A Mother and her Son (C&C)

BrookieD

Hi Guys
I got this shot after a visit to dollymount on Saturday, comments and feedback welcome. I am trying to get natural portrait shots in Black and White. constructive comments most welcome.

thanks in advance.

Cabaal

BrookieD, might be an idea to upload the image to pix or flickr and get it to display in a post rather then upload it and link to it


ala

BrookieD

stupid as it sounds i forgot how to get the pic to upload correctly, its been ages since i uploaded a photo...lol

Paulw

Very nice pict. Love the composition.

AnCatDubh

A couple of things but remember they are only a personal opinion and you are free to think that they are complete dross if you like

a) The 'foggy'/dreamy effect is overdone. Personally I'd lose it altogether.
b) You are going for b/w - i think it would be nicer with higher contrast used. This in turn will eliminate some of the 'greyness' that is evident, including achieving some of the effect you may have been looking for with that fog but imho in a very much nicer way.
c) A picture shouldn't necessarily have to have a title. Your "love is..." is a distraction however I appreciate it may mean a lot to the intended audience (which is why you only take advice here with a pinch of salt). On the positive side of it, I think the picture is a sensitive moment candidly caught and the viewer will know exactly what is going on in the story.
d) I would think the crop on the left and at the top is a little tight but only a little - i wouldn't go overboard with it.

Overall I like the candid nature albeit a little 'flat on' (a more interesting and possibly flattering perspective may have been possible from the side however this could have ruined the 'moment' so its a tough one to judge afterwards). The subject matter is interesting. It tells a story. It speaks more than any words that you could superimpose does. I think the subjects will enjoy your image assuming that it might be a gift and that's probably the acid test to go by.

Hope that helps.

AnimalRights

Wow AnCatDubh, your 4 points are 100% exactly what I would've said.

Your C&C are so so good.

BrookieD

AnCatDubh wrote: »

A couple of things but remember they are only a personal opinion and you are free to think that they are complete dross if you like

a) The 'foggy'/dreamy effect is overdone. Personally I'd lose it altogether.
b) You are going for b/w - i think it would be nicer with higher contrast used. This in turn will eliminate some of the 'greyness' that is evident, including achieving some of the effect you may have been looking for with that fog but imho in a very much nicer way.
c) A picture shouldn't necessarily have to have a title. Your "love is..." is a distraction however I appreciate it may mean a lot to the intended audience (which is why you only take advice here with a pinch of salt). On the positive side of it, I think the picture is a sensitive moment candidly caught and the viewer will know exactly what is going on in the story.
d) I would think the crop on the left and at the top is a little tight but only a little - i wouldn't go overboard with it.

Overall I like the candid nature albeit a little 'flat on' (a more interesting and possibly flattering perspective may have been possible from the side however this could have ruined the 'moment' so its a tough one to judge afterwards). The subject matter is interesting. It tells a story. It speaks more than any words that you could superimpose does. I think the subjects will enjoy your image assuming that it might be a gift and that's probably the acid test to go by.

Hope that helps.

Fantastic, very well recieved and many thanks,
the B&W was a very quick edit and not my normal processing in CS4
the foggy effect was a moment of me thinking "there is an effect so lets use it" i should be thinking was it right for the shot.

the subject was very much in admiration of the shot in questions but i will re-edit before printing.

DaireQuinlan

AnimalRights wrote: »

Wow AnCatDubh, your 4 points are 100% exactly what I would've said.

Your C&C are so so good.

Same here :rolleyes: It's annoying when he does that, isn't it ??!?

Just to add though (having agreed with the above from AnCatDubh) . I'm guessing this was a candid shot ? If not, then the mothers pose is distinctly unflattering. If you set them up for the shot even a little I think you could probably have done it differently. If candid I'm not sure what you could have done angle wise to try and minimise it.

BrookieD

completly candid shot, also i did not want to hide the pregant belly. but my own opinion is that i like it (not that its worth much mind ;-)

jaaavaaa

BrookieD wrote: »

completly candid shot, also i did not want to hide the pregant belly. but my own opinion is that i like it (not that its worth much mind ;-)

Disclaimer - I know nothing about photography!

But from that pose ... this sounds awful, but I wouldn't have realised she was pregnant - I just thought she was fat!

Apart from that, love the photo

DaireQuinlan

BrookieD wrote: »

completly candid shot, also i did not want to hide the pregant belly. but my own opinion is that i like it (not that its worth much mind ;-)

Oh right, I actually didn't realise that she was pregnant My bad. Yeah I guess that does change my perspective on the shot a little.