Candid

Llywellyn

This is an outtake from the shoot I recently did for the Last Photographer Standing semifinal round running currently. I was popping off shots to test the lighting and my metering, and this image stood out to me. I'm still trying to figure out why, because the composition is all sorts of "off" by technical standards: his hands are chopped, and he's nearly dead center in the frame. I tried cropping this to move him to the left of the frame, but it just threw the whole thing off for me. Utterly bizarre and not something I'd experienced before. :dunno

I used this outtake to test out some new post-processing techniques and to challenge myself with skin tones. I hate doing color portraits because I suck at them, and they frustrate me to no end. Thus the practice.



Thanks for stopping by! :thumb

leaforte

It says a lot. A man with that distraught look. He has his flat screen, he has an outlet, but for some reason, the flat screen hasn't connected with the power, and its blank. Poor guy! The lighting is nice, and I think its a cool composition. The lack of hands could be associated with the lack of power to the flat screen. No picture, so who needs hands for the remote?

saurora

Could it be his expression? For me his expression along with his body language (leaning towards the viewer) is very engaging. Add that to the cropped bottom and it places him even closer. I don't know him, but the pose and expression make him seem vulnerable and he comes across as a very open person to me...he also seems a little needy (in a nice way!!!!) . I like the tones and colors in the shot. Centering.....well, the rules were meant to be broken sometimes! Cropped hands and feet will disturb most, but I've seen numerous shots by pros lately that appear to have been done intentionally.

Chrissiebeez_NL

to me its the expression combined with the lighting. he has a bright yellow aura around him that is very expressing

schmoo

Kerry I still love this shot! His expression combined with all the of rules you mentioned breaking make this a modern and perplexing piece. The color of the wall adds to this effect.

Nice job!

(I like your new avatar, too)

Llywellyn

leaforte wrote:

It says a lot. A man with that distraught look. He has his flat screen, he has an outlet, but for some reason, the flat screen hasn't connected with the power, and its blank. Poor guy! The lighting is nice, and I think its a cool composition. The lack of hands could be associated with the lack of power to the flat screen. No picture, so who needs hands for the remote?

I never thought of it that way! When I cropped out the TV to "fix" the composition, it just looked all sorts of wrong. I never pegged what the TV might be adding. Very interesting view. (I think the distraught look is because he knew in five minutes I was going to be wrapping lots of extension cords around his bare torso, though. ) Thank you for the neat perspective.

saurora wrote:

Could it be his expression? For me his expression along with his body language (leaning towards the viewer) is very engaging. Add that to the cropped bottom and it places him even closer. I don't know him, but the pose and expression make him seem vulnerable and he comes across as a very open person to me...he also seems a little needy (in a nice way!!!!) . I like the tones and colors in the shot. Centering.....well, the rules were meant to be broken sometimes! Cropped hands and feet will disturb most, but I've seen numerous shots by pros lately that appear to have been done intentionally.

I think the expression does have a lot to do with why I'm drawn to this. And I love your analysis! A lot of it seems very accurate for him, but it isn't anything I've really "seen." That could be why I find this so compelling.

And thank you for the comment about the tones and colors. I still struggle with color management, so it helps to know I'm moving in the right direction.

Chrissiebeez_NL wrote:

to me its the expression combined with the lighting. he has a bright yellow aura around him that is very expressing

Oh, I didn't even think about the aura and the effect it had on the image. It does kind of exude his warmth. Thank you for bringing it to my attention! This is really helping me pinpoint why I like this image, in case I ever want to replicate my accident.

schmoo wrote:

Kerry I still love this shot! His expression combined with all the of rules you mentioned breaking make this a modern and perplexing piece. The color of the wall adds to this effect.

Nice job!

(I like your new avatar, too)

Thank you, schmoo! This outside insight has been really helpful.

And thank you for the comment about my new avatar. It was a failed LPS entry, but looks pretty snazzy as a mini version of me.