Study in thought...
by marklovell

Comment:
from the Critique Club

As I've been going through some of these duotones results, the variation in scores is truly remarkable - I really can't seen anything to justify this image scoring way down here where it has. I'm not suggesting it's ribbon material, but really, 4.8?

I think the comments re the pose were right - she does look slightly discomforted, and a large part of portrait photography is the process of getting a natural look, be that knowing whihc poses will work as an image, or knowing when the discomfort starts to show, or simply being able to see through your lens what you may not see otherwise. As this is your girlfriend, it may simply be that you know here too well, and what we're all seeing as discomfort is simply the way she looks. Whatever it is, there is just enough of a sense of tension around the neck and angle of the head to put that feel into the shot.

Your lighting is also a slight let-down. The image-left side of her face is so very evenly lit and exposed that to me all sense of definition there is lost - the tone has become the same as that of the background, and there is a sense of shininess around her forehead and nose, so there's a feeling that you've gone for a high-key shot but not quite pulled it off.

I'm unsure about any of these points - I'm no portrait photographer, and no fan of the genre either - but just trying to explain why I think this scored so very badly. Undeservedly so to my mind.

Difficult to say on a large resolution screen, and therefore with a small image, but I wonder if you could have had more detail. In my experience of this place, I find that the voters like things a touch sharper than I think is 'real' - a final pass of Unsharp mask with settings of 0.6, 70%, clipping 5 makes a useful finalising step after re-sizing, in my experience, for here.

Hope that's helpful

Ed

Stylized Sunrise
by ajschel

Comment:
v interesting - somehow could almost be Gursky. I'm sure it'll be slated, but it's a fascinating approach. The weight across the frame works well for this crop, and the tonality is marvellous.

Chasing Fun
by Cutter

Comment:
Very nice work. Strong understanding of the demands of the format, great tonality, good detail and good action. The most interesting shot so far, for me.

Partition of the Square
by riolobo

Comment:
Good textures, I just wonder iof the overall tonality isn't slightly too narrow. I just feel there could be more punch to this. Works well in the square, though. Once could image a certain level of depth of tone coming from the shades of colour of the wood, and that just isn't there in black and white, which is why I would suggest pushing the contrast a touch further.

Chopin
by nards656

Comment:
In such a very clean graphic composition (and it's nice that you've understood the comkpositional demands of the crop), a bit of cleaning of your subject would go a long way - the fingermarks and dust are a shame, and easily dealt with in advanced editing. Lacks the real fizz of good soft lighting to give the shot impact, I think.

Piercing
by pidge

Comment:
Some lightening around that left eye might have been useful for balance - a square crop lends itself to symmetrical composition. On the same lines, making the eyes level in frame would have made this a more comfortable view - one's first impression is that something isn't quite right about it, and I fear first impressions are pretty important at dpc. Good stuff otherwise, of course, but those minor points might prove more important than one would like.

DOF x DOF
by igoofry

Comment:
Surely, surely this would be better in a portrait crop? It has that dynamic, the diagonal line, and the depth of field to make a shot that would work like that. Entering it in this challenge is simply following the challenge rules, without framing an image to actually work in this quite difficult format.

Boy, wonder
by jenesis

Comment:
Neatly done portrait - shows complete competence. Lacks any great spark of excitement for me, but a solid entry - unlikely to threaten the ribbons I fear, simply due to the subject matter.

...the universe between
by admart01

Comment:
Kind of interesting to me, in a neo-epxressionist sort of way. Not necessarily my kind of thing, but one must make allowances for personal preferences. My real problem with it is that the square crop seems absolutely arbitrary to this composition.

Imagine
by L1

Comment:
Wonderful stuff. Clever cropping which works, marvellous tonality, marvellous expression. No fan of simple portraits but this is, I think, special. Bravo.