The picture wants to be an improvement of my "Half" entry for Self-Portrait Revisited which was my forth challenge and got me 5.9 score (place 47). A score I was very proud of! It was a WOW! for me and I it was my top photo for more than one year (even after I upgraded my camera). Jacko suggested "you know what would rock?: black background to your left. Great shot. 9" Very encouraging for me.
Might sound a little pathetic that I named it Grief for My Father, but I don't realy care.
My Dad, who passed away last year, did like my other "Half" picture quite a lot. He used to be an artist and his encouragements meant a lot for me. So, I decided to reshot this one for him.
God rest him in peace.
I let you people judge if there is any improvement or not.
Here's the other Half
Post proccesing: PS6
saved as PSD, rotate, crop, change to BW through channel mixer : red +62/ green +30/ blue 32, select the bright areas and create a layer to brighten up the white part of the backgound, adjust contrast +20, minor clone tool corrections, dodge a little around the eye (brush highlights, exposure 6), resize, crop to 640X480, USM amount 80 radius 0.4, save as jpg, submit
Then write this long blablabla...
It's the first time a write it. Shot in my living room. The background is a piece of black cloth with a sheet of white paper attached on it. For lights I used a 500W halogen lamp.
Manual Mode, Exposure: 1/80, Aperture: 2.8, Manual focus, Tripod, Selftimer
Man I had a look at the other one and I see more wrinkles and I lost some wheight...
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Love this Shot just amazing.... i like stories behind pictures.... i have some of those but have not posted the stories on them ...... But i love the Opposite feeling Black on white. Great idea! Very well done shot!
VERY cool photo ... Very unique. I saw many backgrounds like that but usually with glasses, bottles, or other objects at front of it... This is very nice idea :)
I want to thank DianaB for this beautiful words. They do belong here.
Thank you Diana.
Half (grief for my father)
by Diana B
Deep in the recess of my mind,
there, images of you unwind
releasing strands of memory,
of spoken words, and times when we
experienced, as one, that bond
of love transfixing the fondness
between us. A father and son,
now divided – eclipsed upon -
you’re hid, yet still seen in the light
radiating from me despite
the shadow which speaks of my loss
and marks a space we cannot cross.
Sometimes I feel like half of me
is torn away, but then I see
some part of ‘you’ which makes me whole.
One man, complete within my soul.
You will remain with me and, though
no longer may we touch, you know
my prayer will cut the veils which keep
apart our world and we will meet
unseen within a special place
(where dark nor light exists), by grace
of god, touching hand to hand
across the void – embraced we’ll stand.
An awesome shot, and a very touching story. This photo is a simple, yet strong and bold composition, but in the eyes and with the hand placement, you feel the emotions invoked within yourself. I'm sure your father is very proud. Beautiful photo.
Admittedly, I was more then a little intrigued by your title as it relates to grief for your father. Your picture evokes quite a bit of emotion… pain and sorrow still. The gesture of your hands placed over your nose and mouth implies an effort to stop or hide. Its ok, our father's have always played such an important part in our lives, and they will continue to do so long after their pasting.
I find that one of the most genuine and fascinating aspects of photography to be that a single picture (i.e. glimpse of a moment in time) has the ability to evoke such emotion, be it joy or sorrow, and that is truly exceptional. I believe that as we capture these moments we measure their success based on many factors… of these the most powerful are splendor & emotion. That sir you have achieved with your self-portrait revisited.
Thank you for sharing a glimpse of your travels in this journey called life.
not cheesy at all. i too lost my father who was very supportive to my artistic self, i always think of him and almost feel hes with me encouraging my artistic side. great picture.
I'm a big fan of lateral lighting and I think you have used it to good effect here, especially with the black and white background. I would have liked to see some sparkle via a cartchlight in your visible eye, but this looks great anyway.
A great b/w study with an inner message that may evade the casual viewer. The dark and light background is inversed in the face which rings of the ying-yang and all things where polarity plays the sum result of the living experience both physically and spiritually. Even the hand placement adds tension and the entire image comes to a well balanced conclusion. Bumping up.
I'm a big fan of this pic. i saw the thumb and it didn't do much for me, but now that i see the full version i really like it. a little hot in some places, but that's a minor complaint.
awesome. i love this..beautiful stark lighting and shadows.
the only little thing that would make it even better for me, is if later you blurred the line at the top...to go with flow of the lighting on the rest of you. 10
First of all, my condolances about your father. Your shot perfectly ties into your title. Very creative, and well executed. I hope to see your shot do well in the challenge. 10 from me!
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