IMG_5606a-5x7.jpg
by dwterry

Comment:
Awwwwwwwwwww.... Cute. :-)

IMG_0123.jpg
by dwterry

Comment:
This is one 'confident in her skin' lady.

As always the technicals of your pic are great, but to me this one looks slightly awkward. She is obviously comfortable with her hand there, but it isn't working for me...

Partially because of the texture of the skin I suppose, and partly because it almost looks like someone elses hand had to be used to hold up her head.

I always miss what hands are doing in portraits, but have a consious thing I do when ever hands and faces get close together, and I ask the person to move their hand around a bit, putting the thumb under the chin, chin on the back of the hand... None of it ever looks right, but I suspect that means I'm being picky, and should sto typing now... :-).

Cheers, Me.

IMG_0156a.jpg
by dwterry

Comment:
Brothers?

I like the PP you've done here, and the fact that you've 'got down' to take the shot. Interesting angle, and very relaxed chaps..

I'd have been moving a bit around to your left, to get rid of the hot-spot where the sun is shining on the grass, it' draggs the eye in quite a bit, as does the kneeling boys white shirt, but you can't do much about his clothes, the background you can fix.

Nice work as always...

IMG_0129.jpg
by dwterry

Comment:
:-) What Leroy said...

This is a nice pic, but an odd image for mother/son... It looks more like a BF/GF shot.

To me It's more 'normal' to see the mother behind with her hands on shoulders, or in another more 'supportive' pose. The slighly arched back, chest out, head on a tilt thing is going on here, which dosn't say 'sportive soccer mom to me.

Having said that, If I were either of the models I'd be proud to have this on my wall, The son to show his mates (ref American Pie) and the Mom because she looks great..

Shipmate's View
by jessie

Comment:
Greetings from the critique club...

First impressions first:

Cool looking subject, but the photo just doesn't do it for me...

He's staring straight at you, and wondering why you're taking his photo, which is a great candid in that respect, but we can't really see his eyes, as the sunglasses obscure them a bit.

His Head is also slightly detached, as his overalls and the background are so dark, which is a little off-putting with the flat lighting you've caught here. Solid dark backgrounds tend to work better when the subject is lit more from one side, to give more shape to the person/object.

The other slighting distracting thing is the earmuffs. Candid pictures should tell a wee story, give us some insight into the person. Without reading your comments I have no idea why he is wearing the muffs, who he is, where he is etc. If you look at the images that did well in this challenge you'll notice that most (There are some exceptions to this rule!) tell a more complete story, they have the person(s) and some other stuff. They have background that tells the story, or the people are doing something.

I'm not sure how much you cropped out of this, but if you had kept some of the door frame, which would no doubt be metal with lumpy paint, and possibly some fittings or some sort, then I would tell at a glance that this chap was working on a boat, or at least somewhere industrial. I'd get a connection to why he is wearing the muffs and overalls, and I'd know he was an 'old sea salt' sort of person.

From a technical aspect you've got a colour tint which I suspect is reflected light from the deck.. Again without seeing some of his surroundings this is a little off-putting, although not a major issue.

It feels also looks a little under exposed to me, and I think you've tried to boost it in post editing to bring it up a little, which is where the noise comments have come from during voting.

The focus also seems slight soft, or you've cropped out a small section of the middle, and it was only scaled down slightly. Combined with the pushed exposure this would give you the soft looking feeling to the image.

A few people complained about the border as well, I dunno about that, it keys with the red on the muffs, I'm not fussed either way on borders, although I would have preferred to see the door of the boat, as it would have made a far better image to have the environment described in that way.

Don't be discouraged by this, it's only my opinion and Candids are tough if you're not a keen people photographer!

Cheers, Chris Hellyar.

Pure
by Chinarosepetal

Comment:
Simple, Clean, Pure.... Nicely done. A ping-pong ball?

self.x2
by hanneke

Comment:
What a cool self portrait! I'm a great fan of 'different' portraits, and this definitely fits the bill on that count, solid composition, nice lighting, and a really intense expression. Nice choice of subject camera as well, I'm lusting after an old blad at the moment on an auction site, but it's going to go too high for my pocket.

'Pure' is such a vague topic that I can't say this doesn't meet the challenge, but I'm not getting pure from this, but heck, as I said, Nice portrait.. The only thing that could be different for me is to lift your hair/side light a little higher to get some definition to the top of your head as well, to finish the framing of your face. Without that I might have cropped it slightly tighter at the top. I find my eye wandering around the top of your head looking for the hairline, instead of concentrating on the great angles your arm makes, and your eyes.

I feel like I've just sneaked into the studio and caught you taking a self portrait with the camera you're holding, and you're looking at me with some disdain, as if to say, 'What are you doing in here'.

I also like that you've used a square crop while you're holding a 6x6 camera, although that'll probably go past most folks on this site.

Hope this does well, but the DPC voters are a fickle lot... In a self portrait challenge I'm sure this would rock. - 9

Pure Peace
by Atlantis

Comment:
Ooo Columns, and water, my feng and my shui, are all happy now...

Pure Fetish
by JohnnyPhD

Comment:
Neat idea, but you need a little more light on the feet... I'm assuming you're going for foot fetish? The eye is dragged into the bright white area, and there is no detail there. When I go back to the feet I can't see enough detail...

Great composition and idea though, and given that you changed it to B&W the light on the feet could be anything, it doesn't need to be colour balanced with the other light in the room.

100% Pure RAGE!!!
by Pixlmaker

Comment:
A 7 from me, for having the guts to put this up if you didn't ask her, or the courage to ask her if you didn't! (Or the crazy-ness if it's a self portrait!)