Portrait if Dani

[cherie6c]

Hello.. Looking for feedback. What do you think about this image?

 

[DannyLewis]

I would have used lighting (flash) to keep the shadow off of the right side of her face and gotten rid of the tall grass in the front of the model. nice picture though Dont take my word as I am new to the art of photography..

 

[cgipson1]

Lighting is fine.. but that OOF grass in her face kills the shot. Not a keeper with that..

 

[Designer]

The tall grass as a background element is o.k., but not in front of the model. The other background element, the wall, is distracting. There is no apparent reason to frame in landscape format. Shadows on her face are too severe. The shot would have been much better if the model would have been looking at the camera.

 

[cgipson1]

Would have also been better shot vertically.... too much dead space!

 

[Derrel]

Non-Asian viewers almost to a person loathe OOF foreground bokeh. If this photo were shown to a Japanese viewer, he would understand it, and probably like it. I think it would work better cropped to a square aspect shot.

 

[planC]

Excellent shot.

 

[rexbobcat]

Non-Asian viewers almost to a person loathe OOF foreground bokeh. If this photo were shown to a Japanese viewer, he would understand it, and probably like it. I think it would work better cropped to a square aspect shot.

Why Asian? Just a cultural photographic trend?

 

[Brandon Hill]

I'm on the other side, i like the foreground bokeh effect, it doesn't take away from the subject at all. Because of it you've allowed the image to be asymmetrical, and feel less posed and somewhat voyeuristic. I'd keep exploring the style.

 

[Derrel]

Non-Asian viewers almost to a person loathe OOF foreground bokeh. If this photo were shown to a Japanese viewer, he would understand it, and probably like it. I think it would work better cropped to a square aspect shot.

Why Asian? Just a cultural photographic trend?

I guess that's one way to describe it. As I understand it, most "western" viewers seem to look first at the ostensible subject of a photo,and pay very,very little attention to the background or foreground areas, while most viewers from quote, unquote Asian cultures, tend to look first to the background, and mentally "place and evaluate" the subject within that contextual placement, often spending a lot of time looking at the "non-subject areas", and in that way evaluate the rendering of the "subject". This is from psychology and the field of visual perception research.

If one looks at many, let's just say Japanese photography web sites, this same compositional technique is used over and over; out of focus foreground objects and foliage are a COMMON compositional device in photos shown by Japanese photographers. In the USA, this technique is often met with strong disapproval, even when done well.

 

[amolitor]

I find that out of focus foreground elements create a voyeuristic feel, and more specifically they place me, the viewer, into the scene. It can personalize and intensify an image, as I think it does here, or it can make it quite creepy, depending on other details.

I quite like this one. Landscape works fine for me, but I like more empty space in photographs than most people do. I would have pushed her a little off-center, myself.

 

[ManualMode]

Non-Asian viewers almost to a person loathe OOF foreground bokeh. If this photo were shown to a Japanese viewer, he would understand it, and probably like it. I think it would work better cropped to a square aspect shot.

Why Asian? Just a cultural photographic trend?

I guess that's one way to describe it. As I understand it, most "western" viewers seem to look first at the ostensible subject of a photo,and pay very,very little attention to the background or foreground areas, while most viewers from quote, unquote Asian cultures, tend to look first to the background, and mentally "place and evaluate" the subject within that contextual placement, often spending a lot of time looking at the "non-subject areas", and in that way evaluate the rendering of the "subject". This is from psychology and the field of visual perception research.

If one looks at many, let's just say Japanese photography web sites, this same compositional technique is used over and over; out of focus foreground objects and foliage are a COMMON compositional device in photos shown by Japanese photographers. In the USA, this technique is often met with strong disapproval, even when done well.

Framing a subject within out-of-focus object is one thing, but that grass is cutting into the detail of the subject a bit too much, we lose the cool earring and a full shaded half of her face (losing depth). The wall seems to pinch her against the OOF grass and since it's unidentifiable, it doesn't really put her into any particular setting. Doesn't help that the dark line on the wall also doesn't appear perfectly horizontal. Intentional spontaneity is one thing, this just seems like an error.