Portraits: Valiko

Yuri Pautov · April 6, 2012

Valiko Kochiashvili - art director of our Voronezh Opera and Ballet theatre.
Yuri

novicesnapper · April 6, 2012

Nice image, I might do a severe crop though, below the second shelf, right above the brown framed picture, over his left shoulder. I feel I'm "losing" him in the background. Since he's facing to our right, I would leave a smidgen more crop on his left side where his left foot is pointing. This will also get rid of some of the distortion from the lens. If you want to leave this a larger crop, you might try some lens correction to straighten it.

Yaflyyadie · April 7, 2012

Yuri:

To me, this is a great picture of someone surrounded for what he likes and loves best.
Very casual one, with a large background that adds to the feeling of intellectuality.
Even the broken shoe adds to the value of who he is.
Colors are natural and makes the frame warm.
Just my humble opinion (JMHO).
I believe there is nothing to change there.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry, forgot to write something: MY DEEPEST RESPECT TO YOUR WORK.
Y.

VayCayMom · April 7, 2012

The items behind him are on display because they all mean something to him, everything on those shelves and the art on the floor has a story. That wall could provide unending conversations. Great job.

Gary752 · April 7, 2012

novicesnapper wrote: »

Nice image, I might do a severe crop though, below the second shelf, right above the brown framed picture, over his left shoulder. I feel I'm "losing" him in the background. Since he's facing to our right, I would leave a smidgen more crop on his left side where his left foot is pointing. This will also get rid of some of the distortion from the lens. If you want to leave this a larger crop, you might try some lens correction to straighten it.

Yuri is one of the best here at utilizing backgrounds to tell a story. I suggest you do a search on his name here and view some of his work. I agree with what others have said, and wouldn't change a thing.

Nice job Yuri, as always!

GaryB

novicesnapper · April 8, 2012

Thanks, I guess the composure of a shot is pretty subjective. I assumed with the word "portrait", it was more about the person, not so much about his surroundings, though they certainly play a role as well. The reason I suggested a crop, was the disconcerting shelf angle at the top of the image, running downhill to the right. Or the right vertical support running up and curving to the right? I like the shot, it's honest, unpretentious.

avangardphoto · April 10, 2012

Nice shot. Thanks.

Gotham · April 10, 2012

I agree that the background is a big part of the portrait and should stay. I think if I were to re-shoot it, however, I'd pull him away from the background a little bit more and throw it a tiny bit OOF so that there would be a little bit more separation between him and the bg (also, throwing in a rim light would help a lot, I think).

Portraits: Valiko

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