neil cowley - visual artis

Lovely blending of the tree and overall toning

superb tonality

interesting perspective, add interesting lightin for a cool shot

Is is just me, or does it look like this woman has stretch marks on her hip? You know, you

can remove those pretty easily . . .

good timing. I think if it had a stronger view of a foreground face, it be a killer photo.

Very sublte tonalities, but it doesn't seem to have that finished feel to it. Maybe background needs more burning. I think I'm struggling with it becuase it doesn't have a clear subject. The horizon being positioned nearly midway, and the tree not brought to the edges of the frame; leaves me feeling a little purposeless.

Interesting use of filter. Try an unsharp mask with a radius of 20px or so, with an intensity of 20-30% to bring out some contrast in the blurry areas.

Very well composed, excelent tonality and color. Would work well in a series to develop the aesthetic.

can't see past the red border

A very good look with interesting composition, and psychological impact.

this is it

Best of the shoot becuase its at least candid and not so forced, but lighting is drab.

Tonality and colors are exquisite. Good catch

Lively is the word, and mood I get from it. Very active and dramatic. I cringe just looking at it cause I know how erotic/revulsive that would be all in one moment. Very strong concept, did you generate the concept or just execute it?

 

But that's exactly why you got paid more than most of these amature chumps own in camera equipment. Don't worry about the second hand comments, your work and your bank account show you are on track. There are pros here who are willing and able to give you some good advice, try it with a project that is still in progress if you get stuck. If you are just putting up your images to make the amatuers jealous - the landscape guys have already done that. But by all means don't be frustrated by the flamers and 'rule bound' people.

 

Your art buyers and you know what you're communicating, thanks for putting it up for the rest of us to look up to.

It seems that the real value in a shot like this has been missed so far in the commentary. This is a necessary piece to have in any professional portfolio and this is a good one at that. Every art director/buyer you show your book to wants to see what you can do with the raw materials of photography. Subject matter is secondary, and they realize that. The 'artist' and pure photographers who have made their comments known I assume are not aware of the realities of working photographers, or the necessities of a portfolio showing good photography. So the subject is not important, as you say - it is the execution that counts. This is a very understated reality when someone is considering hiring you - maybe their product is push pins and they are painfully aware of the difficulty in marketing that. At the site of your creativity, elevating their product to the status of cadelabras or whatever; you'll have the job. So you've served your purpose.

 

About the shot now....

 

Three is the right number, the lighting is excellent, everything well executed. But I don't get the feeling that this was your 5th arrangement and that you've really pushed for the most graphically striking arrangement that you can. Go back to the art textbooks and try illustrating concepts like 'perspective space', 'negative space', or 'rule of thirds'. Using these principles I would arrange the front pin closer on the dark area in front (to the right in the falloff of that beam) to catch the light for greater contrast against the black surface, and more blur. I would arrange the point to be toward the pin of the left. Then I would play with the pin on the back right to arrange it somewhere in the middle ground. Here is where you can create a little more effect by using some superglue or something to stage it in a gravity defying or other suspensful manner which would give you the final touch for arrangement. Finally, move your focal plane to make sure that only your centre of interest is critically sharp and you would have perfect photo. For the sharpness, I find the details of the refractions in the pin bodies to be of great interest also very interesting.

 

So that would be my thinking as I 'play' through the image. At some point, become satisfied and drop it in your portfolio proudly. Another consideration is to keep the 'in camera' creativity and add photoshop creativity to further showcase your skills.

I just can't live with the title, knowing what I do about industry and what it does to habitat. Secondly I don't like the blowup frame. It might work if you tinted it darker or lighter than the primary frame.

Not much to say but that you follow and break all the rules in one shot for a perfect composition. However the border is distracting at the size it is, make it bigger and change its color or remove it.

The choice to just blow out the highlights is very effective in creating the abstract planar sense, yet the folds of fabric and down-turn of hand and hip-crease bring us back to a three dimensional reminder in the lower reaches of the image. Very successful tension there. I don't know if this is helpful, but I'm just trying to say what I'm seeing so that you can think (or not think) and accomplish it again.

Did you simply focus slightly behind the peak of the hip? Do you mind if I copy this one to my HD's inspiration folder?

Neil

if you set your polarizer to dampen the sidewalk it will likely cut the brightness down to a managable level and saturate the flag even more.

Try a polarizer to cut the glare and get better shadow details.

nice effect. I would crop it differently. The size of the floor panels really seems to throw the scale of the whole thing out.

well seen and exposed

Good mystery and tension

Good point

Supurb tonalities in the choice of the high key finishing

classic heartwrencher, but not a lot of drama on purely photographic terms.