janis
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Post by janis on Oct 22, 2013 2:49:54 GMT
I was quite pleased with this initially; now I realize I should have allowed the spray of freckles to continue across her nose. Too late; I have already submitted it to a contest so I will live with it as is.
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Post by mariehass on Oct 25, 2013 10:38:20 GMT
Janis, I would be remiss if I did not comment on this image.
Could you please tell me how you see this image?
I am not sure what your intent was, but to me, the treatment you have applied is somewhat harsh - almost a film noir.
I hope I have not offended. And good luck on your competition.
'Rie
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janis
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Post by janis on Oct 26, 2013 1:22:08 GMT
Hi, 'Rie. Thanks for speaking up. The silence has been rather deafening. I may have misled by giving the image the name I did; I should have just called it by the subject's name as I did on Flickr, as I think anyone who knows her would agree that it captures something of the essence of her character, a certain solemnity she is capable of that commands both awe and respect. At the same time, she is a perfectly endearing and adorable child and I think the image captures that as well. It is indeed a noir treatment and the reason for that was not at all intentional, but merely my determination to produce some kind of portrait. I had missed one opportunity this summer and blown a second a month later, so when I found myself in her and her sisters' company at an office party a few weeks ago, I shot several frames of each of them, but I was using flash and either my technique or my batteries failed me and they were all badly underexposed. The original of this one was all the worse for being shot too close for my 105 mm macro and so quite soft. Dfine did quite an amazing job of noise reduction, but made it even softer, so I thought I would just go with the flow by reducing the grain per pixel in SilverEfex Pro. One of the noir presets really jumped out at me, by the way it enhanced her already dark, fathomless eyes. I also liked the way the line of shadow on one side of her face echoed or balanced the hairline on the other. I backed out of SEP to lighten the rash or stain under her lip a bit, then went back in and made a few other minor adjustments. I could have done more I now realize. The biggest flaw for me is the break in the freckle line. I thought about bringing in more tonal variation, but decided what I liked about it was the starkness, the reduction to a very few basic but defining elements, like a sketch. I know this style is not to everyone's taste and I hesitated about sending it to her mom, but it turns out that her mom loves it and has put it in her screensaver. (Dad and the three girls like it too.) Having done one such portrait, I knew I needed to do two more for her sisters and that was a real education. If you want to better understand how light sculpts a face, take a frontal or three-quarter profile into the Film Noir 2 preset and play with it. It is an illuminating exercise (pun not intended). As far as the competition goes, I blew it as my settings were wrong in Flickr and it didn't get tagged for entry. One of our national newspapers has a weekly assignment for readers; this week's assignment just happened to be black and white. The editors' favorite submission gets published in the print edition of the newspaper on the following Monday.
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Post by mariehass on Oct 26, 2013 8:39:28 GMT
Thanks for the details. You have entered in the B&W then?
The stain under her lower lip is from her biting or sucking on her lower lip and chapping the skin. It is a habit born of anxiety or tension. I used to do it as child.
More later.
'Rie
Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using proboards
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janis
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Post by janis on Oct 26, 2013 17:56:48 GMT
Hi Marie,
I tried to enter the assignment, but my Flickr settings were wrong and I figured it out too late.
I don't think whatever skin irritation is there is chronic as I have not noticed it before and it is not evident in the close-ups I shot a month earlier. Plus all of the youngest kids had discoloration under their mouths from whatever it was they were eating or drinking at the party. The vignette in the preset greatly enhanced the tonal difference that was already there and I thought about taking it out, but felt that if I did, the balance would be tipped too much toward the eyes. Plus it is a typical kid thing, especially around here in winter. Plus, and this is perhaps the most salient fact: she was trying to look scary. We adults had been asking the kids how they were going to dress up for Hallowe'en and T. ran to put on her skeleton pyjamas, which glow in the dark. The above image is a crop of a pose where she has her fists up around her head and is trying her darndest to look menacing. She failed utterly, of course, but I thought this treatment was in keeping with her intent, and I think it may be why she likes it.
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Post by Stevewebb on Oct 26, 2013 19:56:11 GMT
Kinda freaks me out. Have you seen the film, The Ring? Scary girl looks just like that.
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Post by Antonio Correia on Oct 26, 2013 20:07:41 GMT
Perhaps what I am about to write is not important but here I go I tend more and more to work on an image and keep it until the next day when I will be able to look at it with different eyes. Sometimes I start all over and sometimes, I like what I have done. A flesh view is sometimes important. When I worked as Architect the solution was just there in front of me the next day and not at the very moment I was working.
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janis
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Post by janis on Oct 26, 2013 20:49:41 GMT
Steve, I don't think I have watched a horror movie since Black Christmas (1974), which if you haven't seen I won't spoil. If anyone is intrigued enough to watch, do let me know if it is still horrifying, almost forty years later.
Antonio, you are absolutely right. Sometimes I am too quick off the hop, as I was here; other times my first instinct proves to be my best. It is the same in my profession (translation), too. Which is not to say I think the image is all bad, because it does appeal to my aesthetic and I think it is a true and accurate portrait, insofar as an impressionistic portrait can be accurate. What some may read as scary, I think those who know her read as her singular intensity.
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