What is it about this photo?

InsuredDisasterInsuredDisaster Registered Users Posts: 1,132 Major grins
edited September 8, 2009 in The Big Picture
Its not mine, but i'm sick of seeing it. Its currently in the back of Shutterbug, the October 2009 issue for sure, but I've seen it before. You might have seen it. If not, maybe grab a look next time you pass the grocerystore.



The ad has a picture of a racecar driver (i'm guessing) with a tear running down her/his (can't be sure which) face and having a royal pout. The ad, which is for strobe and lighting equipment states, " Capable Equipment+THe Know-How=Impactful Images."


I'm hoping that someone will enlighten me if they think this is an impactful image. If this race car driver was clearly right off the track, and was crying, then certainly, it woud have an impact. But this is a studio shot, and this "driver" could very well be a model, and not a driver. So there's no impact if you look at it from a sports perspective. So an actor in a race car suit is shedding a tear, big deal.:dunno

But maybe its about the lighting. To me, when you look at the included diagram, the thing just seems overly complicated. Photog's got what, 7 lights to light up one dude up close? Seems a waste. Sure there's lots of shadows and highlights on the face, but again, maybe because I've lost impact due to the fact its an act, I just don't see the impact here.


So, portrait photogs, I'm hoping you can take a look at this and enlighten me as to why you think this is a good (or not so good) photo. I'm really interested in this, since I've seen it several times now, and you'd think its got to be a great photo to be put into an ad this big. Thing is, I've seen vastly superior (IMO) shots on this forum, and they made a much bigger impact in my mind.


And yes mods please move this if needed, but I'm genuinely curious about the "people" shot.
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