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A few of the pics I took on Tuesday night of the celebrations
http://www.pbase.com/matt_k/image/39605182
http://www.pbase.com/matt_k/image/39605183
http://www.pbase.com/matt_k/image/39605184
http://www.pbase.com/matt_k/image/39605185
http://www.pbase.com/matt_k/image/39605186
http://www.pbase.com/matt_k/image/39605188
http://www.pbase.com/matt_k/image/39605189
http://www.pbase.com/matt_k/image/39605191

The young boy in red is a winner. The actors look tremendous too, and funnily enough I like your shot of the tables

Some great shots there Matt... I've left some comments on your pages... As always - I enjoy...

Nice collection of images

Boy in red for me too....

Nice, now that that would be fun...

wonderful series matt! nice...

which lens were you using?

cheers

Hey Matt, Mate i looked all the pics you have done on the temple and they are fantastic, colours are great and looks like a good nite, well done mate i think you have done well to capture the spirit of the evening.
Cheers
John

Sorry, I may have missed the essential ...
What temple and where is it ?

CD

Hey Matt,
what lenses were you using for the first pic bell2.jpeg?
there alot of CA on the top right hand corner.

redline
10.5 mm fisheye. Perspective corrected in Nikon editor.

This one is not from the list but I really like it:
http://www.pbase.com/matt_k/image/39605193

christiand
Bhudist Temple at Weatherall Park. Worth a visit.

Thank you Matt

The children are lovely - it is so nice to see a look of wonderment on the faces of the young.

A great collection of pics from an evening so obviously enjoyed

Matt.

I find the 10.5 fisheye images quite disconcerting. The only one that really appeals is the one of the dragon (dragon3) since it makes it look like the people are cowering away from the dragon.

Of the others I like the ones of the performers (although I'd have liked to see them a little wider so I could see their full headgear). I also like the red boy, but my real favourite is the last image in your gallery (http://www.pbase.com/matt_k/image/39605200)

One other thing - I find your choice of pictures to link interesting in that for me, as I've said, I liked a few of the non linked ones better. I'm a relative newbie with lots to learn so if you chose these because they had a certain appeal to you rather than just randomly I'd be interested to know what it is that made you choose them over others (eg they had technical merit or interesting composition or lighting etc).

Cheers

Stubbsy
Worthwhile comments. Thanks for the feedback. One thing that I've learnt is that folk have differing tastes and that's the way it should be. I guess I post those that appeal to me, for whatever reason, and hope others enjoy them also. I am fascinated by what it is that draws some folk to enjoy an image that has less appeal to me and I wonder what it is that they see...that perhaps I can't see. It may be something as simple as that I have many similar images and so the power of those particular kinds of images lose their bite. I believe that all good images have a "hook" and it may just be that the hook in some pics is less effective on me. This is certainly an area of interest for me and needs further investigation/thought/discussion and research. I think we percieve an image partly with our eyes and partly with our souls....so there is some compexity in understanding what appeals and to whom.

Matt. K wrote:Stubbsy
Worthwhile comments. Thanks for the feedback. One thing that I've learnt is that folk have differing tastes and that's the way it should be. I guess I post those that appeal to me, for whatever reason, and hope others enjoy them also. I am fascinated by what it is that draws some folk to enjoy an image that has less appeal to me and I wonder what it is that they see...that perhaps I can't see. It may be something as simple as that I have many similar images and so the power of those particular kinds of images lose their bite. I believe that all good images have a "hook" and it may just be that the hook in some pics is less effective on me. This is certainly an area of interest for me and needs further investigation/thought/discussion and research. I think we percieve an image partly with our eyes and partly with our souls....so there is some compexity in understanding what appeals and to whom.

Great Post Matt. I too wonder at why some people like certain pics over others. In Comp #2 I would have people go through the comp not knowing whose was whose and I was thrilled mine was picked consistantly in the top 5, when voting ended however it wasn't even close.
I love asking people which pics they like better, I never know what they're going to say and more often than not their opinion is different from mine (the photog). A truly fascinating subject.

Lovely imgaes Matt. I really enjoyed them, made me feel like I was there.

dooda wrote:

Matt. K wrote:Stubbsy
Worthwhile comments. Thanks for the feedback. One thing that I've learnt is that folk have differing tastes and that's the way it should be. I guess I post those that appeal to me, for whatever reason, and hope others enjoy them also. I am fascinated by what it is that draws some folk to enjoy an image that has less appeal to me and I wonder what it is that they see...that perhaps I can't see. It may be something as simple as that I have many similar images and so the power of those particular kinds of images lose their bite. I believe that all good images have a "hook" and it may just be that the hook in some pics is less effective on me. This is certainly an area of interest for me and needs further investigation/thought/discussion and research. I think we percieve an image partly with our eyes and partly with our souls....so there is some compexity in understanding what appeals and to whom.

Great Post Matt. I too wonder at why some people like certain pics over others. In Comp #2 I would have people go through the comp not knowing whose was whose and I was thrilled mine was picked consistantly in the top 5, when voting ended however it wasn't even close.
I love asking people which pics they like better, I never know what they're going to say and more often than not their opinion is different from mine (the photog). A truly fascinating subject.

Matt. K

Thanks for taking the time to posting such a detailed reply.

Matt & Dooda

The reason I asked the question is the same as you both observe. One thing I always look for is why someone likes a particular photo, as I think that this provides me opportunities to learn and grow. Photography is an odd thing - it's part science & part art. The science is easy, the art is not. To improve my art I think there's a lot to be learnt from how others perceive images and what appeals to them (and why). I read every image review/crtique here for that reason and, interestingly, my response to the image can actually change after reading some comments. The human brain is an amazing thing

Sorry for the long post, but it had to be said

I should've been there that night... look at all those pretty girls in that crowd.

Matt, the fisheye shots you took I thought were interesting. In some ways they're workable alternative view to that of the standard lens, despite the lens' signature distortion - even perspective corrected.

temple9 - which lens was used? It was apparently shot at 20mm anf f/2.8. I couldn't quite tell where the focal point was, as the visible bunch of people near the camera weren't in focus. I would have liked to see them infocus and let the smaller heads further back fall out of focus as we aren't likely to distinguish their features at viewing size.

The stage performers are great.

Onyx wrote:I should've been there that night... look at all those pretty girls in that crowd.

Matt, the fisheye shots you took I thought were interesting. In some ways they're workable alternative view to that of the standard lens, despite the lens' signature distortion - even perspective corrected.

temple9 - which lens was used? It was apparently shot at 20mm anf f/2.8. I couldn't quite tell where the focal point was, as the visible bunch of people near the camera weren't in focus. I would have liked to see them infocus and let the smaller heads further back fall out of focus as we aren't likely to distinguish their features at viewing size.

The stage performers are great.

That lens is Nikkor 20-35/2.8 another veteran from Nikon.

One of the few things that I have remembered from my school days, my art teacher saying that there were no wrong reasons for liking a painting, but there were many wrong reasons for disliking one.

It is odd that it has stuck with me.

Here is a discussion on beauty art and pleasure. I thought it was relevant to this little discussion we seem to be having today-relevant to me as I post a link to what I think are fabulous, but most here have thought of as so-so. I think that there are some people here who would really appreciate this site.

http://www.closertotruth.com/topics/cre ... cript.html

This is really heavy stuff, so don't go here if you don't have some time and brain power to invest. And if you aren't into academia, then I don't recomend this. I personally love this stuff (though I failed out of it in High School).

Dooda
I visited the link you provided and this is the definitive quote for me..
"I like listening to music, looking at art, and reading poetry so much because it gives me something that I don't get in the course of my regular life. My regular life is all about responding to analytical forms, using my mind, consciously engaging on an intellectual level. But when I'm listening to music or reading poetry, I'm being invited to respond at a visceral level, with my whole body. And it creates a space for me that's completely unlike anything I experience elsewhere. It gives me an opportunity to step away from the didactic messages that we're surrounded with. I mean, we're bombarded with messages about morality, civility, culture, race, and so forth, and we're asked to think about those things. And they're important. But poetry and music and art give us more; they invite us to respond sensually and viscerally.
"

I think it hits the target.

Yeah,

The space where we go all too seldomly. beautiful quote. I sort of like the summary at the very end as well.