spoli

Perfect B/W for the most appropriate subject: no mid-tones, simple and effective composition, excellent framing. We tend to forget that simplicity leads to the most effective form of visual art.

Very well done!

I think the green light is too intense anyway to be corrected completely in post processing without an additional serious effort for removing the noise. It can be done but with really good tools.

And maybe the author never had the intention to correct it: just to present it as-is. I'm sure there is more here than just the technicalities. No, I've never been in such a place and it is hard for me to judge.

But I must admit, I'm also tempted to try a "correction" just as a technical challenge. Without doing such a good as John in removing the cast, I tried to reduce the noise to an acceptable level without destroying all the details...

On the other hand, I like her expression: is really suggests sweetness and grace.

Nice capture. I agree with John about the color cast.

One reason can be the deceiving light: your subject is in the shadow while some of the background is in full sun. Probably the camera algorithms were fouled by this mixture. Easy to fix in your digital light room.

On the other hand, the color cast may be the result of a monitor not properly calibrated. It happened to me until I've got a calibrator and fixed my monitor.

Thanks for sharing.

Beautiful model and astonishing eyes. Perfect eye contact and believable pose: there is nothing artificial or forced in her expression.

Without being a portrait photographer, I dare to make some comments:

1. I find the image too dark for such a portrait. Other portraits in your gallery are dark with a reason. This one deserves a broader tonal range. Such face and eyes need to shine and capture the viewer in the magic of her looks.
2. I find your choice of framing (7:5 landscape) a bit uninspired. Too much background on the sides does not help in my opinion. I would change it to square format (see next comment as well).
3. I would have loved to see the whole head - the square format would have worked even better leaving enough background for the atmosphere but not too much to become distracting.

I attached my take on this portrait as an illustration of my subjective comments. Please take everything with a grain of salt because I'm not either an expert nor I pretend to be an artist. 

Thank you for sharing your beautiful work with us.

Excellent capture!

I see my daughter in this picture :-) Since she's got an iPad and an iPhone her life looks more and more like a Sci-Fi movie where connectivity becomes a way of life. Only if our society won't morph into the world described by Isaac Asimov in The Naked Sun. But I digress...

You really captured the quintessence of a generation and its technology!

Very well done!

Area 57 maybe ;-)

The face in the background (left bottom corner) is definitely distracting. I suppose that B/W treatment helps here; otherwise, that face would have been even more distracting. I would have spent a bit of time in post processing to remove that face... Or maybe that face means something that I missed.

Just my 2 cents...

It is fine art John. Great composition using the diagonal as the main feature to bring dynamism in this otherwise simple scene. As a personal preference, I would have flipped the image horizontally to suggest an ascension to the light and not the opposite. But I'm a right handed (and left minded) optimist :-)

Photography that has light as its main subject has always been my favorite. Your picture is a perfect example of creative work using the very basic elements that made photography art: light and shadows, geometry and abstraction all combined in a good composition without the distraction of colors.

I just like it!

As always subjectively yours, Stefan

Thank you, Alf.

Coming from you it is a real encouragement and a nice compliment.

I'm sure we all have undiscovered treasures on our hard drives :-)

Thank you, Pierre.

I wish I would meet this boy again sometimes. It happened just once in a park near my house late afternoon. The sunset light helped a little bit here. The rest is post processing with B/W conversion, filters, etc.

Thank you, Miguel and Pierre. I get lucky sometimes. But I miss a lot as well. I took about 8 shots until the guy got into this position with the bell almost done.

As for the tones, a bit of post processing helps a bit. But the original was also good to start with.

The conversion to B/W was done with a free plug-in that I found by chance: virtualPhotographer by OptikVerve Labs; it has a lot of presets but I prefer to control the process myself - it has 3 + 1 color filters (the last one is custom - you choose the color), you can add different effects or simply play with brightness, contrast, or grain (very realistic film grain emulation).

Hi Pierre,

I noticed this photo from the day you posted it. It reminds me of a photo of my wife when she was a child. The same dark eyes (I've got in love with) and some sort of maturity unusual for such a young age.

I don't know anything about your daughter but I feel like she is part of the family already and I'd give anything to see her smiling again!

Great family photo and, I'm sure, a very dear memory for both of you.

By the way, who said that talent cannot be inherited? Your daughter proves it otherwise. Very good portfolio; without disregarding the rest, I like her still life photos very much - retro and... original.

Man, you are so lucky!

Stefan

John, this is such a powerful portrait. Browsing the photo critique forum, this image triggered my attention even before reading your name.

It is the face and the eyes of this man that attract the viewer like a magnet. Obviously, we know very little about this man. But his portrait "clicks" with our inner child: it is that sort of paternal figure inspiring a combination of force and kindness that transcends our lives giving us a sense of stability and comfort.

When it comes to technicalities, I'm not the best person to give you sound advice. I'm always subjective and possibly inconsistent. When I saw your photo, I couldn't stop thinking of a portrait of one of my grand grandfathers - a drawing made by a famous local painter around 1920. I had that portrait above the bed all my childhood: he inspired me strength and confidence. I never knew the man - only his portrait - but this meant a lot to me. I found your portrait inspirational as well.

I played with this portrait a bit only to refresh my memories and to reconstruct that world buried in my past (see attachment):

• The square format reduces somewhat the amount of darkness that I found in contrast with my emotions created by the subject. You may want to keep more darkness for completely different reasons. As I said, my view is too personal to get it right.
• I agree with your statement regarding the underexposure; but I wouldn't change too much the overall atmosphere (especially, if taking some of the darkness through cropping). Just slightly enhancing the light on his face and increasing the contrast locally a tiny bit could give more force and balance.
• I added a frame - this is not a critique. I did it just because I wanted to remember that drawing from my childhood - the framing, the passepartout, the sense of proportions. And to realize how great this portrait would look on the walls of an exhibition.

I don't usually spend that much time on a photo, but this one was personal. Thank you, John, for making my day.

Very good portrait. Hard to find anything to critique here. Very well executed.

And last but not least, a beautiful model.

Great job!

William and Cosmin: thank you both for your appreciation.

I must admit that this photo didn't look impressive enough for my taste when I took the shot about ten years ago. Canon G1 was my first digital camera, I had little or no experience with post processing photos on a computer and, honestly, I forgot about this photo until few months ago when I was looking for some pictures to illustrate my photography blog. This was the moment when I realized that the image converted to B/W and cropped properly may have some potential. Playing with a frame generator from Filter Forge Freepack (yeah, I'm cheap) I came up with this presentation.

Superb portrait! Take it from me as a viewer not as a photographer. I haven't seen a portrait like this in a while. It connects emotionally and resonates with our souls in a way hard to describe in words. It would be a shame to find something to criticize here (even technicalities). This is art at its best.

Exceptional work, Katia: I will defend this portrait in the face of any future critics. Do I need to say more on how much I like it?

An old photo in a new frame: I've been playing with a new plug-in

lately. Does it work?

Thanks for stopping by.

Amazing view, Leo. I like that you didn't fall into the trap of over processing. The image is credible and pleasant. Very well done.

As for the "Wallys", I agree that you find them everywhere. I remember my attempt to capture a good view of Peyto Lake in the Canadian Rockies few years ago. The best view is from a relatively small platform always crowded with "Wallys". Eventually, I've got what I came for.

In the end, I feel that I'm a "Wally" too when I take my pictures despite of all the good intentions to be less intrusive than others... I'm afraid it is more and more difficult to keep the balance: on one hand, you cannot stop people wanting to experience the greatness on Nature maybe once in their life time; on the other hand, you feel that we invaded this sacred space that won't be the same again like it was without us.

Thanks for sharing this beautiful landscape with us Leo.

This looks like a snapshot in an exhibition of modern art. The lighting is almost typical to such exhibits... Top spot lighting always gives strong contrasts even when using a secondary more diffuse source to fill the space. Your choice was to hide in full shadow the only side of the object that would have given a clue what this object really is. I played with this type of still photography as well while working for a lighting company.

You decided to make this object somewhat intriguing letting the viewer guess: is it just a shell or a solid object? To add more mystery you could have done it entirely in B/W (see may attachment). Without colors it would have been even more intriguing. On the other hand, I must admit that the color of the shell is interesting and appealing in the context.

I would straighten the vertical line by rotating CCW about 3° and crop to eliminate the right corner.

Otherwise, a nice still life photo well executed that triggers the viewer attention.

Good job! Thanks for sharing and welcome in the Photo.net community.

Hi Pierre,

You cannot forget your first love: film photography. Taking a picture with two seconds exposure, using a 30 years old camera without stabilization, in low light is almost like operating a view camera without tripod :-)

You have steady hands my friend. Have you tried surgery?

Interesting subject - especially, his almost sad face. He seems to be detached from the crowd, in meditation. I could see him in the church if it wouldn't be for the background so typical for many European pubs (it reminds me of one in my home town).

I really like the couple in background - this was a french kiss lasting at least... two seconds!

Great capture that preserves the atmosphere so well while contrasting with the face of your main character.

Kind regards,

Stefan

Excellent capture. I almost see these girls laughing and turning their heads while the girl on the left looks confident straight into the camera.

Very well done!

This is a really hot glass of Martini! Excellent execution!

I'm not sure this is a completely new idea, but I don't care. I like the perfect composition and the great choice of B/W and color. The final result goes beyond glamor or sex: it is art at its best.

Great work!

Honestly, I like a lot of photos in your portfolio but I don't find this one particularly impressive. I cannot say way... This photo does not connect with the viewer very well.

It is not the fact that I don't like sexy photos. On the contrary, you have very good ones in your portfolio that I enjoyed and, just because of them, I find this one lacking something hard to define. Even the lighting looks artificial and and disconnected with the background.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not a professional photographer (that's why I don't rate photos very often) and I expressed only my opinion as a viewer that expected something different.

Best regards,

Stefan

Very good choice of framing. I know, others won't agree; but I think, esthetically, you made the right choice. I tried to remove the frame and I didn't like it so much. Your choice of frame makes sense, it is logical and artistically pleasant. I wouldn't change it a bit.

Nice work and very well done!

Very good use of HDR technique, you did not fall in the trap of over-processing - this landscape looks credible and pleasant. Excellent composition, great light and nice colors. And last but not least, an elegant frame that makes you want to hang it on the wall right away.

Great job!

Great message and a good title.

I hope the guy in the photo is fine after this :-)