animals Untitled

Seven all the way for this wonderful portrait!

Best regards Line!

PDE

Great capture from a magnificent animal. Beautiful.

7 from me as well...superb!!

P

xx

First of all awesome portrait of this fantastic animal. I do not have much negative to say about it nor do i have anything special in the way of constructive critique. However just an opinion. I would have liked the background to separate from the gorilla just a tiny bit. As it is now it merges almost too well with the background in my opinion. But it might be a conscious choice on your part i do not know.

Other than that splendid work.

/Martin.

Re: Martin, Who's going to ask him to move?  :-) Line, of all the many superior shots you have posted here I think I'm safe in saying this one is my favourite.  For me the background is just light enough to maintain separation and still maintain the low key.   My bet is that this would be stunning blown up to gallery display size, the larger the better.  Would you care to elaborate on how this image came to be?  And perhaps some technical details for the gear heads out here.  Best, LM.

Line is a very skilled artist who has displayed her skills frequently in the 'weekly post-processing challenge' over in the digital darkroom forum. I'm going to assume she's done the same here, unless she's a gorilla whisperer and got this guy into a portrait session. Really stunning animal portrait. On my screen at work, the right side of the beast almost blends into the background, which I'm not quite sure I like, though it does cause you to focus more quickly on the face. I really like the rim lighting effect around the head. I have a gorilla portrait in my own portfolio, and it's amazing to me how much emotion there is in the faces of these creatures. Line has created a very human portrayal here. It's impossible to look at this and not feel a link. Nice.

This shot has been among my 'favorites' since the day I first viewed it. The lighting, pose, sharpness, background, and intensity of the gaze all combine to make it so. The brightest part of the photo is the highlights on the face which continually draws the eye back to that most important element. It's a shot that inspires and triggers thoughts that perhaps, one day, I will be fortunate enough to take one as good. Were it mine it would be hanging on a wall in my home as large as possible and as good decorating taste would allow. How to improve it? Not even going to entertain the thought. Best, Len.

The lighting and expression are great. The photo itself, with background that feels brought in from somewhere else (?), comes across to me like the deer heads I've seen hung on a wall. In other words, the chosen environment for this portrait takes away a lot for me. The almost blending of the fur into the wall is actually kind of interesting, but as a whole it's a little taxidermic for my tastes.

This is a well done rendering of a popular type of portraiture of captive zoo animals. I see a lot of these images on the internet, often the subjects are primates or large African animals, lions and such.

I am left with the same sense of unease from these stylized photos, as I am when looking at those Draganized images of street people, which are also quite popular.

Technically strong but not my cup of tea.

As a portrait it's very well done, has everything a strong portrait needs. Nice light, sharp eyes, emotion and as Bill said it's hard to look at without feeling a connection. For me the way Line took this and finished it gives the gorilla an almost human feel. Beautiful work.

Technicly sound, but anthropomorphizing an animal is a cheap trick.

Wayne, pardon my ignorance, but how is this image "...anthropomorphizing an animal .... ?"

Michael, funny you should ask. As soon as I read Wayne's comment, I could relate. And David, above Wayne, suggested it as well when he said "it gives the gorilla an almost human feel." My critique of the photo was that it felt taxidermic. I think the anthropomorphism comment is about its mimicking a human portrait, not feeling like it's of a more wild beast. Very sedate, very comfortable, very upright, very portrait-like, very staged. As I mentioned as well, the background gives it a very still and formal feel, unmoving, solid.

Suppose, Fred, that Line had used a solid background - especially one that contrasted effectively with the dark tones of the gorilla's fur. Would that make a difference in your appraisal of the image?

No.

Michael, sorry for the short answer. Was running out of the house.

As I said above, I actually think what Line did with this background is interesting, especially blending it into the animal's fur. I just don't think the background works well for the subject. No, a solid background wouldn't feel much different to me as my point was that the staged, simple background doesn't seem to grasp something significant about this animal, which some sort of environment with energy would. What I do think is there's consistency here. The background chosen (and it doesn't seem original, but it may be) seems to go with the pose, the lighting, the expression, and the whole feel of the photo, which just feels off to me, stuffed and non-living. Like I said, it's like a mounted deer head for me, and that would remain the same with this background or with a solid background. The anthropomorphism is in the fact that it could also be a human bust and is treated like one. But, to me, it doesn't feel human or alive.

@Michael: as Fred said: "making it humanlike" (but I'm answering too, so I'm not ignoring you...)

Thanks, Fred and Wayne. It looks like I was concentrating on the technical aspects of the image instead of its emotional connection with a viewer. Your additional comments are quite helpful.

I like the shot. The gorilla has been "Karshed". Yes, the animal has been anthropomorphized into Winston Churchill or similar - but this is surely the point. A gorilla is indeed worthy of the same ethical and portrait considerations as any human.