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01/16/2005 08:04:13 AM · #1 |
Portraiture is a part of photography I never felt comfortable with. Any C&C would be much appreciated!
Thanks...
 
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01/16/2005 08:07:59 AM · #2 |
I left a comment on your first portrait.
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01/16/2005 10:41:55 AM · #3 |
Adi,
The first photo is a wonderful composition. It is a more artistic interpretation of a portrait to me than what most people consider because your use of light and dark to create the depth and interest in the photo outweigh the focus on the facial featuers (especially the eyes) of the subject. Your use of tones and shadows builds a strong interest story for the viewer regardless of whether they know the subject or not; great for a photo but not usually something that a person looks for in a portrait of themselves or a loved one. That's not a negative, just a facet of this photo as regards what I think most often constitutes portraiture. I like how the lower body is leaning to the right side of the composition as it lends a feeling of being off center to the shot. Considering that the subject's head and the ball are pretty dead-on centered, this gives a dissonant feeling as the viewer looks into the photo; my initial view of the photo leads me to think that he's centered but my mind notes that the body is angled away to the right at the bottom of the shot and thus a subtle effect is injected into my evaluation of the photo. Very subtle, very nicely done. I don't so much like that the subject overlaps the frame at the bottom as I think that this effect lends itself to certain compositions and this just doesn't happen to be one of them.
In the second photo you seem to have taken a more usual approach to portraiture. You've filled the frame with your subject and lit the face for easy identification. If the family of the subject saw this they may be satisfied with it as it depicts someone they know. In your treatment of this subject, however, you've lit them at a level angle (see how the shadow cast by the nose is right beside the nose) or perhaps from just slightly below the subject. The light is pretty strong (not the hard outline of the shadow by the nose). This has the added effect here of washing out some of what looks like the color of the subject. The color of the darker elements remains but he color in the forehead, cheeks and chin seem absent. The darker areas around the eyes give the effect on first glance that the subject's eyes are deepset and the subject may be tired. Using a softer light would benefit this subject by keeping a more uniform look to the facial elements and would keep from projecting such a strong shadow. Using some method of diffusion for the light (a piece of fabric or plastic between the light and the subject would work but be sure not to get the diffuser too close to the light if you're using "hot" lights). Slightly editing the area around the eyes would also help. In Photoshop using the Healing Brush to lighten up the lines from the inner "corners" of the eyes down towards the cheeks would help remove some of the definition in this area. If you wanted to go a step farther you could add a layer and mask it so that the area around the eyes is all that's shown and then lighten that any number of ways (set the layer blending method to "screen" and lower the opacity to around 15-20% or leave the blending as "normal" and use the Dodging tool to lighten that area just to name a couple).
The first photo is easily the more gripping shot to me because it transcends a traditional portrait to be an artistic interpretation of how you see someone. The second could benefit from a reshoot or a little more editing.
Good efforts.
Thanks for sharing,
Kev
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01/16/2005 12:59:24 PM · #4 |
Kevin and Bob,
Thank you very much for your comments and critiques.
They are much appreciated!
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