This was something I had wanted to portray for a long time. I had actually done similiar shots for the Empty Room challenge but felt they would be DNMC. So I decided to use the idea for this challenge. I hope it comes across how I want it to.
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Place: 41 out of 122 Avg (all users): 5.5582 Avg (commenters): 6.5789 Avg (participants): 5.2364 Avg (non-participants): 5.6329 Views since voting: 5616 Views during voting: 711 Votes: 292 Comments: 51 Favorites: 11 (view)
I rated this among the best - especially loved the overblown window wrapped light (as a commneter said: ethereal). The mood is evocative and whenever an image touches my soul, as this one did, I have to give it a great rating - what more can an artist ask of their own work.
My only critique would be that the change from in-focus to out-of-focus may be too sudden/extreme - breaking the relationship between the two a little more than necessary. I agree you need separation but this may be a tad too much. I'd love to see it in focus and blurring controlled in photoshop. Maybe try for focus point more toward front of paper not center of paper? Or try with greater aperture say f/2.8? Just an idea that may have squelched some of the comments.
My biggest issue with the shot is either the processing or artifact from the OOF in juxtaposition with the bright window light. Look at your head. The interface between the white and black is very harsh. I'm not quite sure where that comes from, but I don't like it.
I'm better at commenting on technical aspects, but here's an attempt on the "feel". You look a bit too posed in the background in two ways. 1) Your bent arm looks posed for a portrait rather than the way you would normally sit. 2) I think it would actually be better if you were looking out the window. Seems like what I would do if I were pondering after reading a letter. That, of course, makes a nude study a bit more problematic, but perhaps the nude was just a wee bit shoehorned here?
IMO I love this shot. I don't think the nudity is gratuitous. Maybe because I'm a guy, I don't know. After reading the some of the comments you got I see that you really got hammered here. I however get it. When looking through the entries this was one of the shots that really caught my eye, not due to the nudity but due to the depth and emotion of the image. Great shot.
Hi Judi,
I was going to come back and comment on this during the challenge, and then never got around to it.
This is a beautiful shot. I like the ethereal feel of the figure sitting by the window. The problem I see with this, is that there isn't a strong connection to the "Goodbye letter". The thought that brings to my mind is breaking up, and I'm guessing that if I were to break it off with a guy, my first reaction would be to put on my compfiest pair of jammies, and dig into a pint of Dove ice cream. I'm not sure I would sit naked by the window. Now, if the letter had been a "Love Letter", where one would imagine the girl is missing her guy, then this might have had a lot more impact. She's looking more sexy than sad to me.
Still, it's a lovely shot, and shows a lot of creativity.
It was you, ya rat - and I gave you all my invective frustrations and a 2, after all those not only nice but also perceptive comments you sent my way.
I still rate gratuitous nudity/binties as no better than gratuitous insects and flowers.
Erm - no - gratuitious nudity is better than gratuitous flowers.
Mind you, I have also at this altogether too late stage spotted that indeed it isn't gratuitous and that I - duh - didn't get it.
Well, at least I put my hand up to be counted.
Will try harder.
FWIW, a bit of decentralisation of subject(s) - model out to the right a bit, window out to the left... I could sort of see the letter being on something, but then you'd lose the barren thing... I assume that's a softwood floor, but that's good, because it needs a covering and doesn't have one.
Hmmm....some interesting comments here. Personally I would of liked a slightly tighter crop on the paper and pen perhaps and maybe the model looking out the window. Great effort though!
I feel that this is an effective photo because of the black and white, however, I do NOT like that the figure in the back is (or at least appears to be) nude. I can understand a figure in the background looking sad and if that was the case I would have rated this much higher, but I honestly feel like the nudity was a cheap shot to try to score more points from people who rate nudes (tasteful or not) highly. Personally, when I'm sad, I don't strip down and sit in front of an open window. That's my two cents, for all it's worth.
It would've struck me as more appropriate for her to be looking outside. Instead, her nudity seems gratuitous here, and definitely distracts from the letter, which presumably is the main subject.
What is this half-naked woman doing in relation to the pen and paper lying on the floor? Too staged and a stretch to imagine the connection. It's not a photo I care for and seems like a sneaky way to combine unrelated elements.
It's a nice shot but I honeslty had to look a few times before I saw the stationery there. The girl in the background should be (hate to say it) even less noticeable.
lol I honestly do not get this...it looks very set up to me and not natural. I don't like nudity just for having nudity and that's what this is. And her sexual position in the backgroud throws everything off too... 5
I like this alot! Defintely better then all the pictures of stationery, and just stationery. This puts a questioning twist with the picture. It makes you wonder. I like wondering!
Pretty hard to imagine that, having written (or, maybe, received) a goodbye letter, someone would decide to go and sit naked in front of the window. Since there is a plot in this shot, I have to point out that the plot is not believable. Other than that, the composition is good, light is interesting, the model's pose is bitter-sweet pensive and unnatural. 5
it's a nice shot and very interesting. i just don't understand the seductive pose with a goodbye letter in the foreground. I'm giving it an 8 despite my lack of understanding how the title works with the shot because it's still a great shot.
The concept is good and the placement of the letter is perfect. I would like to see the model in a differnt position, as it is hard to determine if she is looking out the window or at the letter.
I'm not sure what to say about this. It is well composed, the lighting and shadows work well. A letter and pen on the floor in front of a posing model though....
I like the black and white and the light but I think that the composition is too much forced for the contest. good the out of focus on the background. 6.
Outstanding. Love the choice of DOF, model, lighting everything. Perhaps a slightly more diagonal composition (letter to the left, model to upper right). But great anyway.
This is a nice photo. Good light. Good use of shallow DOF, too. I don't understand the association between the naked girl and the letter (i.e. why is she naked?), but that's OK. I guess it adds mystery to the photo. Well done.
Beautifully moody. A whole story in one shot. Terrific.
Good use of light, dark and silhouette. Focus is spot-on. Demeanour of the woman is perfect. Choice of monochrome is absolutely right. Flawless attention to detail at all levels. An inspiration to us all.
The only thing that I might have tried differently would have been to have things a little less central along the vertical. Maybe have the letter a little more to the left and the woman a little more to the right - but still making sure that the woman's reflection in the floor leads the eye to the letter.
It's just a shame that the 640x426 res isn't enough for us to read the letter... :-)
It's a very nice picture of a girl who is about as naked as the rules will allow. The pen and paper, presumably the subject to which the title refers, are mundane in their contribution to the picture. The pose, attitude and dress of the girl doesn't seem to have a whole lot to do with 'goodbye'. So, one fifth of the picture relates to the title and challenge while the rest is gratuitous nudity. Don't get me wrong, she's a lovely model and I'm only too happy to see her posing away in all manner of revealing attitudes. Voting on the picture in this challenge, though, I give you one fifth - 2, sorry.
I'm not so sure the 'seductive' nude at the back should be there. The title suggests more in the way of pain and anguish. May be even suicide. Still a 6.
I think we can all make a guess at who's work this is. Nice take on the topic although I'd have been inclined to make the letter a little more prominent.
goodbye to what? Looks like she' saying "Hello there big guy!" :) Interesting photo, but the lovely nudity doesn't screem "Goodbye" to me, I almost didn't see the letter to make the connection.
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