Madonna

Me debes un cafe, ya te dije que estabas a punto de esto :=)))
Nada que no sepas, solo que me alegro una barbaridad porque te lo venias mereciendo desde hace mucho.
Enhorabuena, abrazos.

Gerry, could it be that it feels better because it's closer, which has a more immediate grab factor? I think the crop flattens it quite a bit. Does the background in the original make you feel differently from the background in the cropped version? When I look at the cropped version, the background seems like it's come forward, flattened out. In the original, I get more of a sense of distance and depth behind her which, I think in the long run, adds flavor and ambiance to the shot that is lost in favor of a quick and immediate but what I consider to be a more superficial closeness (likely influenced by my own taste). Don't mean to suggest that there's a right or wrong here, just interesting to delve into the difference a bit.

Ya la conocía y sin duda es una fotaza. Me alegro de ver que es fdls en photonet.
Por cierto, soy ronxoane :-)

As a photo of the week this one appeals to me simply because (although it obviously is) it doesn't look prepared, it appears to capture a completely natural interaction between the two subjects that works beautifully.

Fanstastic!
reminds me of caravaggio's paintings.

Jose, Amazing creation with a wonderful painting effect!!! Fabulous texture!!! Warm regards.

He visto la foto sin saber de quien era y me he dicho tengo que comentarla porque es un fotón. De los mejores retratos que he visto donde domina el tema, la luz, el encuadre... y esa ternura que provoca una sonrisa beatífica. Un fotón, repito, que merece los mayores elogios. Después he visto que es tuya y ya me ha dado doble alegría, eso de conocer al "genio" o al "artista" es como si Cristiano Ronaldo o Messi, fuera tu vecino y amigo (jajaja)
Un abrazo José Antonio

Great image in the sense of light, composition, color, paintinglike  etc.

Then look closer. I miss the eyes of the mother, they should be visible and show some emotion at least. The hand gives more the impression of pushing away then protecting. Going further on this path reveals the technical side of the photo (superb) draws the attention from the emotional side (which to me should be improved a lot)

Very nice composition. Great colour balance and excellent use of lighting. Congrats.

Excercise

Great image in the sense of light, composition, color, paintinglike etc.

Then look closer. I miss the eyes of the mother, they should be visible and show some emotion at least. The hand gives more the impression of pushing away then protecting. Going further on this path reveals the technical side of the photo (superb) draws the attention from the emotional side (which to me should be improved a lot)

There's a good deal of perhaps studied ambiguity in this photo, which makes it at one and the same time classical and modern, religious and profane (secular), in a not unattractive way. It is definitely photographic, yet it waves a hand at several of the Old Masters. The 'Madonna and Child' iconography is palpable, too, yet it is contrasted by the modernity of some of the clothing used, and also of course by the fact that the child is a girl. In my view, one of the merits of this image is that it brings an old artistic scene to life in a present-day context through the medium of photography. Ambiguity becomes it.

There is a subtle movement from shadow to light. Nicely done.

A little cherub comes to mind rather than so much of a madonnaoish pair. Glue on some stubby white wings and we got a cherub, no? Fit for a fresco even.. Main point I offer is that the child and its detail really makes the picture if we want to deconstruct it just a little without damaging the effect or balance. With the girl a lesser actor perhaps. So, downplaying girl by crop or shadow does not detract so much at least in my glance. Another individual approach obviously. By no means a final judgment- if there is such a thing- on a photo art..It is most pleasing - shot I would be pleased to to count in my portfolio if I took the pains to set it up like so.( Has a more romantic Renaissance sensibility than I have. I can and do admire such sensitivity to light and form.)

Is it just me, or does the girl look too young to be a mother or Madonna figure?

The background, which I guess is trees or some sort of foliage, looks too contrived in an attempt to be reminiscent of the old masters style of painting...and my eyes keep going to it because it looks too vague and unformed in contrast to the detail of the figures in the foreground.

The girl's dress looks too modern in contrast to the rest of the photograph...it doesn't fit into the "Madonna" theme for me at all.

I do like the detail, but as someone else mentioned, the overall effect looks like a bunch of layers in different blending modes put together to achieve the overall result. I won't argue that it's good work, but for me, it's too much processing and not enough photography.

The most captivating aspect of this photo is the spontaneous expression/movement of the small child and the light Jose has provided for that child. That alone makes the photo for me, and everything else consists of details. Yeah, details are important, but I don't want to get lost in them (e.g., the amount of light on the girl's nose) and lose sight of the photograph as a whole. This is a spontaneous moment (sure, they were seated in the surroundings of a studio, but the child obviously was just being a child, beyond the control of anyone), much like a small cloud passing near the sun as a V-shaped flock of geese fly overhead (I do landscapes and not portraits, so I find an analogy useful). It's a wonderful photo, and it's a perfect POW because there are so many details that viewers can dissect.

PDE

Beautiful skin tones, nice lighting, a very good image!

beatiful shot, wondeful light

Preciosa foto, Jose A. La iluminacion es perfecta y los colores de una cualidad pictorica muy acertados. Mi mas sincera enhorabuena.

Felicidades, Jose A.
No voy a entrar en tecnicismos de soberbios que pretenden analizarlo y saberlo todo, que todo lo critican porque no son sus fotos la escogidas como POW.
Sòlo te diré que lo que transmite esta fotografía, muy pocos retratos lo logran. Es extraordinaria.
Mis más sinceras felicitaciones, ya que como comentaba alguien mucho más arriba, "no es una buena cámara lo que hace una buena foto, sino la pupila del artista"...
Un abrazo,
Ramon.

I got a very odd feeling. One side of my brain say that it is not appropriate to copy old picture, one side said that it is quite nice, one side ... (brain has many sides :-)). This is one of the most difficult picture to comment about.

Felicidades por tal obra maestra.

Un abrazo y max.

Good composition. Intelligent use of light.

Very good framework

My Compliments

ohhhhhhhhhh i just love this pic.. so perfect...