Devil's Poker Clubby
Mr_BondComment by amber: Hi from the Critique Club!
One of the benefits of giving critiques is that you are 'forced' to spend longer than the usual 5 seconds looking at an image before passing judgement. The longer I look at this image, the more hypnotised I become by those eyes! They demand that I look into them and then dare me to look away. The menace is enhanced by the strong facial expression.
I think the effect you have created with the lighting on the face is very clever:It seems to hint at the two sides of man's nature - light and dark, reminding us that we are not always 100% good and not always 100% bad. Rather we are somewhere in between and fight a life long battle with ourselves and temptation.
Just having the white of the eye showing in the right side is so effective, so menancing, so dramatic.And the fact that the highlight in each eye appears in a different place adds to the effect of duality.
The poker chips and cards are symbolic of our obsession with materialistic gain even to the detrement of our spiritual nature, and that we often gain one at the expense of the other.
I personally love the red tones against the black, for a poster it is eyecatching and dramatic. I would also love to see what a black and white version looks like.
Whilst the focus does seem a little soft on the cards, I think it does not take anything away from the rest of the image.
A bold, dramatic, well executed image, that perhaps should have scored higher;)
Photographer found comment helpful.