Red Pierrot

I must write this before looking at other comments. Else I might be swayed by their arguments.

 

I was completely taken by this photograph. The green eyes really make it for me! And, I love those muted red tones. I like the way the mask looks back into the picture making one eye the subject following the rule of thirds in composition. The closest point in the picture is slightly out of focus, which doesn't detract at all, but rather lends a feeling of depth to the overall scene.

 

If it were my photograph, I would crop the last little white stripe in the lower left corner by removal of a snippit from the left side. Congratulations on being chosen. I have enjoyed perusing your portfolio. You do nice work.

 

Willie the Cropper

Framing isn't eye pleasing to me. The picture needs more space on the right to breathe and the left is pretty useless.

 

Out of focus left eye is disturbing.. this is important as the eyes are the only point of interest for me - the mask being, by definition, blank and inexpressive. Light is slightly too hard on the mask.

 

The series, as presented in the folder, lacks unity.

Cheers

Just excellent. The complimentry earth tones do it for me. One of the best POTW's I've seen here in a while.

I grew up in New Orleans, and have seen my fill of mask photo's and paintings. This has left me a bit jaded on the subject. Your shot however, got me as soon as the page came up! I love the crop and overall composition. What took me in hook line and sinker are the eyes.... Nice job!

Congratulations for your POW.Tones, expression and framing are perfect!

Technically incredible... Visually intriguing. However, I also find it somewhat over-worked. It comes across as a glossy 'photoshop' creation. Perhaps due to the extreme contrasts in the image.

Moderator reminder:

 

Please read this link: http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo-of-the-week/about for information about posting comments on this forum.

 

This is a critique forum so remember to make some comment (s), points etc. about the image. Simple, congratulatory or negative remarks without at least one point about some aspect of the image will be deleted.

In many ways this is similar to last week's POW: it is a creation which, intentionally or not, effuses the emotions of the creator at the time of the work. It is a very melancholy pose, but at the same time it is searching; it is a lonely individual outstanding and isolated, adored but only able to stare back and hope that some of the attention given it is genuine. And that comment applies equally to the person in the photograph as it does to the photograph itself. It is a picture which displays an effort of trying to be something, echoing the creator's effort to try to produce something.

 

The fact that the photograph is able to convey the same sentiments at three levels makes it intriguing; unfortunately the lack of emotion in the picture rather squashes the layers flat, and ultimately the picture seems to the viewer to fall apart into a relatively disjointed collage of a mask, ruff and false flower.

 

The turtle was not quite such a pretty sight, but ultimately had a more interesting story to tell. Then again, the turtle did not have the wonderful eyes that make you want to dive in and swim in the creative currents.

There are lots of mask. Mask for death, circus, parties, super heroes mask. But this one is a Broadway. It reminds me of Andrew Lloyd Webbers "The Cats". In my monitor the colors. as if direct from "kisses choco factory" melting brown red choco with cr�me very indulging delicious. exceptional tones. The eye of subject is like emerald. Which leaves me to want more? The eyes tells us lot of things about the person behind the mask. She is Not sad, angry nor in pain. She actual looks relax and very charming. If I look at this photo 50 years from now I think I still love it. Cause the subject Red Pierrot is one of finest subject honestly captured from the lens of a camera. Great choice. best regards DSC.

A photograph is not simply what we see that pleases the eye but what it makes us feel ...Mg Lizi is an artist who touches the inner subtle emotions in most of her photographs...In Red Pierrot there is a exquisite delicacy of the composition ...the mask tilted to the side follows the rule of thirds and is reinforced as the subject,,,but winding foreground leads to the decorative flower where the choclate colors blend to please our sensations...but everything would have been inert or simply a choclate like decoration had it not been for the Green eyes...the eyes bring a life to the coposition ...the intimate eyes full of expression of a person that we seem to know ,and yet her expressions are hidden behing the mask....Really Great Composition.Congratulations to a true artist.Charles.

Hi, thanks for sharing your photos. Your portfolio is wonderful. I am sure a lot of people will love this photo although it is a little too heavily posed for me. The colors are great in the photo. The Red Pierrot I have seen have always had some orange in it too...this is not a criticism though.

*So* beautiful! Looks like real chocolate to me. Everything about it is wonderful to look at.

Nice POW. I'm glad it is, for the opportunity to see it.

The distribution of vivid colors like white, green and red over other faint colors or shadows add more beauty to the photo. I enjoy the diversity of the main objects in the photo with these unique green eyes. Creative compositions.

Technically competent, but it's way overdone in terms of mood and doesn't move me at all. Too heavily color-&-contrast-edited, eyes are un-naturally green, the expression looks fake. Finally, the face + flower + colar are like 3 disjointed elements juxtaposed to fill the frame, and don't add up to make any sense: where do the neck, the shoulder and the head start ? Where do they end ? We can't tell.

 

A sugar-coated candy with loads of artificial flavors - i.e. exactly what most seem to fancy nowadays. But I just don't have any interest, sorry.

Sorry but this one doesn't do much for me. The pervasive shadows lack depth, the eye color is fake, one eye out of focus, the composition unbalanced (the left side is primarily filler). The only emotion that it evokes for me is sadness at all the insincerity, and I don't think that was the intent.

I am usually not very critical of the POW, but this does not appeal to me at all. It is a photo, a heavyly edited photo, of a painted face. Did the photographer paint the face, or did the photographer just recorded the face? In any case, the photo is evenly lighted and that's the best comment I can make on this POW.

 

Just my 2 cents, Alex

This is obviusly a good photograph. THe comments are enlightening and interesting. I would like to see one with the upper left corner illuminated a bit more. I am unsure of the object beside the head, a flower? I am not sure that more light in the upper left would help, but I would like to see it. The comment that the eyes should be more visible is probably valid. The photo is stunning. Thank you Mg Lizi!

first, congratulations on having your image selected as POW. second, i do wish i were able to

produce work on this level. i think i am very far away from such advanced studio type work.

that being said, i have to say that my first, visceral response at seeing your image was just

completely unemotional. is this a photo, or an illustration. were your image to have

emotional quality, i wouldn't care. i can't quite pinpoint what it is, but there's just no 'there'

there. also, the image itself appears flat. there's no depth, either visuallly or emotionally.

still, criticisms aside, your technical skill is evident, and i congratulate you for that. (the one

out of focus eye does bother me, though) congrats!

That's an interesting photo, a bit over-worked for my taste but original.

The main interesting point and the firstly visible is the obvious limited colour range: a tri-tone where white and red strongly frame two fine green touches. The very clear white part on this face immediatly catches eyes' viewer and the composition increases the effect of green eyes framing, for that the good use of third rule works.
What I like too is the well caught sadness of those eyes. The title "red Pierrot" suits the photo as Pierrot often *wears* a tear.

So the composition is well thought. The vignetting was added to increase yet more the focus on green eyes, that's a good idea but this vignetting looks overdone: the whole upper left quarter is dark, grey and rather empty.
As Olivier M. wrote it, focus on both eyes would have been better in the sense of the empty space on the right edge is quite thin. Catching point would have been on both eyes and not only the one on the left.
The DOF is very good but I wonder why such a softness was added on the mask, especially on its white part. Texture is lost and comparing the mask to the rich flower makes it flat.

Of course, I wrote quite an heavy critique, as the POW forum allows it. To conclude, I'd say that the photographer achieved a good portrait of an original carnival mask. For sure the first one of this kind I ever see. 4+/6

Although I respect for those who put of lot of time and energy into creative an artistic image, I too lose contact with the subject. The composition is nice. The lighting is nice. But when I look at this, I think "over-worked" and feel no connection with the subject. I thing this immage would be much more affective if you sensed the "life".

Wonderful image. a little more life and balance would improve it, I think.

 

Congratulations

Being curious after seeing this image I did go to Mg's other photo's,in conclusion he has really developed his own style,you will either like it or not...I LIKE!!!!!!

The composition is good, the exposure and lighting are just right, but I don't find much about this photograph interesting. The subject is mildly compelling because of the costume, and this makes it an above average photograph of someone else's art.

I really haven't had the time to read the comments here, so I hope I don't repeat too much.

 

First, this photo is very nicely done. The colors are rich, the design is nice and it appears

technically well done. As I normally try to do, I did go through the folder that this photo

comes from and I think I really find 3 types of photos there. The reason I mention this is

to clarify my next comment on this photo.

 

This photo comes across to me as a commercial illustration. Not much depth or richness

to its meaning, but beautifully done and very "clean". The folder contains several that I

think fall into this

category. But I don't believe the 3 styles really support each other as a cohesive body of

work. The other two types of photos I see there are documentary and conceptual. For

myself, I prefer the more conceptual as a rule. But I really think all are well done, but I do

think that as a body of work, the strength of this work would be highlighted more

effectively if each was curated into its own folder, or possibly subfolder of the overall

carnival theme. In this way the viewer is allowed to go more deeply into each photo in the

series rather than having to shift gears as they go from photo to photo.

 

Very nice work overall.

" I think it would look great printed on black velvet."

 

A not too subtle backhanded 'compliment' there don't you think Dean, hmmm?

 

This image is not kitch at all; actually it is one of the stronger mask/carnival type portraits I have seen in a long time. The close cropping of the face at the right, and the space towards the left, work to make the direction of the figure's gaze that much stronger -- adds mystery and engages the viewer. The busy-ness of the costume towards the left works against that quality, however, and would be far less distracting if the bottom left quadrant were darkened progressively toward the left hand side (in other words, you may want to consider selectively vignetting that corner, Mg).