Anatomy study

[texxter]

I photographed this body builder a while ago in my garage and worked on this image for myself. I like the reflection but I am not sure I like the visible rectangle under him... if I had to do it over I think I would find a way to have a reflection on the floor but hide the platform...

The triangle of light resulted from using a hot Home Depot light behind and on each side of the model.

This picture was more or less an accident, and I think of it as a study for a potential creation in the future. Any suggestions for that future work are welcome!

 

[Designer]

The sub-rectangle doesn't spoil the shot, and I think helps. More geometry. Good foil.

 

[smoke665]

Really like the conception on this shot. Like Designer said the sub rectangle is a great add. Only two negatives for me. First would like to see just a tad more space at the top. The bottom is great but the top just seems thin. Second, the reflection in the floor, is to muddled up/distorted. Seems a better more defined reflection of his front side would add so much.

 

[razashaikh]

Stunning shot and perspective!

 

[rosh4u]

Great Shot!

 

[texxter]

Thank you for all the great feedback!

I agree that there isn't enough space on the top and the dirty platform is preventing a clear reflection. As I said, this turns out to be more of lucky accident than a deeply thought out and planned image. Thanks!

 

[zulu42]

Very striking and wonderful tones.

 

[Derrel]

Really like the conception on this shot. Like Designer said the sub rectangle is a great add. Only two negatives for me. First would like to see just a tad more space at the top. The bottom is great but the top just seems thin. Second, the reflection in the floor, is to muddled up/distorted. Seems a better more defined reflection of his front side would add so much.

Pretty much what smoke665 said...

Still, it's an interesting image, more compelling than many. Thanks for posting this photo you made.

 

[DanOstergren]

I personally don't care for the rectangle, but I like most everything else. The rectangle is jarring and conflicts with the triangular shapes both in his form and the shapes created by the light and shadows surrounding him, creating a tension that that to me has no harmony. You could probably remove it and still leave the reflection with some clever spot healing and dodging and burning in photoshop.

This isn't to say that the rectangle isn't interesting or that it's a bad image, I just don't think it adds to the shot and I think it would be much much better without.

 

[Derrel]

I think one thing that makes the rectangle a bit jarring, as Dan refers to it, is the oddness with the way the "back wall" area is higher on the left side of the image, and substantially lower on the right hand side of him; that to me looks somewhat unusual, and creates a bit of a visual crookedness .It appears that the shadow on the back wall, on the right-hand side area is simply darker than the background shadow on the left side of the picture area, and that creates an odd sort of visual "twisting" to the rectangle area.

A second minor issue would be the way the bottom left and right edges of the frame have the line exiting the frame at slightly differing angles. In a formally balanced composition like this one, some people think it's best to have the camera tripod-mounted and absolutely symmetrically aligned with the geometry of the scene, then the subject brought in and posed against the absolutely aligned camera placement. What I think might also be contributing to the "jarring" effect Dan mentioned is the combination of the light shadow/dark shadow in the background, and then the opposite lighting effect in the foreground of the photo, where the left side corner is dark,but the right side corner area of the foreground is much lighter. It's sort of a combination of these three things (camera alignment, shadows background,shadows foreground) that I think make the rectangle,and the entire photo, seem a bit "turned" to the right,and ever-so-slightly off balanced. I think this could be part of the effect Dan has mentioned. It's subtle, and sort of below the level of consciousness, but I get what he means.

I think the idea of the photo though is quite lovely and interesting, and that some minor refinements such as those Dan and smoke665 suggested, could strengthen the picture.

 

[texxter]

Wow, I really appreciate your taking the time to provide all the helpful feedback! I completely agree that in order to nail something as contrived and symmetric as this, the details need to be right... it is not so much a photo but an abstract figure with a light pattern, and any visual anomaly is going to be easily noticed and take away from the purity of it! Back to work!