Sadie Gray

Beautiful. I love the lighting especially!

Qui abbiamo un giovane intellettuale nel dolore o almeno in preoccupazione profonda! O lei può essere cerca solo per attirare noi sessualmente! Nessuno sa con le donne, ah!

Ciaomau

Ben Fatto

Pietro il Semplice

bell'angolo...un bel ritratto

Maurizio,

Thank you for her invitation. Of course we stay strong and her beauty makes the invitation even more inspiring. A very well shot portrait and as always a very good and detailed black and white.

Best regards,

Herman

This is a great portrait! I love how the hand accentuates the frame. The lighting is perfect and the black background makes this standout even more. Very well captured! I think it's wonderful.

Really beautiful, Maurizio!

You composed very interesting this photo,as usual carefully worked and a very nice model.tattoo is a bonus for sure.

best regards

An interesting pose for an interesting woman.  If she works out as her tattoo indicates, I'm sure she has no problem getting a lot of men to be her training partners.  Excellent skin tone and detail, and skillfully composed.  Bravo!

michael

Bella foto, bella composizione.

Gianluigi

What a pose! What a model! What a picture! And of course what a true genius behind the camera. Simply fantastic my friend.

´Magnifico retrato, buen encuadre, buena iluminacion y bella modelo. Saludos

Maurizio, I already commented on this image when you had posted it for critique. I'm pleased that the Elves picked it for this week's POTW. It has several strong elements, in my opinion - the subject's silky skin, the wisps of hair stickling up in the foreground, her pose and facial expression, and the dramatic dark eye makeup which ties in with her hair color, tattoo, and clothing.

Technically, I think this is a competent shot, perhaps needing only a bit more opening up of shadows in the hair region and perhaps a less obfuscated view of, and more expression in, her right eye. But I have difficulty in seeing much beyond the fine technical quality. The attractive girl has struck a personal pose of her own, perhaps, but not one that does much to communicate anything very revealing and it appears awkward despite her apparent position of contemplation. Portraits and figure studies are not easy stuff to pull off, even with help in this case of the tattoo message. It would be interesting to see her in a pose that better shows strength or a scenario demanding it, if the intent of staying strong is in fact that desired by the photographer and model. The idea of the photographer is good, I simply think in this case that it creates a few more questions than it gives answers.

Arthur, take a closer look at the subject's hand. It appears to be holding some of her hair. Then, look at her tattoo. Could these 2 elements somehow connect? When I initially looked at this image when Maurizio posted it for critique, I thought her tattoo was evidence of her (physical) fitness. If her hair simply draped her left cheek, I'd be inclined to say that there is no connection at all.

Dear Michael, thank you for being the first to review in a so kind way my photo. You have read in it in a very clever manner many aspects and you did so with great care. And thanks more for your second very acute participation.

Dear Arthur, thanks also to you for your acute clarification on the details that you treated so well. But the think that I like to deal with is the question of the suggestive "questions and answers" that this my portrait proposes and that for me is a great honor to have you called. In fact I think that every human act, and even mor ART, have the task, if valid, not to give so much answers but to solicit questions. There will in turn answers to be subjecive, that is from the author and from the beholder, but new applications will be more answers, it's a no distructive chain reaction but generating new thoughts that, in one way or the other, they will generate new seeds of life.

Mau, As usual your sense of composition is outstanding, and the technical execution is near-perfect. Shades and tones are seamless and show amazing continuity. I particularly appreciate the contrast between the model's light skin tones and the much darker background, hair, and collar. The sense of positive versus negative space is very powerful. Now, from my personal perspective as a viewer, I remain a bit uncomfortable, and for reasons I cannot fully explain. Like Arthur, I would like to see more of her right eye, which would add a humanizing element. I find it disconcerting that her left hand has engaged both her hair and her mouth. My eye wants to follow her arm back to her face, but arriving at her mouth via her thumb seems a bit incongruous. I do not find the tattoo attractive, though others think differently. Perhaps I can sum up my feelings by stating that the model feels over-objectified, rather than accessibly human. As with so much art and photography, this may or may not be a good thing, depending upon your intent as the artist. So, my first impression is overwhelmingly positive, yet I depart from this image surprisingly disappointed. It certainly is well done relative to all of the normal metrics, but it is not my favorite of all your excellent portraits. Please keep them coming. I so enjoy discussing your portraits, so well considered and executed.

The tattoo feels like the star of the show and the girl seems secondary.

Endof says it succinctly. Without a visible eye and the division of the shot into left and right sides I find I am in agreement with Arthur: to my mind it lacks unity and meaning, although technically it is good. Is it a portrait of her hand and tattoo, or of her face? This is the question that comes to my mind and detracts from its success.

Dear Endof and Robin, thanks for your attention on my "Nicole". Every one in life is attracted to somenthing, when I took the photo I was attracted to the detached and absorbed look of the model, which could be only with her eyes half-closed, and to her pose. It bothers you the tattoo? I was more attracted to her perfect and sensual features. Bye, Mau!

That's what shows and that's why the photo seems dead to me. The idealization of a so-called perfection of features (which I maintain does not exist) here outweighs anything that would connect me to the subject as a person to care about.

Now, a lot of the great Hollywood photographers were very much in tune with women's features (as any good photographer likely will be at least to some extent) but they also gave their portraits character through style. And Avedon knew how important surfaces were to photos but he recognized that the surface could provide clues. This portrait gives me little if any character or clues and appears to me to be aimed merely at perfection.

[Notice how many people (on this photo's critique page) mentioned tones or skin texture and didn't say much about the person pictured.]

Dear Fred, I agree with you, perfection does not exist but...can I be free to dream? Art is not only...TRUTH but also DREAM, it's not only a...FIST but also a...CARESS. Art is...to be free, you are free in your own way, I in mine. Each man has his own story and his experience and manifests them in his own way and...this's ART ( ART from Latin ARS, AGO,AGIS,AGIRE...TO ACT, TO DO...). Criticism, for me, it's not the fault of the other but try to figure out who is the other. But mine is not a criticism of your words, I just want to tell you what I think...and not just me. Ciao, Maurizio, with my respect.