely done. I wish the statue was a little wider, as it seems like his head and body is squished together? Buddha looks upset, not so much meditating as stewing. Hmm. Still interesting!

G

[Didache]

Thanks all for having a look. The points about the reflections on the porcelain are well taken .. so I very carefully cloned them all out and balanced the colour just a smidgen against the background.

Although I did it for fun, I am coming to rather like it now.

Cheers
Mike

[Coastal Flyer]

Mike,

A hearty congratulations on your 2,000th post. A worthy milestone! I think your work to include suggestions from comments much improves this shot. Well done. Congrats again.

CF

[Richard Hla]

This new version looks alright to me.This Buddha image is not the image I saw in Asian countries.To me this image looks very similar to Chinese priest who went to visit the Buddha birthplace and make a diary.During the Colonial period the British trace the Buddha's birthplace and his monastry from this diary.

[Utkarsh]

Like the Idea but its a bit overdone...I think you were having too much fun with it :P