Streets of Hong Kong

kurzvorzwoelf

So, we've been travelling the past 4 or so weeks, and our first stop was Hong Kong. The city is a real sprawl, and has so much more to offer than its typical tourist destinations or the skyline. We spent a couple of days, enjoying strolling through the busy streets and observing what's happening. I had made myself an early christmas gift, upgrading my my precious Oly OM-D EM10-II to an OM-D EM1-II in a bargain deal, and Hong Kong was the first opportunity to prove it in battle.

This is the first batch of pictures from that trip. More to come. May I ask for opinions on post-processing? I was trying to create a rather grim look, and wanted to try something different than b/w, but I realize it might not everybody's cup of tea.

1: Don't go to Hell

2. Hidden behind covers

3. Busy streets

4. Papers please (drive-by snapshot from the hip, because I was too afraid of being caught photgraphing this scene)

5. Players

6. Construction Work

7. Practicing

8. Hungry?

9. Final inspection

torags

The shots are well composed...

I going to tell you how it should be done, but I can say the way I look at it...

I would crop out the traffic in 1; they don't add anything...
2 zoom in & crop out detail; somethings going on with that woman's face/hands - foal point?
I would toss #3
4 Center cop stop and do B&W - high contrast (it's a dark subject)
5 Layer the players blur entire back drop
6 ,9 Construction shot desat to near BW - & high contrast
8 I like that shot... desat a little

Just one man's opinion....

good luck

kurzvorzwoelf

@torags said:
Just one man's opinion....

Thanks Rags! Your opinion is much appreciated! I did some of the changes you suggested, here comes:

Tighter crop for 1, actually works better, less distractions:

Tighter crop for 2 - I think the woman is just nose picking, appetizing right? I chose to get rid of the bottom, because I actually do like the large letters at the top, I think they are vital to composition. Not sure whether I like it better than the original, tho:

Center crop and B&W conversion for 4, actually this is much better. I tried both, a 1:1 crop and a portrait original 4:3 ratio crop. I think the portrait crop is better:

It took me a while to create the mask for blurring out the player's backdrop, but I'm pretty satisfied with the result:

I also tried desaturations on 6,8 and 9 but really didn't like it.

torags

They all look better to me...

But ... it's your style to develop... good luck

Richard

Interesting set. I think Rags' suggestions are pretty good. The portrait crop of the cop is definitely better; I'm less sure about the crop in #2, and I prefer #1 uncropped--I think the people ignoring the evangelicals is a more interesting story than without them. The desaturated look may not be right for #7, which seems to be a happy group. Or is that just bad air quality?

Did you see any political demonstrations while you were there?

kurzvorzwoelf

@Richard said:
Interesting set. I think Rags' suggestions are pretty good. The portrait crop of the cop is definitely better; I'm less sure about the crop in #2, and I prefer #1 uncropped--I think the people ignoring the evangelicals is a more interesting story than without them. The desaturated look may not be right for #7, which seems to be a happy group. Or is that just bad air quality?

Did you see any political demonstrations while you were there?

Thanks for your feedback, Richard. You are right, the scene in #7 actually was a (very) happy and kind group, they were practicing a (probably Philippino) Christmas song in a small backyard park. However, as I wanted to keep consistency in processing, so I chose a similar look as the other pictures. Now as I think back, it was a pretty different and unique experience - compared to the rest of the city scenery - to stumble into that small park to find that group of ladies singing in midst this urban concrete jungle. Maybe this picture doesn't even fit this series of images at all.

Regarding the demonstrations, no, they didn't happen during the time we spent in HK. We had the chance to talk to quite a few people tho, they just came upon us to tell us their side of the stories. One of the most funny quotes I remember was one guy telling us "Well we don't riot all days, only sundays. Because on the rest of the week, we have to work of course." But we saw a lot of the demonstrations' aftermaths, such as increased police presence, big police anti-riot barricades in front of police stations, public institutions and also increased security measures outside and inside the airport.