Your opinion please

Juano

There is a call for a juried show, the theme is portraits. The ones I have are street portraits, that's why I choose to post them here "in house", rather than the people forum. I need to select three and need your opinion. Apologies for the long post.

a) on their merit
b) I am not sure some qualify as portraits

Any and all cc's appreciated.

1.


2.


3.




4.


5.


6. Can this be considered a portrait?


7.

TonyCooper

My choice as a photograph is #5, but I have no idea if fits as a "portrait". It
probably wouldn't in the view of most.

#7 seems familiar. Have you posted this before? It seems like there was a
discussion on how it would be better cropped. I'd like to see a version cropped
just to the left of the end of the bench top on the left and to omit the blocks on
the right. I think I said this before, and most disagreed with me.

#1 is the most portrait-like, but there's stuff to be cloned out at the upper right.
The plastic bag, for sure, and maybe the blue rope.

As far as the question about #6, I do like it as a photograph, but I think of a "portrait"
as an image that reveals the person or people in it. This doesn't do that.

Juano

TonyCooper wrote: »

My choice as a photograph is #5, but I have no idea if fits as a "portrait". It
probably wouldn't in the view of most.

#7 seems familiar. Have you posted this before? It seems like there was a
discussion on how it would be better cropped. I'd like to see a version cropped
just to the left of the end of the bench top on the left and to omit the blocks on
the right. I think I said this before, and most disagreed with me.

#1 is the most portrait-like, but there's stuff to be cloned out at the upper right.
The plastic bag, for sure, and maybe the blue rope.

As far as the question about #6, I do like it as a photograph, but I think of a "portrait"
as an image that reveals the person or people in it. This doesn't do that.

Thanks for the comments Tony.

As I said above, most of these have been posted here before.

#1 I agree with getting rid of the plastic bag, but I kind of like the blue rope in the back, it gives the shot some authenticity.

#6 I also like the photo, but doubt that it can be considered a portrait. The same goes for #5.

#7 When I posted this, there was a discussion on cropping the column on the left. Myself and others though that it provided some balance, but it is worth trying a crop as you suggest.

Once again thanks for taking the time to comment.

tortillatorture

#4 and #7 did it for me. (dont crop anything)

TonyCooper

Juano wrote: »

Thanks for the comments Tony.


#7 When I posted this, there was a discussion on cropping the column on the left. Myself and others though that it provided some balance, but it is worth trying a crop as you suggest.

Once again thanks for taking the time to comment.

I'm all for balance, but feel that a portrait should present the person,
not the backdrop. This presents a wall with a person in the scene.
It's a great wall, but for the purpose you intend, I think it distracts
from the person.

Juano

TonyCooper wrote: »

I'm all for balance, but feel that a portrait should present the person,
not the backdrop. This presents a wall with a person in the scene.
It's a great wall, but for the purpose you intend, I think it distracts
from the person.

Thanks again I agree that #7 is not just about the girl, it is also about the wall and the vine. It is an image I like very much, but I guess it doesn't qualify as a true portrait.

Richard

Hmm...there's a big difference between street portraits and normal portraits, and I'm afraid you're going to be at a disadvantage in this one if the judges use the normal portrait standards. I think your strongest chance is with #4, though I wish you had framed it a little differently to include the musician's left hand instead of the body of the guitar. Still, there's lots of character in that face, and that's the main goal of portraits. #1 would be my second choice, but it suffers from the obscured mouth. I like #2, though I suspect that the blur won't cut it in this context. I also like #5, but the oblique angle hides the facial details, which makes a generic musician shot rather than a portrait. #3 has too much competition from the background and feels distant somehow. #6 and #7 aren't portraits at all, IMO, though they're decent street shots.

Good luck with the competition.

Juano

Richard wrote: »

Hmm...there's a big difference between street portraits and normal portraits, and I'm afraid you're going to be at a disadvantage in this one if the judges use the normal portrait standards. I think your strongest chance is with #4, though I wish you had framed it a little differently to include the musician's left hand instead of the body of the guitar. Still, there's lots of character in that face, and that's the main goal of portraits. #1 would be my second choice, but it suffers from the obscured mouth. I like #2, though I suspect that the blur won't cut it in this context. I also like #5, but the oblique angle hides the facial details, which makes a generic musician shot rather than a portrait. #3 has too much competition from the background and feels distant somehow. #6 and #7 aren't portraits at all, IMO, though they're decent street shots.

Good luck with the competition.

Thanks for the honest comments Richard. I am not sure if will enter, as my "portraits" may not be portraits after all. This is a great learning experience.

anonymouscuban

#3 and #4 are your strongest images of the group. On their own merit but also from a portraiture perspective. Both shots convey emotion and a connection to the viewer. They are both very well composed and the lighting is nice.

Juano

anonymouscuban wrote: »

#3 and #4 are your strongest images of the group. On their own merit but also from a portraiture perspective. Both shots convey emotion and a connection to the viewer. They are both very well composed and the lighting is nice.

Thanks

zoomer

Best overall photo is 7 best portrait is 5.

FlyNavy

I like number 5.

Qarik

zoomer wrote: »

Best overall photo is 7 best portrait is 5.

+1

though overall these don't live up to your other work to be honest. I am a fan of your stuff in general.

Juano

Qarik wrote: »

+1

though overall these don't live up to your other work to be honest. I am a fan of your stuff in general.

Thanks for the comments.

Also, thanks for your kind words on my other work!

bfjr

Richard wrote: »

Hmm...there's a big difference between street portraits and normal portraits, and I'm afraid you're going to be at a disadvantage in this one if the judges use the normal portrait standards. I think your strongest chance is with #4, though I wish you had framed it a little differently to include the musician's left hand instead of the body of the guitar. Still, there's lots of character in that face, and that's the main goal of portraits. #1 would be my second choice, but it suffers from the obscured mouth. I like #2, though I suspect that the blur won't cut it in this context. I also like #5, but the oblique angle hides the facial details, which makes a generic musician shot rather than a portrait. #3 has too much competition from the background and feels distant somehow. #6 and #7 aren't portraits at all, IMO, though they're decent street shots.

Good luck with the competition.

Rather then retyping this is the CC that I strongly agree with.

bdcolen

I'm going to ignore the camera club ethos, which means that what I'm going to say may not help you, but my picks are #s 2 and 4. Number two is by far the strongest of the group, and wonderfully captures the "soul" of the subject. Yes, it has motion blur, but that is part of why it is so "alive;" that is a real person, captured in a real moment of amusement, joy, or both. It is big and bold - terrific. And number 4 also captures the subject, and in an interesting way. I agree with Richard about the hands, but even so, it is a strong, masculine image.

So why not any of the others? Number 1 - I wish the boy's arm was 3/4 of an inch higher or lower, to either reveal, or hide, his mouth. I find the blue string distracting, and the head attached to his side on the lower ride is weird; Number 3- It's a nice image of the young woman, and you could crop it tighter, but the hanging whatevers look like two ears. And that bright red is really distracting, drawing attention away from her lovely face; number 5 - Nice shot of a trumpet player, but too deep in shadows, without enough detail, to really be a 'portrait' of the musician. Also, the bright white shirt is just too much of a distraction; number 6 - First, no, it's not a portrait, it's a street scene, and two, it's much too busy - unfortunately, because I love the lines created by the two women, and the smoking woman really makes it a fascinating shot. But we're talking contest here, and it's just too flawed. And finally we have #7 - Again, a lovely scene, which her family would love. But she's too much a piece of a scene for it to be a portrait, and as a street shot, I either want to see more of her legs, or I don't want to see them at all - I just want her torso sitting on the table.

Good luck with the contest!

Juano

bdcolen wrote: »

I'm going to ignore the camera club ethos, which means that what I'm going to say may not help you, but my picks are #s 2 and 4. Number two is by far the strongest of the group, and wonderfully captures the "soul" of the subject. Yes, it has motion blur, but that is part of why it is so "alive;" that is a real person, captured in a real moment of amusement, joy, or both. It is big and bold - terrific. And number 4 also captures the subject, and in an interesting way. I agree with Richard about the hands, but even so, it is a strong, masculine image.

So why not any of the others? Number 1 - I wish the boy's arm was 3/4 of an inch higher or lower, to either reveal, or hide, his mouth. I find the blue string distracting, and the head attached to his side on the lower ride is weird; Number 3- It's a nice image of the young woman, and you could crop it tighter, but the hanging whatevers look like two ears. And that bright red is really distracting, drawing attention away from her lovely face; number 5 - Nice shot of a trumpet player, but too deep in shadows, without enough detail, to really be a 'portrait' of the musician. Also, the bright white shirt is just too much of a distraction; number 6 - First, no, it's not a portrait, it's a street scene, and two, it's much too busy - unfortunately, because I love the lines created by the two women, and the smoking woman really makes it a fascinating shot. But we're talking contest here, and it's just too flawed. And finally we have #7 - Again, a lovely scene, which her family would love. But she's too much a piece of a scene for it to be a portrait, and as a street shot, I either want to see more of her legs, or I don't want to see them at all - I just want her torso sitting on the table.




Good luck with the contest!

Wow, thanks for the thorough comment BD. It is always interesting to see what attracts people to a shot. I like the shot of my friend laughing, because it truly conveys his soul, maybe not a great picture, but it speaks to me. By now it is fairly clear that none are contest worthy portraits and some, not portraits all. I knew it was a long shot because portraits are not my thing and what I have is a collection of pictures of people.

Thank you all for a very enriching round of comments.

TonyCooper

bdcolen wrote: »

I'm going to ignore the camera club ethos

What is the "camera club ethos"? Yes, I know what "ethos" means,
but don't understand what the comment means in this context.

Yes, I know an image should be judged holistically and not by the
presence or absence of certain conventions being observed, and that c.c.
judges are often too bound by those conventions, but what are the
conventions you are ignoring in these images?

The only one that I see being ignored is that most of these are not
what most people would consider as portraits. Still, good images,
but not portrait images as this particular competition ask for.

Teach us.

bdcolen

Sharp as a tack; composed and framed according the rules; "perfectly" exposed; "beautiful" - whatever that is. And two and four certainly are portraits.