Portrait of an old Ngada man
Candid portrait of an old man in a Ngada village on Flores, Indonesia.
Candid portrait of an old man in a Ngada village on Flores, Indonesia.
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Aug, 2016Views
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Awards
Action Award
Chatter Award
Zenith Award
Top Shot Award 22
Legendary Award
Member Selection Award
Top Choice
Peer Award
Absolute Masterpiece
Superb Composition
Outstanding Creativity
Superior Skill
Magnificent Capture
All Star
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lesleyspics
October 26, 2016
Great light, the eyes tell it all don't they. wonderful shot, Welcome to Viewbug.
PRO+
droptinecollections
November 01, 2016
This photo is filled with great emotion; excellent composition!
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
The portrait of this man was shot in Tololela, one of the traditional villages around the small city of Bajawa on Flores Island, Indonesia. This little village, even though rather remote and difficult to reach, hosts an annual music festival with hundreds of musicians from the area gathering to play their ancient tunes. A wonderful opportunity for a portrait photographer to search for expressive faces. I do a lot of travel documentary in various ways but portraiting the people I meet is what gives me the greatest satisfaction. It's the people who animate this world, and their spirit is found in their faces.Time
Almost all of my portraits are candid shots. Thus I often can't chose the perfect time and ambience. This photo I took midday under a glistening tropical sun. Thus to avoid harsh contrasts I was looking out for people who sat in the shade. The dark background was quite helpful in this case. Using the lense hood is always mandatory.Lighting
All my images are taken with available light. I never use the flash.Equipment
The photo was taken with my Canon EOS 5D Mark III and the EF70-200mm f/4L lense at 176mm, f/5.6, 1/30 sec and ISO 125.Inspiration
As I said, I am always looking out for naturally expressive faces. Old people are always exciting as often their face equals a landscape of life carved by so many experiences, good and bad. So when I discovered a small group of village elders I cast off my shyness and approached them. They showed rather reluctant at first but the little monitor of modern digital cameras is very helpful in such situations. I managed to take one close-up shot that I showed to the men which sparked a lot of amusement and the permission to keep on. Every one looked into the camera with the grave dignity adequate to the rank of a village elder.Editing
I develop all my RAW files with Lightroom and then do final re-touches with Photoshop and the Nik Collection. Nik Color Efex is my preferred tool to balance out contrasts and the black&white conversion is done with Nik Silver Efex.In my camera bag
As I travel with a bagpack weight is a problem. I always carry my Canon 5D with me and the EF70-200 f/4L lense (not the f/2.8 due to weight). To cover the wide angle range I use the EF16-35mm f/4L lense (not the f//2.8 due to quality). At home I also use the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art lense but with 1kg this one is too heavy for me when I travel. Thus I decided to forgo the mid-range and treat this as an artistic challenge :) I do take a tripod with me but rarely use it for portraits.Feedback
I think candid portraits can be done in two ways: Either 'stealing' the shot from some distance with a zoom lense or approaching people striking up some sort of conversation. I prefer the second method as it makes for many enjoyable and often funny moments. The downside is, of course, that many people tend to show their 'beauty face' as soon as you raise the camera. In such cases I take a few shots while I keep on with the conversational interaction waiting for the moment they reliefe. The idea is to make them forget that this is about photography. Close-up shots often result in highly expressive images. But always remember to focus on the eyes. Of course, portraits should be done with wide apertures but be careful when standing close or using a large focal lenght - part of the face might fall out of focus. My photo was shot with f/5.6 at 176mm and as you see the mouth and nose are already slightly out of focus. I do like this artistic effect as the attention is thus drawn to the man's stare. But had I slightly moved the focus point from his eyes to the mouth e.g. that image would have been spoiled. My last advice: Be humble and bend your knees. Especially when portraying children. Most often a viewing angle from slightly below results in the most rewarding images.
