ricardojmendez

I agree with Balaji, there's something about the third kid pointing that makes up the whole image. I wouldn't call it ordinary, because I like the balance between kids, tree and empty space, but it certainly wouldn't be as catching without him.

An appropriate title - so much tension in one body! My only quibble is that the lower arms seem too dark, like she had sunk them in tar up to the elbows prior to the photo, but it's only a minor thing.

Muy buen retrato, Manuel. Podría perfectamente ir al portafolio de la modelo. La sombra sobre los ojos es algo excesiva (probablemente resultado del pelo), pero la expresión y el encuadre lo compensan de maravilla.

I love the patterns on the bridge's supports, bent just slightly as if they're being seen by an insane person, but the composite as a whole feels false and detracts from the eerie overall look.

It is a bit dark, but I wonder how much of a choice of light Phil had. It's wonderful how out of focus everything but the spider is - there's no doubt whatsoever what we should be watching.

Beautiful setting and I like the gradient tones in the sky, but there seem to be some sort of pink tones on the snow. Were those in the original setting or is a result of the photo printing?

 

Do crop that minimal black line at the bottom, it unbalances the image a bit.

Your photos are humbling, since you're using the same equipment as me and the results are so far ahead. So much for people insisting that the kit factory zoom lens is the root of all evil.

 

Beautiful pose, great lighting, gorgeous model. I'm entranced by how the lines on her abdomen and what we see of her breasts form a literal arrow pointing at her face.

 

 

What a weird expression! She makes me thing of an alien putting on human clothes and learning how to work the face (most likely because of the makeup).

 

I'm not sure about David's black background modification: it isolates her too much. His closer cropping on the right of the image, however, makes her a bit less off-center and allows our gaze to move into her. I'd agree with Mark's recommendation to move her a bit to the right, if it doesn't get any obtrusive elements into the frame from the left.

I'm absolutely ignorant as what cross-processing means. Did you process the slides as C-41?

 

I do like the other photo better as for the pose, but in both the yellow tones on a dark green background are too strange for me, and I think that this one is the better lit of both (specially how well and evenly lit her face is). The only real problem I see (besides the funky tones) are those distracting windows on the background - even though out of focus, they're still much too prominent.

 

I would have liked to see the second image, lit as this one, and without the yellowish tones.

Not a bad pose, but the right hand glove is almost lost on the soft light. I also agree with Scott that it looks cluttered, maybe removing the telephone cable would help (that way our gaze doesn't have to sneak around the telephone cable, the folds of the cloth and then up the other cable). There's also a distracting something poking out of her underpants (a tattoo?) that unbalances her.

 

From the series, this is the one I can relate less to the title. It would probably work better apart from the series and tending more toward a glamour image.

Hmm, I never thought of the telephone as a bondage accessory.

 

My favorite from the series as well, mainly because this one does scream crisis (mostly because of both her expression and pose) while in the others she is more calm and detached. Here the phone doesn't look like it fell but like it was thrown away. I also like the fact that this one is where the light looks less like a projected sun behind her and more light part of the image.

 

Do change the scanner or do some curves adjustment, your photos deserve better blacks.

She is well lit, but hadn't I read your explanation I would have thought she was a runner coming exhilarated from a race or some other competition, about to wipe her face on the towel she seems to be holding. (I assume the "towel" is actually the hat you mention on the title). This must have been a though scene to meter: she is lit quite well, but the hat is awfully dark and probably showing the folds of its shape would have ended up overexposing her. Do you have any shots that are marginally wider and show more of the hat thing, or maybe other people's attitude towards her?

 

What I think that David and S. Liu mention about the image not being self-explanatory has to do with what happened to me when I saw it: had I not read your explanation, I would have thought that something else entirely was going on. On this issue, the problem is not that there was an explanation, but that the explanation was needed. Then again, if you only wanted to show her portrait and not let people know what was going on, just leave out everything else and let people get from the image what they may.

Very nice portrait, I like it much better than your previous elongated one. I don't have a problem with the brighter right side of the face, even if it looks like it was almost lit too brightly. Nice touch of hair movement.

It's interesting how much the shadow he stands into contrasts with the bright softbox, but I think it might be reducing him too much to a second plane. Still, I like how the bright triangle on the right and the light from the left almost touch at the top.

A funny moment. It would probably be even funnier had you moved a bit to the left, so that it is more obvious what she's focusing on, but it's good as it is. A suggestion: try to use a shallower depth of field so that we don't see anything else but your subject and statue.

Hi Mark,

 

I hate to be harsh, but this doesn't tell me anything. I think it is because we're focused in too tightly on some people we know nothing about, and the tight focus makes it seem like we should know what's going on or get some message we don't get. The two large shadows on the foreground don't help either. If there was something interesting happening, maybe a wider shot (or a frontal one) would have gotten the message across better.

 

Good luck,

 

Ricardo

 

 

Thanks for posting the original. Amazing, how a small modification can improve an image so vastly (I think I'll be testing some uniform backgrounds in the near future).

Really nice. I had it for a studio portrait as well until I read your description, and didn't understand why it was under "Street". It's pretty evenly lit - did you use a reflector?

The flat black might be a scan issue, I'm attaching something I took the liberty of modifying in The Gimp. I love those tones, specially the stark contrast between her face and the jacket and background. The way her clothes blend with the setting makes it seem almost like a ghost. Wonderful.

 

As for the fine art question, it beats me. I find it specially amusing that one of the categories in the critique requests is actually fine art, since it seems to me more of a status than a category.

I like the angle, as well as the way her pink skin and red dress contrast with the blue-white sky. While the shadow on her face works well, it gets harsher and more annoying on her neck. As Stephen mentioned, there is a complexion issue that I imagine might hamper its usefulness as a portfolio image.

 

Overall I like it, and I consider it much better than the uncropped, unmodified version.

Great expression and an interesting angle. She reminds me somewhat of Jorja Fox from C.S.I.

Hola Cristina,

 

Excelente ojo para la composición, con el pasillo llevándonos directamente hacia la cúpula. Solo un par de problemas:

 

- La imagen parece algo borrosa, pero no puedo determinar si fue la impresión, la fotografía o el scanneo.

 

- Estoy de acuerdo con Chris: en una foto como esta, donde la escena misma tiene tanta simetría, es fundamental tratar de mantenerla. El que la sombra sea asimétrica rompe la ilusión de espejo. Trata a medio día o en algún otro punto donde esta también parezca reflejada.

 

Suerte,

Great tones. I don't care much for her mouth (it looks half like a smirk), but overall I like the way her head is tilted and the light shines on her eyes. Yet another vote for the arm feeling awkward from me, btw.

It feels somewhat soft or out of focus, but I like the tones of her hat and facepaint, as well as her pose and the way her hair cascades down. The only thing I would try to remove is the white rectangl ethat somehow got on her hat (protruding from the white prong).

 

My favorite from the folder, followed by Rainbow. You get much better images when you close down on people.

I have to agree with the comments about the need to focus on something. Pulling back this far gives us the two benches of people leading up to the band, but that doesn't compensate for such a busy and partly out-of-focus image.