Moonlight Nude #1

Does anyone have an opinion on this picture?

Doug, my monitor isn't calibrated so I can't completely trust what I'm seeing.

I find this composition to be less flattering to her figure than the other two. Her buttock is also the brightest area drawing attention to it. Also, because she appears to be standing on a step, and that there is little foreground, the picture takes on a two dimensional appearance compared to the other two.  

Perhaps the same spot but a different pose (or view of her), or possibly a landscape camera orientation might make the photo less focused on "her".  

I like this photograph very much. The shape of her body, the low-key lighting and tone are terrific. I like the spotty light on her and the way it shows her form.

Michael, Mark's comments land where I wanted this one. I have many more from this location where she is turned, but the angle of the incline, as you observed, factored into her posture.  With her body to the camera, the pose became too glamorous.  Well, not "too" glamorous, I do plan to work on them, but I was attracted to this exposure because it seemed more natural, like she wasn't posing, and that's what I was looking for.  I agree about the light and its placement, and I'm ok with that.  I like how it lands right on her feminine hip, and then sort of kneads itself around the other contours of her body.  Had she been facing forward, the picture would've been, in my opinion, all about her body.  With this turn towards the door, and her hand on the handle, it makes it more interesting to me.  The two-dimensionality you see might be from the monitor difference. (or, it might not). The tones are so close to the bottom of the scale that it wouldn't take very much of a difference to render them all as black. 

I'm pleased that I was able to find your intention in this photograph. Don't be afraid of taking the shadows all the way to black as I did here. It makes for a different image but one that can also be effective.

Dougity,

Interesting image.

This is an image that is not accurate as to how moonlight illuminates human skin tones. The first response to go are the magenta/red tones.

So I would prefer to see the iamge in BW or more naturally balanced in color.

Nice mood and setting, with an attractive model presented.

Best Regards,  Mike

I like this image a lot. It does feel like a true moonlight shot - as you your eyes would see her - and the color cast is great! Well done.

Hi Dougity,

As Michael C expressed, he likes the image. So do I.

However, our eyes do not shift to seeing more red in low light conditions. That is incorrect.

Now, in Full (bright) moonlight, the models skin tones would appear the same as daylight , only a bit darker...not color shifted to longer wavelengths.

One last point about human eye response. After the sun sets, the first colors to go are the reds, followed by all the others, with the last being green. This is due to the fact that our eyes are most responsive to the green wavelength of light. When the green becomes too faint, we see grey because of color sensors (cones) fail to respond, and the rods take over.

Best Regards,  Mike

I really like the exposer and tones, the nightly scene is very well conveyed.

Mark, Thanks for that sample.  I'm not afraid to go there, but I try not to, if at all possible.  On computer screens, such blackness is ok, and I guess even in prints, but it's much more rewarding to be able to examine detail in those darkest of areas.  Not always, for sure, but most times.  In my way of thinking, at least. 

Well, that's a very fascinating bit of information about the eyes and the colors.  I was completely unaware, apart from my own observations, about this, although I now remember learning about everything becoming gray.  So, according to this, the color tones on this picture, given that I want you to believe it was taken under moonlight, (it wasn't) are completely unnatural, and I need to remove the magenta/red influence and replace it with more green.  I believe, when I was preparing this one, the third in the series, that I was working towards a blue cast, and I failed to notice how the magenta became so strong.  That should be easy enough to fix as the blue cast is nothing more than a solid color layer blended and reduced in opacity.

For those of you interested, these were taken between 8 and 9 in the morning on a lightly overcast day.  Since I'm not a journalist, and not overly concerned with using photography as a vehicle of truthful expression, I wanted to try this moonlight effect because of its romantic and moody feelings. The idea came from a b&w shot of cedars from several years ago that experienced several ...uh...unique and...significant ...miscalculations, both in the field, and the darkroom,  the serendipitous result being a beautifully luminescent scene reminiscent of a moonlit night.

Steve and Michael C. I appreciate your comments.  I feel a little deceptive for posting this series without the full disclosure as to time of day, but it was important to see if my post processing was convincing enough to carry the theme.  Apart from Mike Palermiti's observations, I seem to be on the right track. 

Here's a revision