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I thought this was a nice candid portrait. This is my brother's old

roomate and it was shot on their boat this summer. Everyone seemed

to like it and I made him an 11x14" printthat looks great. Why the

low ratings? Would like some comments on this.

Tom, some possible answers:

 

-Need some atmosphere. You're on a boat, FCOL. Use it.

 

-They probably like it because they know him. ("that's Bill allright!") We don't know him. From the looks of it he really looks like a middle management type or accountant. Real man in the grey flannel suit type.

 

-Although I personally don't mind the strong sunlight, some people might be annoyed at that shadow on his left shoulder.

 

 

This should not be a 3.../3... image. It looks like a snaphot, which Tom agrees to, it also has some small imperfections, like the cut elbow, but the worse part is the midday light. Broken whites, ugly shadows under the eyes and nose and on the shoulder... Still, it is not a 3/3 image. People are getting very extreme with ratings lately.

Tom, it should be obvious. The subject is not a nude woman. (No slam to you other work. Just a comment on photo.net's rating culture)

Tom, I have to agree with one of the other comments - we don't know this guy, he looks like an average run of the mill type of guy. The sun in his eyes (even with the shades) seems to make him smirk. Aside from all of the above I prefer a little more contrast, the print seems a little muddy to me. All-in-all though the ratings are low.

Ovidiu - if anything, ratings these days are too high(not talking about this photo, Tom). How else can you explain so many people nearing scores of 16 on the "top rated" list. Anyway, in my opinion, a great portrait conveys an emotion or personality of the subject to people who do not know the subject(as people have mentioned above). Or, a great portrait compels the viewer to empathize in some way with the subject. None of this happens for me with this one Tom, but don't worry, this is only one image in a great portfolio. Hope this helps.

Nice shot, the family will love it no doubt. Not particularly original, but certainly above snapshot standard ... except for the missing elbow elbow. My biggest concern is the T shirt, it's a bit overwhelmingly white; he would have been better off topless(!?) or shot from different angle to reduce the white. The shaddows are fine though, I don't find them harsh at all, they add to the atmosphere of a hot, sunny day.

This is a simple photo.

It's odd to see such bad ratings in a time when they often are too high. Kelly Pearl points to some valid explanations, but I can think of two more. First: not enough context. An isolated head shot is OK, but the expect more from this kind of torso shot. Second: We don't see his eyes. Eyes are usually the place you look at first and come back most often when you examine a picture.

 

If you like it, to hell with what others think!!! You are the worst/best judge of your work. Let the ones who would be so quick to critique you remain the ones jealous of your talent.

Well here are my thoughts on it for everyone that was kind enough to respond.

 

I didn't think the lighting was that harsh. I like the way the shadows help sculpt the face. Especially around the neck. Helps give it the apearance of more definition than there actually is. I agree with the shadow on the shoulder being a bit dark so I dodged that a bit to even it out. There is more detail in the shirt in the print but I guess I scanned it poorly. I burned it in a bit to match the print. Fairly quickly and sloppily though.

 

Kelly you said: "he really looks like a middle management type" :) bingo. More than that obviously but I thought this came out fairly well for a grab shot.

 

I don't like the whole arms position, especially that I cropped off the one elbow. And the wrinkly shirt on the bottom. The detail in the 11x14 inch print is nice though. You can actually read the time on his watch. I also like the way the skin came out. I'ts a bit dark like the abercrombie and finch photos someone was talking about a few months back.

 

With the over inflated ratings that have been circling around I was surprised to see that this got such a low rating. I don't think it's great but I did think it would be better than a 3/3.

 

Thanks a lot for the feedback. I'm including the original pic here and I'm going to put the new one on top. If you come back let me know if this is any better.

Tom,

 

I can't see anything wrong with it, except as someone else noted there's no nude woman in the photo.

 

It's says 'this is bob (or whomever)' It's a decent photo that captures 'guy on a boat on a sunny day...' Nothing wrong with that. In fact most of the portraits on photo.net don't even manage to capture that much.

 

Definately doesn't deserve a 3/3. Don't let the turkeys get you down.

 

 

 

Tom, from me to you : all these guys are disappointed because you have given to them the habit of your splendid nude girls shots... And here you give to see an alone dressed guy ! Deception ! For them ! But not for me : I find he looks handsome and you caught what seems to be a happiness to live... Great ! & thanks !

Tom not everyone likes the shots that the photographer took. Point-in-fact of the 3/3 you gave one of my photos. Personally what I don't like about this photo is that the left elbow is cropped out, and I think that you should have used a fill-in flash to mellow some of the shadowing.