A sailor

I think I'm not that good a portraits, but I thought that this one

looked quite nice, conveying the mood after six days in the Barents

sea, without any land in sight...

 

Your comments, suggestion (and rating) much appreciated,

 

s.

This portrait is successful in that it does "convey a mood". I certainly get the feeling the subject is longing for something. I like that this portrait appears unposed and the subject is unaware of the photographer. Although it doesn't really effect the "mood" of the photo...some minor distractions are the spot where the rope intersects the tip of his nose and the yellow in the bottom right corner. It pulls my eye away from his gaze. Your placement of the subject in the frame and the diagonals in the background are very pleasing. You sure find yourself in some interesting places!

This is an excellent portrait of a sailor. One can guess he is a kinda sailor without the title, because of the rope behind, as well as the way he looks like. You managed well to capture the mood of this man, expecting something to come: his eyes are the best expression of expectation you can dream of. Well, after that, you can't say you ain't no good at portraiture ...

A pretty good portrait. The background, although it could be considered distracting, provides context. It would be better if the rope was more to the left, but bear in mind this would create a line that closes off the photo. The effect this would have is to stop us wondering what's outside the frame, and instead direct us internally, to wonder what the man is thinking about. I'm not sure if I get the 'longing' feeling that been described, more a daydreaming. I'm thinking he doesn't what to see land and is just enjoying the expanse of the sea.

Thanks for the thoughtful comments. I am pleased to see that I conveyed something with the shot.

 

As for the harness (the yellow corner) I had longly though about cropping it away, but then I end up with the frame too close to his head. I might think of some manipulation to mitigate the effect of the corner, but I agree that it is disturbing.

 

As for the reefing line (the hanging rope) I thought of not posting at all the picture since it annoyed me. As the line ends just a few centimeters behind him, though, this could be another candidate for some manipulation even though I cannot figure where to stop it. In front of his eye? No way, higher against the sail? Neither. Remove it completely? No, it makes much of the mood of the shot.

 

How stupid I was not to move a bit while shooting, but I did not want him to realise I was taking the picture...

Salvatore, the line is a minor quibble. It doesn't spoil the shot. Moving to another position may have interrupted his gaze (the most important element in this photo) before you were able to capture it.

Salvatore, I like this face and head with all its details. The yellow triangle is not bad, but I think you should erase the rope, which could very easily be done, since you cannot redo the shot. Regards, Dieter

Lovely details, I agree cloning the rope away will make it better.

Salvatore, I like this one a lot. The sailor has a very soulful expression, as well as good, strong features. I agree about the rope: too bad it wasn't curving left instead of right. Still, this is a fine shot.

I'm also going to take a few liberties with this and color correct it--on my monitor, the portrait has a red cast to it.