Catherine

manaheim · Nov 19, 2012

Very curious of c/c here.

ClickAddict · Nov 19, 2012

I'm usually a fan of your shots, but theres something about the closer wing not being in focus which bothers me (mildly) about this one. Perhaps if both wings were out of focus I'd be fine with it, but with the other one sharp and this one not it seems off balance or something. Love the composition and background. (PS I'm just a begginner so take my opinion as just that. my opinion.)

amolitor · Nov 19, 2012

There's some stuff to love in here.

I like the repeated shape of the statue and the shadow, and wish the shadow was bigger to emphasize that a bit more.

I also dislike the soft closer wing, and I think it's because there's not enough foreshortening. If the near wing was substantially bigger than the far wing, it would make me feel like I am standing close to the statue, and it would feel intimate. My guess is that you took this with quite a long lens, though. The proportions suggest distance, the OOF near wing suggests closeness, so there's a conflict there.

Generally I am not a big fan of photographs of other people's work. It always creates a negative sense of ambiguity -- do I like the statue, or the photograph?

That said, I like this one pretty well. It's a good form well placed in the frame.

Frequency · Nov 19, 2012

I like the right half of this image very very much and left half somewhat

manaheim · Nov 19, 2012

Thanks for taking the time to comment, guys.

ClickAddict said:
I'm usually a fan of your shots, but theres something about the closer wing not being in focus which bothers me (mildly) about this one. Perhaps if both wings were out of focus I'd be fine with it, but with the other one sharp and this one not it seems off balance or something. Love the composition and background. (PS I'm just a begginner so take my opinion as just that. my opinion.)

Hm. I hadn't noticed it. It's an artifact of my focusing on her head/face, which happens to be closer to the plane of her further wing than her closer one. I'm also fairly close to her and doing my best to blur the background so I'm not sure this could have been minimized without my changing positions... which would have screwed up the composition... soooo...

amolitor said:
There's some stuff to love in here.

I like the repeated shape of the statue and the shadow, and wish the shadow was bigger to emphasize that a bit more.

I also dislike the soft closer wing, and I think it's because there's not enough foreshortening. If the near wing was substantially bigger than the far wing, it would make me feel like I am standing close to the statue, and it would feel intimate. My guess is that you took this with quite a long lens, though. The proportions suggest distance, the OOF near wing suggests closeness, so there's a conflict there.

Generally I am not a big fan of photographs of other people's work. It always creates a negative sense of ambiguity -- do I like the statue, or the photograph?

That said, I like this one pretty well. It's a good form well placed in the frame.

On the "other people's work". I'm generally with you, however, I go out seeking cemetery angels... so what I try to do with them is compose them as if they were essentially models.

Interestingly with Catherine, her "ideal pose" is not this one... it's from the front of her and to the left. I have a shot of her from there that I'm happy with... however, it has powerlines in the background and it's a VERY busy background, so it's very hard to remove them. I'm working to see if I can make it happen.

That said, I thought this one was interesting, so I figured I'd share it to see people's reactions.

Thanks for your comments.

Frequency said:
I like the right half of this image very very much and left half somewhat

hahaha... noted.

Thanks!

Trever1t · Nov 19, 2012

color, texture good, composition, leaving me wanting more.

sm4him · Nov 19, 2012

I *almost* love this one, but I tend to agree that the out of focus near wing is drawing too much of my attention. I love the rest of it; the perspective, the angle of her face, and that gorgeous background.

Edit: But the more I look at it, the less that near wing disturbs me, and the more I like the image. If I just keep looking a while longer, I'll love it.

pixmedic · Nov 19, 2012

i really would have loved for this shot to have been taken just a bit more to the right. where a little bit more of the statues facial profile was visible. maybe almost to where you can just start to see the front of the face.

invisible · Nov 19, 2012

In terms of composition, I like how the angel is place within the frame, the angle you shot if from, and I like the angel itself. What's not working for me is the distribution of the light across the scene. The brightest area of the frame is the top of the angel's head, which is where my eye goes directly to. From there, the curve of the wing guides my eye to the second brightest area of the frame, which is the out-of-focus wing and then the shoulder. The area that one would expect to have the most light, in particular if you treat this type of photoshoots as if the angels were models, is the darkest part of the subject the face. I think that this uneven distribution of light is what's preventing the photo from reaching all of its potential.

sleist · Nov 19, 2012

I like everything about this except the darkness of the face. Had this focal point been a touch brighter then the larger out of focus wing would have had less impact as a distraction.

manaheim · Nov 20, 2012

Trever1t said:
color, texture good, composition, leaving me wanting more.

sm4him said:
I *almost* love this one, but I tend to agree that the out of focus near wing is drawing too much of my attention. I love the rest of it; the perspective, the angle of her face, and that gorgeous background.

Edit: But the more I look at it, the less that near wing disturbs me, and the more I like the image. If I just keep looking a while longer, I'll love it.

heheh... thank you both for your comments. I feel similarly, actually.

pixmedic said:
i really would have loved for this shot to have been taken just a bit more to the right. where a little bit more of the statues facial profile was visible. maybe almost to where you can just start to see the front of the face.

I tried, actually... problem was the stuff on the other side of the road started to infringe quickly. Like this was on the razor's edge of working.

invisible said:
In terms of composition, I like how the angel is place within the frame, the angle you shot if from, and I like the angel itself. What's not working for me is the distribution of the light across the scene. The brightest area of the frame is the top of the angel's head, which is where my eye goes directly to. From there, the curve of the wing guides my eye to the second brightest area of the frame, which is the out-of-focus wing and then the shoulder. The area that one would expect to have the most light, in particular if you treat this type of photoshoots as if the angels were models, is the darkest part of the subject – the face. I think that this uneven distribution of light is what's preventing the photo from reaching all of its potential.

Yup, all good points. I didn't want to do an overcast day for fear of muting the colors and flattening the light, but you're seeing the result of the sunny day. I tried to minimize it with flashes and just post processing, but it's bright sunny light. Fun.

sleist said:
I like everything about this except the darkness of the face. Had this focal point been a touch brighter then the larger out of focus wing would have had less impact as a distraction.

Yup.

Everyone- great comments. You hit on my primary concerns and gave me some more to think about as well. Much appreciated.

BTW, I just posted another of her... this is the one I wanted the most but was fighting with the power lines.

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/general-gallery/306500-catherine-angle.html#post2774262