Self shot. C&C welcome

[Tofik]

my attempt at playing around with artificial lighting.

http://s12.postimg.org/k3q27m1gc/self_1.jpg

 

[timor]

Hi Tomasz. Something didn't work out with the picture download.

 

[Tofik]

Hi Timor here i uploaded it using a different website hope you like it

 

[timor]

I didn't expect this. It is impossible to say, that this is a nice picture, or very well made picture. It is a conceptual photography, something totally different from usual subjects. I even cannot say, if I like it or not right now. To me it is an interesting idea, which I can read in more than one way. The question is what you were thinking while making this picture, was that intention ? Or was it a fluke.

 

[cgipson1]

Doesn't do anything for me... no real interest! Maybe if you explain the significance of the helmet, and the pose... that might help. But that shouldn't be needed for a good image.

 

[TATTRAT]

Doesn't do anything for me... no real interest! Maybe if you explain the significance of the helmet, and the pose... that might help. But that shouldn't be needed for a good image.

+1

 

[timor]

Maybe if you explain the significance of the helmet, and the pose... that might help. But that shouldn't be needed for a good image.

There is a piece of history in this helmet maybe too specific to be presented on this forum.

 

[amolitor]

I think it's a potentially solid piece of art. The composition isn't bad at all.

It reads almost as an abstract, but with some strong elements in it that are suggestive but which don't give answers. I am torn between whether this is a dumb artsy piece of junk, or a powerful statement about something I can't quite put my finger on. If it's that ambiguous, I am inclined to think it's probably pretty good.

It ain't much of a portrait, but it might be something of a picture. Is it part of a bigger portfolio? It feels like there might be a bigger idea here, someplace.

 

[cgipson1]

Maybe if you explain the significance of the helmet, and the pose... that might help. But that shouldn't be needed for a good image.

There is a piece of history in this helmet maybe too specific to be presented on this forum.

I thought that might be the case, especially given where the OP lives. But whether or not the image would be meaningful to anyone not cognizant of that meaning, is debatable. I seldom find something ambiguous (per Amolitor, above) to be good art ... and without a needed background explanation, this looks like just another attempt at a scary "Big Brother / Dystopia" type image. And IMO, if an image needs a background explanation to be meaningful to a certain audience, than the wrong audience is being targeted.

EDIT: I did do some quick searches for obvious keywords, and was unable to find that symbol / helmet... so am assuming it is relatively obscure?

 

[sashbar]

I do not think this image need any commenting, to be honest, because the OP summed it up very well: playing around with lighting.
That's exactly what it is to me, nothing more, nothing less.

 

[jenko]

Maybe I just have a dirty mind, but the only thing that really grabs my attention are the nipples.

 

[timor]

I thought that might be the case, especially given where the OP lives. But whether or not the image would be meaningful to anyone not cognizant of that meaning, is debatable. I seldom find something ambiguous (per Amolitor, above) to be good art ... and without a needed background explanation, this looks like just another attempt at a scary "Big Brother / Dystopia" type image. And IMO, if an image needs a background explanation to be meaningful to a certain audience, than the wrong audience is being targeted.

EDIT: I did do some quick searches for obvious keywords, and was unable to find that symbol / helmet... so am assuming it is relatively obscure?

That's why I said that I was surprised by this image here.
Helmet appears to be of Soviet WW2 model with painted by hand Polish insignia, a white eagle, in this case without the crown. That suggests use in Polish Armed Forces organized and equipped by USSR government in 1943. It was supposedly communist army, thus lack of the crown. It was very much a political creation, nevertheless it was a real, fighting unit. Maybe in today political atmosphere in Poland the effort of that army is degraded and forgotten, like face if that figure wearing the helmet.

 

[timor]

I do not think this image need any commenting, to be honest, because the OP summed it up very well: playing around with lighting.
That's exactly what it is to me, nothing more, nothing less.

It might very much be so. In that case I would like to see more casual props.

 

[nycphotography]

Assuming this is "art" or a lighting experiment, I'd suggest that the hot spot on the helmet is too small and/or bright, relative to the even lighting across the chest.

I'd suggest a slightly larger light source, slightly closer to the helmet, so as to keep the dimensionality of the highlight, but get ti down a notch relative to the body.

Alternatively, you could accomplish the same thing in Photoshop w/ a gradient exposure layer,

 

[Tofik]

When i was taking this photograph my intention was to create a minimal stimulating image using artificial lighting. The helmet is indeed a piece of equipment used by Polish soldiers in the communist era. I chose this prop hoping to amplify this image with nothing more intended. However now when i look at it and reading all your comments i see i created something bigger by accident, i suppose that the faceless naked LWP soldier/ZOMO officer could symbolize a man that is ashamed of his actions that he was pushed to by his superiors.