Mother

I wanted to upload this for Mother's Day, but photonet was not

cooperative. Critique only please.

I wish I could see some expression on the face of the person who is looking at the photo of his/her mother. I think it could be a bit sharper.

 

Excellent idea. Very original.

in responce to M. M. Meehan:

 

Actually, IMHO its not so important to see the expression: after all, its about the mother; its a devotion to her. So its most important to see that portrait.

 

In other words, I would stick to the original :)

 

Great gift, Chris. She would definitely like it.

This is -as always- a highly sensitive approach to feelings, Chris. The expression on the face is not necessary, because the BW mood says it all. I mean, if this was not to depict nostalgia, I guess you would have used colour, right ?

 

Superb, subtle image.

If we do not have the facial expression for the person regarding the photo, why would we want the arm and the checkered shirt in the foreground? Both totally detract from the photo, I think. The photo closer and maybe showing the hand holding the photo in the background might be a trade off for me, if I am not shown the expression of the person's face.

 

My monitor is set to being quite bright, but I see a white area around the black arm of chair (?) and so presume that the light is coming from that direction. I wonder why? It makes a very bright spot on the hand holding the photo, also. The high contrast might just be the point of the shot, then, and not the photo at all, which gets lost because of the busy lower left corner as well as the bright white spot.

its interesting to read this discussion. thank you for sharing!

 

there's certainly a share of truth in what you say from the technical point of view (I mostly tend to agree with the second half of your comment, however, these details don't bother me so much because my attention is onto the right hand and the portrait of a mother so strongly that I tend to not even notice the defects...)

 

now, I want to try to say that the checked shirt and the shoulder thing signifies the following to me: this is a very personal image, it gives the viewer an opportunity to feel as if the viewer was passing by from the living room to the kitchen, and noticed the man in the sofa looking at the portrait. Very home-like feeling, as in a private setting. Almost like looking over the shoulder.

 

This is a very personal image, and I don't see why it should be perfect from a classical photography point of view. Maybe... raw is better sometimes.

 

But then again, I might sound as if I defend Chis, but I like to criticize him too every now and again ;)

i find the parallel interaction of the forearm and the bright white edging along the sofa quite compositionplimentary: they frame the subject rather diagonaloriginally.

I see the diagonal lines and the triangles in the corners. Well, not straight lines or perfect triangles. It might work better on a square format with those lines. How about if we crop off a big bit off the left to square it up. Would that bring the photo closer and make the subject more apparent?

 

Love the discussions too. I don't mind your defending your point of view. :))

I'm so pleased this picture has generated such a lively discussion! Carry on, pretend I'm not even here :)

Ok, here goes my crop, in the best MF size I can manage. It now has one black triangle, one checkered triangle and 2 gray ones. And no more concern about the expression on your face. Maybe more concern about the egg on my face.

i have a serious square-format-phobia, so i would probably never have done that crop, but ! , _ ^ it really does look good that way!

and, since faces were mentioned, i find the whole shot as cropped looks like a crazy-fat-lips-face with a droopy one eye's missing.

M.M., I truly love the crop. While I am attached to the photo in my hand, I'm not attached to this image. I don't do a lot of highly technical images, at least, I don't post them on photonet. Thank you for your comments, your crop, and your time.

 

Richard, I'm trying to see the funny face...perhaps I'm looking too hard!

 

Vi, as always, thanks for coming round!

 

And Lionel, you know more about me than many people I've known for years...;)

The suggested finish result looks nice, but its a bit too tight for me. However, having no phobia for square shots (maybe I should rather confess and say I have a sort of mania for them instead;), I find the overall squarentation maybe even better.

 

Damn, Ri, you are still onto faces in every bunch of lines! (aha, so am i... actually more and more...:))

Oh, and Vi...thank you for protecting me...you know how sensitive I am :)

Chris, that can't be true ? Are some people paying so little attention ?

People see what they want to see, rarely do they see the truth. ;)

a rare man possesses the sensitivity to see the world the way it is, rather than the way they want to see it... :)