African Tribal Portraits

I use a mac and they look great to me James. I would campare it to my work PC but the images don't show at all here in IE7. :(
 
jamesoliverstone said:
Just out of interest, those of you that have spotted them as being a little too cold, are you on Mac or PC... and are your screens calibrated?
Click to expand...

Mac with calibrated screen here. I have to agree with FITOP and others that 2,3 & 12 are too cold. Thats not saying I think the WB is wrong, but to my mind the desat processing loses alot of the colour I think these images should have.

I would of liked to of seen more of a story running through these, but having said that,very nice set
 
Mac, and colours look great to me too; and thank you for the explanation on the trip (y). I wondered as I know tribal people can be very reclusive and camera-shy.
 
I wouldn't even try and crit these.............they are stunning and I love the PP and think it really suits the subject matter.

If I had to pick a favourite..........it would have to be No11......brilliant, just brilliant :clap::clap::clap:
 
Fantastic set of pictures, and I absolutely love the processing. It accentuates the people themselves, rather than their surroundings, and seems to work very well for a lot of shots taken in the Sub Continent.

Favourites: 5, 9, 11 with 8 being an absolute belter!
 
Calibrated IPS panel on PC.
 
Thanks for confirming :)

I am going to make some ammendments to a couple of the images and re-post them to see if it makes a major difference or not. Although, I am still not convinced on my asus screen if its giving me true results, I will check it on the imac when it arrives ;)
 
Beautiful photos James, really appreciate the work you're putting out and have done for quite some time. Would love to do something in a similar vein myself in the future.

Just out of interest have you seen the work that Joey Lawrence has exhibited? Seems like he had a slightly different take on it with all the studio gear etc, but obviously there are some parallels.

Get the rest of 'em up, please. :)
 
IanFlaherty said:
Beautiful photos James, really appreciate the work you're putting out and have done for quite some time. Would love to do something in a similar vein myself in the future.

Just out of interest have you seen the work that Joey Lawrence has exhibited? Seems like he had a slightly different take on it with all the studio gear etc, but obviously there are some parallels.

Get the rest of 'em up, please. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks mate, really appreciate it (y)

Funnily enough, Joey L has been one of my favourite photographers for quite some time, he is seriously talented and I one day hope to produce work even half as good as his... Mind you, the phase one, profoto lights and modifiers he has access to help somewhat ;)
 
Some great shot there - standouts for me (because of either involvement with the subject or just plain niceness of tones) are 2 and 8 respectively. Light looks like it was great and black skin really does have such a luscious tonal range
 
jamesoliverstone said:
Just out of interest, those of you that have spotted them as being a little too cold, are you on Mac or PC... and are your screens calibrated?
Click to expand...

can you really judge these things on a web browser? I thought they don't see the monitor profile? I am curious more than anything.
 
Absolutely amazing images James.
What an experience for you.

I love your PP - its says James Oliver Stone ABIPP ARPS to me.
(Viewed on a 27" imac...oh yeah baby!!!)

Can't wait to see the rest.
Love the new website.

Lou
 
Ignore the moaners James, these are probably the best photos that have been posted on here, make wading through a million bored looking models and copy and paste motorsports shots completely worth it.

You've seen the light very well - the separation light around the child in 11 is stunning.

1 has a couple of spots in the brown on the left that just want cloning out
I think I'd have cropped slightly in on 4, not a fan of the dark thing on the far right - maybe recompose it so the kids are on a third, and save central composition for the even more striking images?

5 is nat geo quality but you already know that, and the competition is echoing that. Maybe just a tiiiiiiny bit of fill on his left on his face, take the difference down a tiny bit?

5,11,12,13 are all very, very good work.

I love the silvery post processing, works well imo, and it's YOUR style - something that many of us are working hard to find in ourselves. Bet it prints beautifully too.

I'd love to hear more about how you connected with the people, to what extent these photos are pure reportage (did you communicate or 'pose' situations at all etc, and if so, how?), and how did you explain what you were doing to them etc... would love to hear some stories.
 
Last edited:
itsdavedotnet said:
5 is nat geo quality but you already know that, and the competition is echoing that. Maybe just a tiiiiiiny bit of fill on his left on his face, take the difference down a tiny bit?
Click to expand...

Interesting that people are saying that, none of these images would be accepted by National Geographic due to the PP work....
 
Last edited:
#5 for me also - though I'm not 100% convinced by the P&P here (my personal preferance is to process 'warmer' - esp. images taken in hot climates: these look a wee bit cold to me) - but all in all a very creditable set...
 
jamesoliverstone said:
Mine has been, and that photo in particular. I entered 3 into the competition, 2 were rejected but number 5 has been accepted.

You can vote if you want ;)

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/photo-contest/2010/entries/rate/people-week-9/#/15605
Click to expand...


Ahh,we're at crossed purposes here, I'm talking about for the magazine itself, not as a competition entry. As far as I am aware for publication in their magazine images submitted by their staff photographers have to be as they came from the camera, they're forbidden from manipulating them or applying any fancy processing to them.
 
Nope they are allowed to do basic tweaking such as exposure and colour, even dodge and burn is acceptable. Image manipulation is not allowed however.

Quite a few images have only had minor tweaking with regards to this, so they would be fine.

Anyways, I didn't shoot these as a national geographic photographer, I shot them as a personal project in the style that I wanted. If I had been contracted to nat geo, I would have shot them with those restrictions in mind anyway ;)
 
One of the best sets of images I've seen posted on TP. I think the processing works well given the subject matter. You've got a colourful group of people in what is undoubtedly a hot and colourful place. I like the saturated look to some of the images, number 5 is especially beautiful.

I'm envious.
 
KayJay said:
number 5 is especially beautiful.
Click to expand...

I'll be honest, I think #5's a mess. The main subject is fine and the background is suitably out of focus. The clouds in the far background however, which should also be out of focus are sharp, like Rob says, I'm not at all convinced about the processing there.
 
Rubbish...




Where's the rest :D
Look great James - and hits the nail on the head to your aim's by the looks of it. More please ;)
 
I'm kind of starting to agree with Rob in that perhaps a warmer treatment would be more effective.
 
cool images and good use of light
some of the PP in not 2 my taste but yet some is on the money.

well done.

lookin forward 2 seeing more.
 
Thanks all for taking the time to view and reply and thanks for the kind comments :)

dod said:
I'll be honest, I think #5's a mess. The main subject is fine and the background is suitably out of focus. The clouds in the far background however, which should also be out of focus are sharp, like Rob says, I'm not at all convinced about the processing there.
Click to expand...

Of course art is purely subjective. Some people will like the composition, the subject and the post processing, others won't and some will be in the middle.

If we all liked the same thing the world would be a boring place. ;)
 
jamesoliverstone said:
Thanks all for taking the time to view and reply and thanks for the kind comments :)



Of course art is purely subjective. Some people will like the composition, the subject and the post processing, others won't and some will be in the middle.

If we all liked the same thing the world would be a boring place. ;)
Click to expand...

I like the image. It's the fact that it's in focus, then out of focus, then back in focus I don't like. It's plain wrong :)
 
For those who may be interested, my website has been updated with a shed load more images and I am now sat writing the documentary to go along with it. There will also be videos coming soon so you can see it in motion. I have also updated all the images with new PP now that I have the new imac and a newly calibrated screen, and yes a few of the images were out...

Anywho, here is a link to the rest of the images:
http://www.jamesoliverstone.co.uk/category/gallery/tanzania-2010/

Alternatively, you can see them on Flickr, but they have copyright info on there.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesstonephotography/sets/72157625633452658/

Many thanks for viewing and the positive feedback I have received.

Oh, and I had a call a little while back from the Photographer magazine (industry mag run by the BIPP) and I am being featured in the february issue :D They are doing a write up on my work and specifically my body of work from Tanzania... chuffed? me? ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top