Portfolio piece?

davidweaver

I'm generally not a fan of sepia toning but I feel this works. It was too cold as a grayscale. The lighting in the place was all mixed up too. Sunlight filtered in windows, green fluorescents, hard yellow incandescent ceiling lights too.

VisualXpressions

David,

I think the portrait is perfect in sepia! does it have a title?

Winston

davidweaver

"Marion and Cindy"

...and thanks.

VisualXpressions wrote:

David,

I think the portrait is perfect in sepia! does it have a title?

Winston

1pocket

I like the sepia, too, but I think the image would benefit from a little curve adjustment to bring out a little more contrast in their faces.

Scott_Quier

- a little more contast in the faces would greatly improve it. The choice of sepia is right on!

But, Portfolio piece? - I don't think so. For me the belt, or whatever it is, is a huge distracter.

Richard

Scott_Quier wrote:

- a little more contast in the faces would greatly improve it. The choice of sepia is right on!

But, Portfolio piece? - I don't think so. For me the belt, or whatever it is, is a huge distracter.

I agree with Scott. I like the toning, but you need to raise the black point a bit. The strap is a distraction; the hairpiece seems inconsistent with the expression.

davidweaver

Interesting comment....how so?

Richard wrote:

I agree with Scott. I like the toning, but you need to raise the black point a bit. The strap is a distraction; the hairpiece seems inconsistent with the expression.

Richard

davidweaver wrote:

Interesting comment....how so?

The hairpiece looks festive. She does not look happy, perhaps even in pain.

Elaine

Looks to me like someone is getting treated as a queen for a day, complete with crown and sash. The expressions say to me that something deeper is going on here, but I won't venture a guess unless I'm completely off base. I like the sepia tone, and the mood is poignant.

davidweaver

She was actually the Valentine Day Queen at the assisted-living facility she stays at in central Texas. The other person is her daughter. The mother, Marion, suffers from a variety of symptoms including alzheimer's and dementia, at some points in this shoot she was aware of the camera and even posed a bit for me. I generally don't explain the photos when I originally post them. Even nature shots are sometimes vaguely titled so to leave more of the visual processing to the viewer.

Thanks for the comment Elaine!

Elaine wrote:

Looks to me like someone is getting treated as a queen for a day, complete with crown and sash. The expressions say to me that something deeper is going on here, but I won't venture a guess unless I'm completely off base. I like the sepia tone, and the mood is poignant.

Elaine

davidweaver wrote:

She was actually the Valentine Day Queen at the assisted-living facility she stays at in central Texas. The other person is her daughter. The mother, Marion, suffers from a variety of symptoms including alzheimer's and dementia, at some points in this shoot she was aware of the camera and even posed a bit for me. I generally don't explain the photos when I originally post them. Even nature shots are sometimes vaguely titled so to leave more of the visual processing to the viewer.

Thanks for the comment Elaine!

Thanks for sharing more. This is exactly the story I had in my mind. Very touching and raw.