Portrait of Mum

[Mike Burnett]

Out of all of my photographs, I probably have 5 portraits that I like. Needless to say, I'm trying to increase that number, and get more photographs of a subject that I truly love; my family.

What do you like? What does this image say to YOU? What don't you like? Specifically, I'd like some feedback on the B&W conversion; is it effective? I was going for higher contrast, without the stylized effects of super contrasty conversions.



Cheers for the feedback in advance!

Mike

[dishingthedivine]

Not sure how much my thoughts are worth, as I'm a newbie, but here are my gut reactions:

there's something off to the side of mom's head that distracts me. can you edit this out?

the paintings on the walls also distract me from the subject of your shot. Maybe photoshop or crop them out? Same goes for the shelf(???) on the far right of the picture. You probably don't see these things because it's home for you, but for the casual viewer, they distract...

I'd also like to see the picture taken from a lower angle. It seems you're towering over your mom. how about if you stand down so that you can see her face just a bit more?

[rebel]

I really liked the angle and the coffee / tea in the cup is also adding to the effect. overall a nice pic and once again the angle was new and that is creating the wow factor in the photo.

[Benji]

A good example of trying something new and creative and winding up with a so so image. I just made some comments on another website about the rules of good portraits so lets do some critique on this image with the rules in mind.

The brightest area of the image is her blouse, and right breast. The rules state that the best lit area should be her face, but with the high camera angle and extreme angle of her body we can only see 1/2 of her face. High camera angles may be artistic but they seldom look good on anything except high school seniors. Also it looks like she is attempting to swallow her left hand, and her right hand looks arthritic. The females hands should flow gracefully.

I will shut up now. :-)

Benji

[Wolfie]

I think it's a great pic...very natural and capturing your mama in her quite time

[private]

Benji - I agree re the lighting. When I looked at the photo, the first place I looked was her shirt. If the lighting were a bit better (can it be faked in PP?) the photo would have more "wow"

[Alefeb07]

I know this might be small and nit picky but one thing i noticed besides the harsh shadows is the ripped news paper. It distracts me. I always forget to clean up my shots before shooting though, so don't worry.

[mitchgreene]

What I like: Love the torn newspaper! The COMPLETED crossword, perspective, focus, BW conversion, coffee cup.
What I'd like more of: mom's face. The same perspective, perhaps with the pen lowered and her face raised to look out of the frame at us...(can't PP that one), shallower DoF.
What I'd like less of: Extraneous stuff in the background like the thing coming out from behind the wall frame-right (shallower DoF would help here).

[daddyoproductions]

Ha Benji, too funny. I appreciate those who will impart the rules to the rest of us who haven't ingrained them yet. That being said, I don't think it was a posed shot, more like she was tolerating it The first thing I notices was the harsh shadows, but I'm digging the angle, especially with the cup. It really only matters if you like it, since it is for you.
~C

[Chaoslillith]

I am newer too but I love the shot as a whole. It is very PJ/unstaged and street. The things in the background and foreground give it a sense of place as a whole. This is not supposed to be perfect, this is Mom on a regular unperfect day.

I love the angle too.

Good job.