Fantastic!! Thanks for the score and the great comments.
This is the first time my husband ever volunteered to pose for a shot!
I really wanted to enter this challenge but I didn’t like my idea all that much (a “hat lying in the dust with a red rose lying beside it” type of photo), so when my husband asked what the challenge was, I said it was in honor of Sean. He said “well, would you like me to wear the hat instead of having it lie in the dust?”. I was really surprised because he’s never keen to be photographed and bribing him with ice-cream and visits to the zoo the way Tim timfythetoo does with his kids doesn’t always work ;-D
I taped a black piece of cloth to our living room wall as a background. The only light was natural light coming through the window.
Some commented about the hat blending into the background too much. I knew this would be mentioned but I did it that way intentionally because of the “in the shadows” look I wanted. I felt this went better with the mood of the challenge.
Statistics
Place: 9 out of 91 Avg (all users): 6.7989 Avg (commenters): 7.5500 Avg (participants): 6.7073 Avg (non-participants): 6.8261 Views since voting: 3366 Views during voting: 359 Votes: 179 Comments: 29 Favorites: 2 (view)
Great portrait Irene! The light is perfect. Saved as a Fav so I can refer back as I begine to try portrait work. Really caught the mood of this challenge.
I thought this would ribbon. Personally I love the fact that you can make out the hat in your imagination (without even thinking about it) prompted only by the lower outline and the ribbon around it, so, the fact that the rest of it blends with the background is an added feature, the way I see it.
This excellent portrait is another example of the amazing diversification process we are witnessing of Irene.
Rembrandt (obviously) did not have studio lights at his disposal, only windows; so did Irene for this picture.
I use spongebob fruit snacks to bribe the kids. Maybe you should use them next time. ;) And dangit - a couple more points to add to your tally. Very nice image Irene.
Wow, great portrait the whites of the eyes of this grizzled cowboy really grabs the viewers attention. Subject really fills the frame and thus captures and HOLDS our attention. Focus is wonderful showing us every great detail upon this cowboys face. He does appear to be peering out or emerging out from the shadows. My only critique on this is that I wish that that there is greater definition of his hat - the black tones of his hat fade and blend in too well with the dark backdrop. Mayhap a little dodging around the brim and top portion of the hat would give it better definition. The other possibility is to place a light directly behind the subjects head to illuminate it better. But I would not use a strong light for then it will give too much of a halo look surrounding him - rather a dim light just enough to illuminate the edges of the hat like highlight shading such that it stands out from the dark backdrop.
Another shot with really good lighting! For some reason it really seems to work with this scruffy face. Brings out the wiskers and the lines. Very nice!
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