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Monk at Prayers

M

Marcus Peddle

New member
I liked this scene of a monk at prayers in Tongdo Temple. It is an old temple and attracts both the devout and the tourist. The devout are there to pray and the tourist is there to observe. This monk is partly hidden by the door. He is doing his prayer in semi-privacy. He is focused on his meditation but, at the same time, he is on display.

p526225734-4.jpg
 
Asher Kelman

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Hi Marcus,

This is an excellent subject and a start. However, the image appears flat. It is in fact a challenge to optimize at least from the jpg, which BTW has a slight fault in the file which I repaired by saving through OS X Preview.

The door is the anchor to the picture and needs to be perfectly dimensional as does the stone floor. Then we have the darkened cave sanctuary feeling. Next the priest can take an S curve and the Buddha needs lightening. Each has to be selected separately.

I don't know how you made the B&W? Was it with film or from a digital file. If film, such a subject, where color is so important to give clues, I'd consider, in the future, test with color film and then work assigning colors to tonalities to get more subtle greys. It could be that the scan is limited.

Next, there's something you cannot do much about; the feet are obscured.

I don't think one can expect, except by serendipity, to get this whole thing right the first time. The concept is worth working on is the shrine is nearby.

Lastly maybe the other door and a section of blank wall would help too.

Asher
 
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M

Marcus Peddle

New member
Hi Asher,

Thank you for taking the time to make some constructive comments. Unfortunately, I cannot get back to that temple since it is quite far away. The good news is that there are temples everywhere here and I don't have to go far to find one.
I think getting a little bit of a door into the right of the frame would help a lot, as you say. It was something of a hurried shot since I felt a little bad about taking a photo of a monk at prayer. This is something I need to get over. It's not like I was crawling up on top of the statue to get a shot.
The bottom of the door frame is straight, as is the monk. The doors of these old buildings can sometimes be crooked. Judging by the angles of the cushion, I would say we are looking at the monk's heels below his robes. It's hard to be certain.
As for exposure, the RAW file (I shot using the Nikon D300) was a bit dark. The door was okay but the monk and the statue were quite dark. However, since the original is a RAW file, I can open it up and try out your suggestions. If I think I've made some improvements, I will post here.
Thanks again.
 
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