Silver Heart Earringsby
postoakinversionComment by ergo: Greetings, from the critique club :)
I generally like this image, and feel there's a bit of the umph factor that makes one photograph stand out from others.
The quick take: I agree that the eyes hijacked the composition. The extremely light tones in most of the image robs it of details, and one particular instance where this is less effective is the separation line between the jawline and the neck, which is very slight and creates an unnatural impression, and I believe a stronger jawline would have yielded a more positive overall viewing result.
The long take:
a) As mentioned by several of the commenters already, my eyes were immediately drawn to the model's eyes and then the earring. There's quite a competition between these two elements in the image, and I agree that the earring did not win the battle, perhaps due to its positioning in the composition or its smaller size. The eyes' luminosity and darker tones are also quite magnetic, and their contrasting tone as compared against the background and the rest of the image also serve to highlight them, at the expense of the earring.
b) I'm struck by the marble-like quality of the face. It's a good effect that can powerfully communicate a message. But in the context of this image, there is perhaps too much dodging.
c) Were the earring a darker color tone, perhaps closer to that exhibited by the eyes, I believe this image would have rated very highly. The silver gets lost amidst all the whites. The darker part of the earring right underneath the ear lobe is very effective, and I wish that same tone continued down to the main part of the earring.
d) The cheek line on the model's left side as well as the area around the left eye are showing a bit of a burn, and I like this juxtaposition against the very light right side very much. And I can't help but feel that were the rest of the image more uniformly dark, the earring would have benefited.
e) Two distraction points. The first consists of the clothing strap and the hint of a thin necklace around the neck. Were these elements removed, I believe the image would be stronger. The second, and this is previously mentioned in Azrifel's comment, is the hand behind the head, which threw the composition. There also seems to be a very light strand of hair crossing the palm of that hand, and this also provided another element that competed with the earring within its immediate vicinity.
Overall, I do think this is a nice image still, and one that has lots of potential. During the vote, this was one of the small percentage of images to which I gave a 6 or higher in the entier challenge.
I hope this comment is useful. This is my first critique club assignment, and I'd welcome very much some sort of feedback on this comment, if you can spare the time and energy. Thanks, and good luck in future challenges.
Photographer found comment helpful.
