Mum.jpg
by SoulJance

Comment:
I think this is one of those very nearly there pictures - because of that the eye really notices small stuff and I become a little picky. For me I think you have a great shot here waiting to come out with a bit more cropping; I'd take away some of the excess headroom and probably crop to just below the finger tips - I think the direct front-on-ness would be emphasised.

I think the light, the conversion, the POV are all great though.

Freezing Cold
by gsal

Comment:
Fabulous - you are the master of this sort of work, your work is one of the things I've been looking forward to seeing in this side challenge.

This bold composition really works.

I Love NY
by stupidcat

Comment:
Nicely lit and good colours, the hair is particularly striking but I do agree that the focus is a little off - I tend to use around f/9 in the studio but you can get some really nice work with shallow DOFs but you have to nail the focus on a really important element of the face for it to work. Looking at your settings, a brighter light setting with smaller aperture whilst maintaining your 1/160 shutter speed would probably have helped. I also think you could have cropped the bottom up to the hand/wrist articulation.

Rob
by PennyStreet

Comment:
A very nice image but the edit is a little strange - I'm trying to work it out... Did you select him and then mosiac the background? It is very blocky and the edge of your subject demonstrates some jaggy artefacting.

I really like your lighting but I think the eye area is perhaps a little dark - I don't know what software you have but a touch of lightening around the eyes would really help (for me).

Also (I know- enough with the critique already!!), there are a couple of key verticals, the edge of the picture and the side of the glass that make me want to rotate this image about 3 degrees counter-clockwise.

It is a really good shot though - I like the way you have introduce a great sense of depth to the image.

1 Ashley.jpg
by ErikV

Comment:
I agree with the other commenters - the white balance is hurting what is otherwise a delightful portrait. I think fully front on can be difficult, but this is a good one.

Elmer
by Yo_Spiff

Comment:
Nice candid subject - it looks a little tone mapped; is it?

There is loads to look at around your subject too which offers some added interest.

It's Snowing
by BackpackR

Comment:
Easy to have gone B&W here, so nice to see this in colour. The capture of the snow is wonderful. I do find the face to be a little bright but other than that it's a great shot.

(Would you mind adding the lens and camera information - I think that is really useful information for a side challenge like this - Thanks)

by Mephisto

Comment:
Very interesting and somewhat unconventional portrait. I really like the vertical and horizontal lines.

could not ask for more
by photokariangel

Comment:
Focus, lighting, composition, border - all work really well here. Nice to see a wide angle lens getting some portrait use.

Great stuff.

flight from dark years
by cutout

Comment:
OK, I'm going through the Free Study submissions, purposefully finding those images I think are shot with a less conventional eye - this is one of those images! Thanks for offering something that isn't just DPC friendly eye-candy (though of course there's nothing wrong with eye-candy). I'll be picking one of these images for the Mu (most underrated) award:

Positives: Wonderful grain, colours and patterns. I really like the way it fades to black at much of the margin. I really like the sense of blur too - the way this increases in proportion to the distance from the sharpest point of the image suggests a Lensbaby to me. Most people (including me) wouldn't know how to begin to get an image this effective from this scene.

Critical stuff: Nothing at all.

Overall: A very effective image - masterfully executed.