Beijing

[Rawfa]

Thank you, Adam. The trip was amazing and I was able to see some of the most incredible places I've ever seen on all my trips, but at the same time I felt an incredibly overwhelming sensation of isolation. You go to any occidental country and even though you will see some amazing stuff you know more or less what to expect in many different levels. With oriental countries it's a whole different ball game.

 

[A.Sattler]

Hi Rawfa,

Your Welcome! And yes, cultural differences can be rather dramatic! I've met a few people who have come to the US from other countries, both European and Asian. The two things that seem to be most striking to them are how different our cultures can be, and how different it can be from what they expected. Although, you can have a similar experience and not even leave your own country. My wife and I have visited places in the US and could swear that we were on a completely different plane of existence!



-Adam

 

[VladimirV]

I like your landscape pictures, the last set you posted is very good. Not sure about your people pictures, the verticals don't work for me and the faces are too red so this throws me a bit off. There needs to be more interaction I think with the surroundings or other people. Maybe converting some of them to b&w will work better, the first picture could work just fine in b&w.

Your later sets work better but I find the saturation is too high in most of your pictures and while it works for landscapes it does not work for people.

The pictures against the sun don't work for me at all since the flare and red pattern are way too distracting and take away from the picture, especially the pagoda picture suffers from this.

 

[Rawfa]

Thanks for your honesty, Vladimir. I've wondered about the saturation my self regarding the faces. I might just try experimenting with some BW.

 

[VladimirV]

Maybe try to use a lower saturation level.
Aside from that I really enjoyed looking at your pictures. Reminded me of my trip to Beijing and like you I only had one camera, the GRD I, with me and got some fantastic shots with it. Being limited to one camera and lens is not at all a bad thing.

 

[Rawfa]

 

[Rawfa]

 

[VladimirV]

I really like this picture, it works great.


That wall is pretty cool, this is one in the same spot I took during my visit there.

 

[Rawfa]

Great minds think alike

 

[Rawfa]

 

[Martin S]

So thats what the summer palace in Beijing looks like in winter.

I was there several summers ago, and the place was full of tourists. Quite a bit less crowded in winter. Nice shot of the famous "marble boat" (which is not really a boat).

Martin

 

[Rawfa]

The Summer Palace was probably my favorite place to visit. That place is simply breath taking (specially by sun set). I have about 10 more pictures to finish this series and they are all Summer Palace

P.S - The day we visited was the coldest day we've spend in Beijing...-9º

 

[charlesphoto]

Honestly, I always recommend people put their pics in dry storage for at least a month or two when back from a trip (longer is even better) and then come back to do an edit. You will be fresh and not so hung up on this or that memory that skews which pics are actually the best. Has always worked for me.

Anyway, looks like a fun trip, and no matter what you got out of it photographically that is most important part (unless delivering to a client of course).

 

[mazor]

Brrr Summer was cold was I went there rawfa, guess they call it teh summer palace for a reason. to be used in Summer only, hehe, Obviously I went there at a similar period to you, Winter.

Mazor

 

[glenerrolrd]

Regarding 2000 images in a week. I think that is very reasonable and a big advantage to digital. You have to make some assumptions though on how the images will be used. Lets assume (and this is important to the argument)....that you would like three potential uses:

(1) a book say 10 x 10 like those made by apple ...so you would need maybe 50-80 images to create a 40 page book.

(2) 15-24 photographs that you are proud of and might consider printing or creating a web based collection. the best of these overtime becomes your portfolio.

(3) maybe another 50 record shots maybe providing better context on specific subjects (like family pictures).

So if we were editing these down ...we might end up with 300 selects (15%) worthy of some processing and evaluation. Then down to 100 by eliminating hopelessly flawed images or picking the best of a set. Finally down to the best 15-24 for a collection. You use the 100 to select for the book.

I use this method to find out what works and what doesn t .

One important distinction might be how well you stay with a "winning situation". When you see a "wow" opportunity...how many do you take. I almost always take 2-3 immediately checking the focus,watching the corners. If the lighting is tricky..I check the histogram . If the subject permits ...I then move and try different angles (low,high) and positions (side,back etc). Since you are using a single fixed focal length....keep moving closer and try to get the camera lower.

The pros I know use this method of editing and waste no time in deleting or processing anything but the selects. If you can edit daily you will have the selects before you arrive back from the trip.

Roger

 

[Rawfa]

And the last ones:

 

[mazor]

rawfa, the last pic you posted looks really good! nice shadow tones, and yet while keeping the sky exposed beautifully. You should print that one and hang it on your wall!

Mazor

 

[Rawfa]

Thanks, Mazo. I am particularly found of that one