Delhi & Uttar Pradesh rejoiced (horizontal series)

[night86mare]

#191 when the train stops at baryaram, between allahabad to varanasi.

the light blue metallic wall of the cabin is highly reflective and overexposed to retain the exposure for the figure, so in the end i darkened the wall totally since they cannot be pushed back to any satisfactory midtone, and as a result, the following appearance.

i think this works better than being able to see the details of the wall

 

[zoossh]

i think this works better than being able to see the details of the wall

yah, i think i have join your dark world by "mistake" :bsmilie:

 

[zoossh]

#192

another platform along the river, near hotel alka at varanasi. taken at 200mm focal
length i think, from probably 5 floors high.

 

[zoossh]

#193

overhead bridge in allahabad train station.

between different platforms are such overhead bridges. i have a reflex action when
i see two guys closing in to balance off the empty spaces and snap off the distant
subject carrying things on their shoulders and heads. i supposed it is natural to
wonder if it is best to be able to focus on the people in front and have off focus
background, or to focus the background but with wide DOF to cover the foreground
ppl, but the solemn and CIA-look of these guys make it natural for me to avoid
direct eye contact although my lens is generally in their direction at close range.
i think with more guts the latter effect should work better. as you can see, even in
off focus, the eyes of the young person looks piercing, while the older guy looks
more experienced but nonetheless solemn - they give the kind of combination that
we often see in hollywood movies.

and well, what are these guys doing - salesman? officers checking tickets? actually i
have no idea. in fact, we have no idea which platform to go and which train to take,
for the scheduled train sometimes dun come on time and we have no idea if which
train is the truely correct train, and whether it has yet to come, or has arrived and
gone on another platform.... what a headache... and as you can see, there is no
easy way of running across these bridges with our big backpacks
​

 

[zoossh]

#194

a large number of police are required to maintain law and order for the crowd in
allahabad when it comes to kumbh mela receiving the pilgrims. i saw a large group
of them next to the train station, say maybe 40-50 of them, and pluck up my
courage to ask if i can take photos of them.

 

[zoossh]

#195

colorful night bazaar next to the old delhi train station. and even in this crowded
streets, the trishaw runs to and fro.

 

[zoossh]

#196

village life again snap from the moving train. the light is good, so i took a few
grabs hoping to get some of them reasonably in focus.

correction: location is somewhere near kapsethi, not allahabad, but won't be
reposting the pic to amend the tiny print.

 

[Shuttergraphy]

Oh My God! It's been quite a while since I last visited this forum, AND you're still going with this series. You're so productive!

From a post processing standpoint, I don't know if you already know this but with earthly colours that you have mostly I like to use post processing that boost the contrast in a subtle way. Add Layer, Desaturate, Soft Light Blend at 25-50% to have abit more classic look to it then complete with saturation if needed.

 

[zoossh]

Oh My God! It's been quite a while since I last visited this forum, AND you're still going with this series. You're so productive!

the way i handled photos at my leisure and moods is the reason for slow output before i dry out the library, but i probably have at least exhausted 70-80% of it. but looking retrospectively, i thought the way i handle pp has been slightly better than those done a year ago, so there is at least some slow improvement with the slow production.

From a post processing standpoint, I don't know if you already know this but with earthly colours that you have mostly I like to use post processing that boost the contrast in a subtle way. Add Layer, Desaturate, Soft Light Blend at 25-50% to have abit more classic look to it then complete with saturation if needed.

actually not familiar with photoshop layers. i tried to do what you say in cs2 and elements, but realise there are a lot of missing steps. just with adding layer, i dunno if it is new, new from layer, or duplicate layer, and also do not know which mode and opacity to use, then realise i have an empty layer which i cannot desaturate.... can you guide me on more specific steps on how to achieve the above? i will try to work it out based on those steps and show the output here.

 

[Shuttergraphy]

actually not familiar with photoshop layers. i tried to do what you say in cs2 and elements, but realise there are a lot of missing steps. just with adding layer, i dunno if it is new, new from layer, or duplicate layer, and also do not know which mode and opacity to use, then realise i have an empty layer which i cannot desaturate.... can you guide me on more specific steps on how to achieve the above? i will try to work it out based on those steps and show the output here.

The effect is further boost in (black white) saturation as applied on one of your pictures. The effect is never really consistent but it's very "Steve McCurry" kind of effect that would give images a classic look (wedding photographers use this alot), but he does alot more post-processing to his pictures (so I've been told).

I'm tempted to say typically but realised there isn't a typical process with so many ways to achieve this. So here is a quick general guideline around how this is done.

- Duplicate Layer Background (Original Picture) using CTRL J
- Desaturate Duplicate Layer using Image > Adjustments > Desaturate
- Blend Duplicate Layer At 25-50% using Layers > Overlay / Softlight > Opacity at 25-50%
- Do The Other Things Needed

Anyway, I also Sharpen (or Vignette) on a different layer then Blend.

 

[zoossh]

so basically, it is to blackened the shadows, lightened and desaturate the midtones and highlights. yup, i know that classic look from the way you processed it. see joho's work with a lot of that, nice blends of two tones usually. i've seen some of steve mccurry's gallery but not actually very desaturated apart from a selected few.

 

[zoossh]

#197

another flying birds shot, near ramamahal ghat, varanasi. have a couple of shots.
although this one is not the best for the birds, i still chose this over the others as
the boys arm is spread out and help to balance the composition.

 

[zoossh]

#198

a man just out of the holy bath and wrapping himself in cloth

 

[zoossh]

#199

having difficulty over the following white balance.... can't decide which one is the best....

everytime i reopen the thread and look at it. i will like #199A instantly, but as i
scroll down, i will find #199C more neutral, and yet i find #199D pleasing as well
as my pictures tend to be all warm and a cold tone will help to provide some variation.

#199A: Cloudy white balance.

#199B: Cloudy white balance with selective area correction.

#199C: Daylight white balance.

#199C: High color fluorescent white balance.

 

[zoossh]

#200

Subhas Chandra Bose, India's independent activist. he advocate necessary non
passive resistance, which is different from gandhi. while gandhi's passive
resistance works for india against the brits, tibet probably need someone like
bose.

 

[Zichar]

Great shots!
Pardon me for asking but what does your watermark signature say?

 

[zoossh]

Great shots!
Pardon me for asking but what does your watermark signature say?

it means my free divine tree and big island. to cut the long story short, it means to recognise different origins and respect different cultures as they are.

 

[zoossh]

#201

fruits sold on the street

 

[zoossh]

#202

Pilgrims of the 4 yearly Kumbh Mela in the tented sangam in Allahabad.

unfortunately this time, the flare lies onto the mouth area of the person in the
centre. a price paid for never using a hood.

 

[zoossh]

#203

a very dark chamber in jodh bai palace. i was lying supine on the floor to get
this dark exposure of 1/25s at 200mm. yah, while i was shooting, i'm wondering
why are there all these lobangs on the roof.