Running Monks

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Running Monks

abjam77
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p.1 #1 · Running Monks

I recently stayed in a village near Shaolin temple in Henan, China. At night students at one of the wushu schools were running laps around the village and I got some good shots of them in motion, but I have two that I'm having trouble picking between. In the first image I like that the action is closer to me, but I feel like it crowds the stationary monk in the background. Anyone have a strong preference between the two?

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Jul 29, 2012 at 07:31 AM

Bob Jarman
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p.1 #2 · Running Monks

I prefer the second - you can always crop to pull the runners forward in the frame.

Lots of processing potential here: highlight recovery, distortion, probably noise.

Appears to be a fascinating locale to visit.

Regards,

Bob

Jul 29, 2012 at 01:58 PM

cgardner
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p.1 #3 · Running Monks

This is one of those "you had to have been there" shots. Without the backstory it's just a bunch of burrled kids. No clues they are martial arts students or in China except for the writing on the wall at the right. That being the case my suggestion is to pick the one that resonates the most with your memories of the experience.

That said the scene on the right side evokes memories of Edward Hopper's painting "Nighthawks" for me: http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/111628

So while the shot of the kids works for you, cropping the kids out of it would work better for me due to the different memories it triggers.

Brings to mind an idea. The diner on the right is a distraction from the kids, the kids a distraction from the diner. To solve that problem cut the baby in half into two separate photos: A close cropped abstract blur of kids, and a diner at night resembling an iconic American painting.

Jul 29, 2012 at 10:06 PM

abjam77
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p.1 #4 · Running Monks

Thanks for the input! I think I'm going to stick with a single image but you've convinced me to go with the second one.

Here it is after some highlight recover, dodge + burn, and noise reduction

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Jul 30, 2012 at 09:04 AM

Bob Jarman
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p.1 #5 · Running Monks

Much better - might consider removing the draping line at left and bright spots in background. Also bring power poles and porch columns to vertical to remove distortion.

Regards,

Bob

Jul 30, 2012 at 12:04 PM

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