Thursday, March 13, 2008
Portrait for a Sunday Afternoon at the Bar
Comments:
Tonalities are very nice, and as always, a direct connection between the photographer his muse. Only fussy bit is the reflection in the left lens of her glasses. Good thing I'm not fussy!
Kate has her way of looking at the camera, or is it the glasses, or I don't know what, but more and more I find your portraits of her have a signature neither of you can define alone.
Well that's could be true of any portrait and yet I'm not sure. Some portraitists (does the word exist in English?) have a style that's recognizable whatever the model.
Maybe you could try to photograph somebody else to find out for me? :-)
More generally this is of course very good. The imbalanced composition is enough so to provoke thoughts but not too much to become obtrusive. The side light, the background all complement each other to make Kate leap off the picture.
Portraitist is a word, Stephane.
What appeals to me in this is the look of a picture taken on the spur of the moment with the very natural hair. The overall tonality is undoubtedly the best of any of the portraits so far: light but showing detail. An interesting use of the background gradation in tone to permit this composition.
I presume that the background is wallpaper. Whatever it is, one can almost reach out and feel the surface. Why all the capitals in the title? And is "the Bar" referring to a drinking hole or where they practice law? And why does one need a portrait for it?!
Stephane, I don't know if the style is mine or ours - Kate's and mine - but I suspect translating it to another subject would take time. It helps that Kate has spent a lot of time acting both on screen and stage; she knows how to give me a lot to work with.
John, just capitalizing the title the way my journalism teacher would have wanted me to. The bar is an establishment for drinking. I'd have called it a pub, but it's really just a beer snob place.
The background - paint, I think - and the light required a portrait, but I had to clone out a pesky light fixture just above Kate's head.
I'm interested in the question about how well the style/technique would transfer to other sitters. But it would take a braver man than I to walk around a bar asking to take people's photos :-)
Nobody has mentioned the white blob to the right. If you've already had the cloning tool in action...
Directness and tones. Both great.
'But it would take a braver man than I to walk around a bar asking to take people's photos :-)'
I was thinking more along the lines of finding some drama students that needed headshots . . .
'If you've already had the cloning tool in action...'
Would you believe that I left in because I was feeling guilty about cloning out the light fixture? Said guilt did not prevent me from cloning it out for printing.
Isn't the essence of this image love?
Isn't a good portrait the capture of something fundamental about the subject?
The technical bits don't add but are such that they do not subtract.
Beautiful.
Most has been said before on the technicalities which are well handled as always. However, I get a slight threatened expression from this. The angle of the shot slightly compounds this.
Guy, I'm not sure that she is so much threatened as surprised. Take a look at this:
Contact Sheet for a Portrait
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Well that's could be true of any portrait and yet I'm not sure. Some portraitists (does the word exist in English?) have a style that's recognizable whatever the model.
Maybe you could try to photograph somebody else to find out for me? :-)
More generally this is of course very good. The imbalanced composition is enough so to provoke thoughts but not too much to become obtrusive. The side light, the background all complement each other to make Kate leap off the picture.
What appeals to me in this is the look of a picture taken on the spur of the moment with the very natural hair. The overall tonality is undoubtedly the best of any of the portraits so far: light but showing detail. An interesting use of the background gradation in tone to permit this composition.
I presume that the background is wallpaper. Whatever it is, one can almost reach out and feel the surface. Why all the capitals in the title? And is "the Bar" referring to a drinking hole or where they practice law? And why does one need a portrait for it?!
John, just capitalizing the title the way my journalism teacher would have wanted me to. The bar is an establishment for drinking. I'd have called it a pub, but it's really just a beer snob place.
The background - paint, I think - and the light required a portrait, but I had to clone out a pesky light fixture just above Kate's head.
Nobody has mentioned the white blob to the right. If you've already had the cloning tool in action...
Directness and tones. Both great.
I was thinking more along the lines of finding some drama students that needed headshots . . .
'If you've already had the cloning tool in action...'
Would you believe that I left in because I was feeling guilty about cloning out the light fixture? Said guilt did not prevent me from cloning it out for printing.
Isn't a good portrait the capture of something fundamental about the subject?
The technical bits don't add but are such that they do not subtract.
Beautiful.
Contact Sheet for a Portrait