John Meiers  


Native American Head dress by John Meiers

July 2021 - Native American Head dress

About the Image(s)

Nikon D750,
50mm
f2.8
1/30 sec
ISO 400
Picture of a Native American Head dress.

Taken indoors at a Native American appreciation day sponsored by a local college.


This round’s discussion is now closed!
6 comments posted




 
JOHN.

THE HEADDRESS IS A VERY INTERESTING PIECE OF AMERICAN INDIAN HERITAGE.CRAFTSMANSHIP IS EXCELLENT.

BUT LET ME JUST SAY.

THIS IS A DIGITAL DISCUSSION GROUP, SO I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHY YOU CHOSE THIS IMAGE,
WHAT WAS IT THAT YOU WANTED US TO SEE,
HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT CAPTURING THIS IMAGE SO AS TO HIGHTLIGHT WHAT YOU SAW.

I SEE YOU USING A VERY SHALLOW DOF, THUS CAPTURING THE VERY CENTER SECTION IN SHARP FOCUS, PERHAPS A LARGER F STOP WOULD GET THE MAIN FEATHERS IN FOCUS ALSO, CREATING MORE LEADING LINES HELPING TO BRING MY EYE TO THE CENTER CLUSTER.

I MAY HAVE MENTIONED THAT I LIKE TO HAVE SOMEPIECES OF CLOTH IN MY BAG THAT CAN BE USED AS A BACKGROUND, THAT COULD ELIMATE THE BUSY BACKGROUND THAT TAKES AWAY FROM THE CENTER CLUSTER.

YOU STILL HAVE GOOD LINES LEADING INTO THE CENTER AND THE EXPOSURE IN GOOD, COMPOSITION IS DEAD IN THE CENTER BUT IT HAS TO WORK WITH THIS KIND OF IMAGE.
DID YOU HAVE ANY HISTORY ON THE HEADDRESS, LIKE THE TIME PERIOD, THE TRIBE, THE PURPOSE, WAS IT WAR BONNET OR JUST SPECIAL OCCASION WEAR.

DON'T MEAN TO SOUND TO CRITICAL, I JUST THINK IF WE WANT TO DISCUSS OUR IMAGES, LETS GIVE ONE ANOTHER THINGS TO DISCUSS, LETS NOT MAKE ONE ANOTHER GUESS AT WHAT WE ARE DOING OR WHY WE DO IT A CERTAIN WAY,

PLEASE WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT??


  Posted: 07/08/2021 21:47:18
 
I'm wondering about the background cloths you carry…how would you have held them in place in this setting?   Posted: 07/10/2021 16:03:38



John Meiers   John Meiers
Sorry got in a hurry and forgot to add some info. I wanted to post a photo from this event I attended. It was not an easy event to shoot. Held indoors and there was too much going on in a small venue. Was hard to isolate much of anything going on. I felt this shot was the best of the lot. If at some point I go back and look at this event I will most likely find some more interesting shots by doing some cropping.

I went with just my camera and a 25-85 zoom. Should have used my 28-300 zoom. Did not want to have all the weight with a larger lens. Also should have brought my speedlight flash for the shot I submitted. The location of the headdress was not in an ideal spot for the good lighting.

Did not take time to ask about the significance of the headdress. It was hanging on a stand with no one around it.My time frame was limited to go this event so I went and took some photos. Have to admit I am not the best at talking to people about photographing objects that some will find personal. I try to work on that part of my photography.   Posted: 07/09/2021 11:24:45



Damon Williams   Damon Williams
Hey John,
I appreciate the crisp, well exposed, center of the piece, which appears to have good detail to me, nice tones in the brown feathers, and nice colors in the accent pieces.

This is just me talking, but I have the sense that the piece is kind of incomplete. I don't suppose zooming out to include the entire head dress would have improved anything, because then you would have had a lot more background clutter. But, avoiding cropping the first ring of feathers, and placing them as the subject against the background of the other feathers, especially if they were nice and crisp, would have been something cool to see. Anyway, just my thoughts. Thanks for sharing it. I'll bet that place is ripe with great photo ops.

Oh, BTW, tell me more about your thoughts on using flash. I have limited experience with it, but have been playing with it in order to get my macro stuff to turn out. How do you think you should've used it? How would it have helped?   Posted: 07/09/2021 20:51:19



 
What a gorgeous head dress. I t does make me wonder re its story. Good colors and exposure despite your wishing for a flash. I wonder if that would have improved it. WOuld you have used off camera flash from the side? I suspect straight on flash would have made it seem flat. Since you had a 28-75mm lens and shot this at 50mm, I would have loved to see it just a bit wider angled so that we could see the whole length of the central circle feathers. My only other suggestion would be that it is ALMOST symmetrical. I think symmetry would be great here but there is a tiny bit more room on left than right and it seems just tiniest bit off level. When an image is almost symmetrical but not quite, I find it distracting.   Posted: 07/10/2021 16:02:48



John Meiers   John Meiers
This picture has been cropped. The rest of the headdress is just as you might picture. Nothing more than the layer that is partially seen. It was hanging on a second level railing so no ability to put something behind it. Had the event been held outdoors it would have been much easier to isolate the dancers and other objects. Being indoors in a basketball gymnasium it was hard to eliminate the red bleachers. The usual guidelines, in these type of events, are people are welcome to take pictures but stay at an appropriate distance and if closeups are wanted we are asked to talk to the individual dancers for permission.

Not the most experienced with flash. I did have to use a fairly high ISO, which I hate to do, which is why I was thinking a little bit more light would have helped. Having little grandbabies I will on occasion put a little white baby sock in my pocket to place over the in camera flash. As long as one does not do multiple shots in a row the sock has on occasions did a nice job. Eliminates the need for attaching a speedlight. Then again extra light may have not worked. I should have tried some flash to make sure.   Posted: 07/12/2021 10:22:28