guy with goggles holding his fingers up (since we gotta link the title with the image)

JacaRanda · Feb 4, 2015

I like the shot much better than the first. However, I'd like it more if the focus was on his eyes rather than his knuckles/fingers.

I also think this is a better crop of his head than the others.

AKUK · Feb 4, 2015

I think it's a really good shot and agreed, much better than the first. The gaze is engaging. You have a natural looking expression and gesture more than a pose, which I like. That's my biggest pet peeve with about 95% of all the model photography I see. Girls and guys pulling these high fashion poses, when they just aren't needed and it ends up detracting from the image because it all looks so contrived and unnecessary.

I like the lighting and the hood in your shot. It give's a nice ambiance and feel to the image. A bit moody and mysterious. It all comes together nicely. The only negative for me is as @JacaRanda mentioned. The fact that you chose the hand as opposed to eyes as focus. If the guy was a boxer, then I could understand the hands being the emphasis. Those would be the tools of his trade and something he would be known for.

I'm not saying the image doesn't work. Far from it. From an artistic standpoint it works well. Album cover or a poster etc. As a portrait, since I don't know him as a person/personality it's natural to want to see someone's face/eyes with clarity. So I think you have to decide what you are aiming for. In the right context the image would work beautifully. In another, as in the case of JacaRanda and I seeing this from a portrait standpoint, we don't like the focal point choice. Now if you slapped some text and a "Parental Advisory: Explicit Content" icon on it, the whole thing would shift in context that my brain would accept, if that makes sense?

Designer · Feb 4, 2015

I like 'em.

Overread · Feb 4, 2015

I find I'm agreeing with AKUK - the first photo I do like, I really do. I think it works; but at the same time I'm already (as I view it) imposing a kind of hacker/techno punk vibe over the top of it. Much like AK says I'm giving it a rough internal context to myself that I think completes it (and I'd not be surprised if a few of the others who like it are doing the same - whilst those who dislike it are perhaps not).

To me this is indeed the kind of shot that would work in a body of similar works or within a themed context. Alone and without any context it might lack focus (hard for me to objectively tell as I can't see it without the internal context I've given it).

Bringing the context with us is something we all do, often without realising it - consider how many people look at a shot of an animal (excluding typical domestic breeds) in what appears to be a natural environment with no human elements and instantly start to build a mental picture of the subject being a wild animal without any real evidence to support it other than the shot itself (some of this group can then become disappointed if they find out it was a captive animal or wasn't as "wild" as they thought).

You can certainly solve this by adding more direct emotional and content based elements to the photo to build more of your own story and to guide the viewers. I'd also say that a little more of the hands would have helped, but that you don't need the eyes in this shot - their missingness and the shadow cast over them I think is key to this shot. If the eyes were there it would change things considerably.

Gary A. · Feb 4, 2015

I like it. I'd go square or close to square on the crop. The lighting/exposure/processing is very good. I like your incorporation of the darkness without making the dark overpowering and distracting.