VI

Black bowl and leaf and figure. Should've increased light and stopped down lens.

most original

 

erwin

Very original & eye catching. I think the light is fine

Great point of view!

 

Really a good composition

 

Compliments

 

L.B.

wow, entirley original!

I think this is fine as is. Very original indeed.

Incredible! Almost like a contemporary version of Eve...

At first glance it is difficult to know what you are looking at -- which is a huge strength. It forces you to judge the image solely on visual criteria, without bringing a lot of extraneous baggage into the equation. Just love it. The grain of the wood floor turns out to be crucial to the feel of the image -- fabulous work. Technical info, please?

Large black lacquered wooden bowl from a Asian "antique" store - getting a lot of mileage out of it. Dead leaf from a broad leaf plant I bought for photography purposes injured by the frost last month in California. Add one model.

Canon 1Ds Mk II, 24-105L lens (45mm), 1/125s at f/6.3. Focus point on leaf above elbow (I wondered later on if I should have powered up strobes and went for more depth of field). Two Speedotron 202VF strobes with a 5 foot Photoflex Octadome pointed diagonally down towards the model from the upper left corner about 6 feet away - and another to the lower right. (I backed the lights off until I eliminated the glare off the floor boards...) Cross lighting to get a uniform almost shadowless illumination.

I had a front silvered 30"x30" mirror mounted at a 45 degree angle over the model that I shot into to give me a true vertical view (I dislike hanging from the rafters and falling on models). I positioned the model and leaf - and this was one of the last arrangements we did. The mirror was set up such that the grain in the wood floor was diagonal to the square format I was shooting for (circle in square). Once she struck a pose, I rotated her and the bowl to have her sweeping foreshortened form have some tension and movement in relation to the strong diagonals of the wood grain in the floor.

In one image preceding this her (let me get the mirror reversal straight) right arm behind her was showing in the image because it was on the edge of the bowl - I had her tuck it in and hide it behind her body to get sort of a sweeping integrated plant effect.

I had her tuck in with her shoulder and tried to get her within the circle - her shoulder is just touching the edge - perhaps pulled in a bit more would be better?

Converted to B+W using mostly Red Channel in Channel mixer. Slight "Platinum" toning using a solid platinum-like Solid Color adjustment layer (I forget what Toyo color chip - but it translates to R:133 G:131 B:125.004) with Color Blending Mode on layer.

Regarding originality - this image was inspired by images ofFlor Garduno - one of my favorite photographers. I literally bought the very large leafed plant because of her use of plants in some of her images.

VERY VERY GOOD AND DIFFERENT!!!Best regards.

Please note the following:

• This image has been selected for discussion. It is not necessarily the "best" picture the Elves have seen this week, nor is it a contest.
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• Before writing a contribution to this thread, please consider our reason for having this forum: to help people learn about photography. Visitors have browsed the gallery, found a few striking images and want to know things like why is it a good picture, why does it work? Or, indeed, why doesn't it work, or how could it be improved? Try to answer such questions with your contribution.

The strong diagonals make it for me. Both the floor and the palm leaf display diagonals. Both, the top and sides are cropped rather close and not much "air" is left. The top can handle it because it is a smaller element which approaches the outer frame as well as being just a tad bit more spaced than the sides. The bottom is just great as far as that goes. I think what I am saying is that it might be just a little over cropped on the sides to achieve the square format.

The lighting is good, but possible too strong on the girls legs. It could stand to be a little less overpowering. Overall it is good, however.

Congratulations on being this week's chosen one.

Willie the Cropper

Very interesting! Nice composition! The tones are not consistent of whole picture, especially the model’s skin tone - it is too white like a sculpture. I would prefer that it more emphasizes the toning (blank and white) and focus on the model’s body, not on the leaf.

I would crop this scene hard from the bottom. After that it becomes more dynamic and studio context is lost. One can get impression that the woman wants out from a shell. The leaf resembles Samotraki Nike wing, moreover the head is missing as well. I wonder if the authors creation was inspired. The outcome is IMO excellent.

Really very ineresting, Full of creativity. Nice innovative thinking, and it was way too confusing to me while I was seeing the thubnail.

I anticipate that the technical merits of the photo will be discussed at length (brightness and tone of the model's skin, whether parts of the model should touch the edge of the pot or perhaps even extend beyond, the diagonals of the floor boards, whether her hair is too disconnected from her body, etc.), and most will agree that the shot is very original (we certainly don't see nudes curled up in a pot under a leaf every day). However, I'm trying to figure out 1) what the photographer was trying to convey, and 2) what the image says to me: what emotional response do I have, and what might this image say about [a nude, a woman, women in general, plants in general, the human condition, or any other aspect of society or the world that this image might represent]. In other words, why was a nude woman made to curl under a plant and a photograph taken? Is it enough just to be "creative" and "original?" I compare this to a photograph of a bird in flight, or to a sunset on the horizon of a mountain range or the sea, or a flower being pollinated by a butterfly, or a junked car in the desert, and I can see something in those very thin slices of life that I fail to see in a nude curled beneath a potted plant. Considering the abundance such original and creative shots of nude women in every pose conceivable and testing the limits of human contortions, I certainly must be missing something that so many others can see, because all I'm left with is the question, "Why?"

For sure my condition of amateur has a strong influence in my opinions about photography. But when an image shot my brain it is because there are much more things moving me than the technical facts. Of course I don't mean that technique is not important, I only say that facts in art issues has another nature.
For example, a significant photograph should transmit a kind of emotion, sadness, happiness, pain, sweetness, fury, calm, questions or intrigue, or... just the pleasure of the beauty as a caress for our spirit. You choose. But must be "something" much more stronger than simply the brand of cameras, lens, focus, aperture, angle, lightning, etc.
In this specific case I feel the beauty of an uncommon image done with creativity and artistic mastery, and the marvelous human body as the subject of our emotions.

UUuuu excellent concept, I really like it, the lighting is excellent maybe a little more space on the left? But in any case it's a wonderful picture, really a piece of art

After visiting Beepy's portfolio, in search of threads that might be tied to this image, I am left with a similar feeling of 'why' , that Stephen stated earlier. I was hoping that this was part of a larger direction that would add necessary understanding of the photographers motives. But this one, with it's conceptual- surreal feel seems almost unique to his work. Nothing wrong with that. Perhaps this image will spawn future work in a similar direction. Unfortunately, this image, taken on it's own has too many flaws from content to technique to intent that over time ruin the interest the 1st viewing imparts. In short, the image just doesn't last. Like a wine that tastes good initially , only to develope a bad aftertaste.
The composition is doing too much at one time. The circular plate on the diagonal surface is ok, but then adding the constricted nude pose ,with all it is, giving way to a leaf coming straight for me, is too much . Beepy does like to juxtapose opposites in his work, but the effect is uneven. Here I believe the nude is not working with the leaf in any way that creates a higher purpose. The complication of the figure and the placement on the plate , with a bit of hair showing just isn't telling me anything. I like it when photographers try extreme compositions and connected ideas, especially when doing so means an image that opens new doors of thought and perception.

 

This is decidedly unexpected. Looking back in comments I note that I spoke a lot of the technical setup and comments in response to a couple question when originally posted.

I would note the "sculpture" comment above - I was moving at this point towards a sculptural view of the body in some later shots, this may have been a precursor.

The concept is very much creative. It is also rich in BW tonalities and having four different textures - the floor, the palm leave, the body and the bowl. The palm leave is smooth as a silk that covers her delicate and pure soft skin, which is great idea. It looks as she's been surved thus confronting the dangerous situation. What a silly and cute fantasy. It reminds me of fairy-tale Thumbelina .
7/7.

In it's entirety it seem to odd to possess esthetic quality

AT THE FIRST SIGHT THE EYES CAPTURE THE BODY WITHOUT FIND THE DETAILS AND SEARCH FOR FINDING MORE...ANYWAY THIS IS A GOOD METHOD IN YOUR PIC...I REALLY LIKE THIS VERY MUCH...Regards((Bobby)).

Very interesting, i really had to look at before I understood what I was looking at. Nice job

I think this is an unique picture, never seen this before, so highly original... I do have ?Beepy in my list of interesting people, I did notice him before, not only because of his name ;D.... and the technical details, I cannot talk about it, but what I see on my computerscreen is perfect, and if I would have this on my wall, for sure I could look at it again and again, it is kind of confusing but still interesting
_ Els, Netherlands