#69 - Three Unique Options

billseye

Here are three shots of the Jade Buddha for International Peace. It's carved out of a single 4 ton hunk of Jade.
For some reason this is the second year in a row that this remarkable idol has landed in my city (Escondido, CA)
on the Lunar New Year (Tet). Last year it was at a small Vietnamese monastery. This year it's in the park adjacent
to the City Hall.

There's no doubt that this is a unique piece of religious art. I'm just not sure my (night) photos do it justice.
I'd love your perspective.

The tour has it here for the week. After that it's on to Ventura, CA then Mesa, AZ, and into the deep south.
Tour dates are here. More general info is here.

So here are my first tries to capture the uniqueness. C&C welcomed!

1. This one gives a pretty good sense of the whole scene. There's woman in the center of the frame who might need
some PP attention to bring her oout from the background.


2. A different perspective. Not sure I like cutting off the
circle of candles, but even though the statue is smaller
in the image, it feels more central to the image in this one.


3. This one's my favorite, but I'm not sure it reads as clearly
as I'd like. The woman from the first shot is now kneeling in
front of the candle circle and alternating position from bowing
to raised hands in prayer.

lkbart

How interesting - and beautiful! I like the comp in #1 but it's a touch dark. Really like the greens in #3 but not thrilled with the shadow - I think her hands are a little too close to the statue so they don't show up well. I'll bet you could lighten up #1 in pp & the greens would pop more. Or if you could get a nice closeup during the day - looks like it would be pretty spectacular up close.

WhatSheSaw

I think the Jade Buddha needs to be more prominent. It is unique. The candles are pretty, but not unique.

kdotaylor

I like the idea of the jade Buddha...that's certainly a unique subject. I agree that these night pictures are too dark. I would like to see a photo taken in daylight, just focusing on the Buddha or part of the Buddha, capturing the green of the jade.

Froch

I really like the comp in #3, but I wonder what it would look like if you opened up the silouette a bit to show some detail. Unfortunately I didn't know that was a person until I read the description.

billseye

Thanks, everyone, for the feedback. I'm going to try some daylight shots later in the week.

As I look at these shots again, it's really apparent that they don't capture what I wanted to show. I love the idea of the third shot, but I'm remembering what I saw, not showing it here. I've tried to correct in pp, but my skills aren't up to it with the source file I have. It was shot at 1250 ISO and any attempt to get details from the shadows yields way to much noise right away.

sweetharmony

Such a beautifully exotic subject to photograph....surely it would be a pleasure to try to capture this treasure in all sorts of lighting situations....