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04/25/2005 09:18:06 AM · #1 |
I got a lot of great feedback on this and some confusing critiques, so I'd love to hear some additional critiquing to give me some idea of why this just barely did above average. People liked the crop, people didn't like the crop. People liked the shadows, people didn't like the shadows. The Rembrandt lighting was good, the bright spot on the cheek was bad. The eyes were too dark.
I can only assume in some cases monitor calibration comes into play here; I calibrated my monitor directly before processing this shot and I don't believe the eyes are too dark at all. Perhaps it's the absence of an actual catchlight?
I hope librodo doesn't mind me posting this, I asked for some processing tips and sent him the original image (uncropped) to work on. Here is his take:
Would I have fared better with something like this, or perhaps full color? Here is the original, in case anyone else wants to take a whack at it.
thanks. I really would like to know what I should have done differently, I was really pleased with my result before I entered it ;)
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04/25/2005 09:20:39 AM · #2 |
I gave you a 7 and said that I didn't care for the shadows...just my humble opinion but didn't think the shadows added anything to the image..he has a fabulous face though..and would like to see more of him again ; )
red |
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04/25/2005 09:23:08 AM · #3 |
i gave you an 8 ... i think it's great
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04/25/2005 09:53:01 AM · #4 |
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04/25/2005 10:02:32 AM · #5 |
Very attractive man, well captured. Got an 8 from me.
(IMHO)I think the only reason this shot got 5.5 is because the standard of entry for the People II challenge was higher than normal. |
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04/25/2005 10:42:18 AM · #6 |
no critiques?
By the way, thanks Polly, Dean will be flattered ;)
Message edited by author 2005-04-25 10:42:39.
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04/25/2005 10:47:21 AM · #7 |
Cropped out hair and ear, bumped up the eyes, burned the light on cheek, gaus blurred neck and shirt, upped contrast after playing with levels. Hope you don't mind, seemed the shot was really about his eyes and nose, features to focus on. I could be all wet.
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04/25/2005 01:01:40 PM · #8 |
Originally posted by rblanton:
Cropped out hair and ear, bumped up the eyes, burned the light on cheek, gaus blurred neck and shirt, upped contrast after playing with levels. Hope you don't mind, seemed the shot was really about his eyes and nose, features to focus on. I could be all wet. |
Thanks for that. That's essentially similar to what I did, but I think mine came out a little lighter overall. Ah well, I guess I'll have to keep shooting him! Shouldn't be a problem...
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04/25/2005 05:29:52 PM · #9 |
Any other suggestions? Different lighting entirely, perhaps? I'm just trying to understand what made this an uninteresting shot to so many voters.
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04/25/2005 07:49:59 PM · #10 |
During the challenge I gave this image a 5; under other circumstances I might have given it a 6. There's nothing wrong with the picture. The composition overall is good.
For what it's worth, here's what you could have done to increase my vote (presented in no particular order):
- The bright spot on his cheek bothers me a bit; I'd have preferred to either either see that side of his face more uniformly in shadow, or reduce the sharp edges on the highlight by using a reflector to bounce a little more light onto that side.
- The tuft of hair on his chin strikes me as rather unkempt looking. If it looked less like the chin chia-pet thing that so many high school freshmen (usually males) pride themselves on, I wouldn't mind so much.
- A catchlight would have made his eyes a more prominent part of the image and probably increased my vote by a point.
Even if this had been shot with all of the above modifications, I still don't think that I'd give it more than a 7. This is partially because I tend not to vote outside of the 3-7 range unless something really makes an impression on me. This is a nice image. But it's still "just a portrait". The subject of the image is the face of a person I don't know. If I was acquainted with this person, my feelings about them would influence my vote; since I don't know them, my vote reflects my first impression of their appearance as viewed through your lens.
To receive a vote above a 7 an image would need to catch my attention somehow (because of an interesting technique, unusually good execution, some emotive characteristic, et cetera). Since a large portion of the pictures in the challenge could be broadly described as "one or more people looking toward the camera," this portrait, although well done, didn't interest me enough to rate as better than average. |
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04/25/2005 07:59:24 PM · #11 |
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