How people see pictures

milos

Done this pic of my sister on her birthday.

I like it but most of my family hate it.

you cannot see her eyes, she is not looking at the camera, she looks fat ( sorry Mary ).

I dont mind criticism but is it just me who sees the "punch" in the photo or am I just fooling myself.

All comments most welcome and yes i did use PS but only for effect.

Thanks all

Milos

DudleyDude

Maybe your family want a run of the mill photo like the muck thrown out by most studios?

nilhg

You see something of the personality of your sister in the shot that most of us (who don't know her) would miss, to my mind that's a win, really it comes down to whether you and your sister like this.

Masada

It could probably be made into a decent photo but for me theres not enough in it to make it interesting. I wouldnt recognise her if i walked past her down the street after seeng this photo, if that makes sense.
it also looks too high contrast and too processed really. The Vignette is very strong and the text very "times new roman" looking if ya get me.

milos

"It could probably be made into a decent photo "
Are all photos not "decent".

What makes the top picture wrong. The settings were meant to be that way because they are pleasing to my eye and I felt that they improved the original which is here.

DaireQuinlan

milos wrote: »

What makes the top picture wrong. The settings were meant to be that way because they are pleasing to my eye and I felt that they improved the original which is here.

Masada has given you his opinion as to what makes the picture 'wrong'. I'd mostly agree. The vignette is a really bad choice, It makes the image look tacky IMO. And yes, I think you see something in it because you're looking past the picture and seeing your sister. The picture itself is pretty insipid, not helped by the processing or the fact that you've cropped a tiny portion out of an image and blown it up, giving it a smeary lack of detail. I think its a fail for me on both technical and aesthetic counts.

Fenster

She looks kinda freakish in the photo and the processing is horrible. To *you* it is a good photo because you intimately understand the context of the image and the subject, but it is lost on the rest of us. All I see is a photograph of a woman with a pained expression and processing that makes me think of one of those crappy little memorials that they stick on top of the coffin at a funeral.

It is your sister's birthday! She's one year short of her fifth decade! Where's the colour and the life?

milos

ok Thanks Masada and DaireQuinlan point taken.
Practice Practice Practice

Any more comments welcome

BostonB

First off. I don't know anything about photography.

But I think what you were aiming for, a natural unposed shot with some personality, I like a lot. But you didn't quite get it in this shot. Cropping is a good idea if it works, but I don't like all the other stuff you did with it. If you'd take 4 or 5 shots at the same time, I reckon you'd have got what you were aiming for in one of them. Caught the eyes, a better moment.

I've never done it, and I know I'm saying this in hindsight, but I think if you'd practiced how you'd take the photo before hand, and what would be in the frame, you'd have changed your angle to cut out the fridge. I'd not have thought of that till I saw your photo. So I've learned from it.

That said I think you are on the right track.

AnCatDubh

Hey, I think first thing is relax, you are not the first and won't be the last photographer who takes an image and loves it and others just don't get it. I have a style of processing which I personally love, but I only use it on images for myself as i've learned that no one else likes it - meh, art aint for everyone eh

I think the broader question that you raise is a very interesting one. I also think it is sociological, part of the human condition, that we and sometimes our nearest and dearest give effect to seeing ourself/ourselves or our nearest and dearest in a way that we/they actually aren't.

How often do you come across people who hate themselves in photographs? Its quite common.

Re: the photograph; I think you've captured a certain spirit of your sister of a particular moment and perhaps that's what the photograph means to you - the 'punch' that you speak of, but others may see it as an unflattering image - which going back to the human condition point I raised earlier, is not the way they like to think themselves to be.

Just my thoughts on it.

Micilin Muc

milos wrote: »

I much prefer this photo to the cropped image. To you, the fridge is something you see every day, but it and the packet of Skips and the magnets really gives this photo character (not that your sister doesn't or anything!). It tells a lot more than the cropped one.

DK32

I prefer the original. It tells a far better story. Looks like a surprise birthday to me for your sister. The only real work I would do on it would be to straighten it up a bit.

As per Micilin Muc, the fridge works. It's one of those pictures you take out in 50 years time and there will be plenty to talk about.

shinny

I prefer the original picture also as it tells more of a story. It's clearly a celebration because of;

A) Your sister's finger on the switch which means the room was obviously in darkness before she turned it on

The streamers flying through the air aided by the hand with the popper

C) Your sisters mortified/happy face !

ColmDawson

I agree with comments above regarding preference of the original.

ThOnda

You have personal association with the picture. If you cannot stay away from that, just leave the picture untouched and forgotten for few months and then go back to see it again.
You own experience related to a picture is not carried via the photography medium, therefore you have to insure that the message contained in the picture is accepted and understood by a common viewer. That is why I don't like some of the pictures I have presented to public some time ago and why I am finding interesting pictures in shoots that were long time ago. But this is a little off the topic.
Not having any personal experience and relationship with the event when the picture was taken, I would not happy if that picture was picture of me and presented, especially as a gift to myself.

dnme

OP

I don't mean to sound morbid but your edited version on post #1 reminds me of those photos you see of deceased people on grave stones. When I first opened thread I thought that's what it was.

milos

thank you GREAT advice

magicbastarder

when i first saw the photo in the original post, i thought you'd manage to capture the moment when someone had stabbed her in the ribs.

kinda like this:
http://faculty.smu.edu/dsimon/AAAAAAChange06/Change05/OswaldRuby.jpg

milos

but he was shot???

longshanks

i thought it was a 50 cent postage stamp mock up

twowheelsonly

Forgive me but I like it!!!!

I think that it would have to be part of a set or montage of related pics to have the impact that you're looking for. As it stands it means 'nowt to no-one' as it's out of context but as part of a set I would really like it.
As regards "looks fat", "can't see eyes" etc.. I don't think that it's really relevant in this instance. To me it's a great natural look. As somebody else mentioned, people are their own worst critics when it comes to photos.

Just my tuppence worth....

LadyLee

Me too I actually like it , love the Black and white but not too sure if I like all the other amendments to it. You like it and thats the main thing- Does your sister like it?

DaireQuinlan

twowheelsonly wrote: »

As somebody else mentioned, people are their own worst critics when it comes to photos.

ehhh, I think in this case everyone ELSE was a far worse critic than the OP