Solitude (Low Key B/W portrait)

[brandonbpm]

I love the use of negative space in landscape orientation so I really wanted to get this shot down. My background was a medium gray, but I feathered the light of my softbox off my subject to have it go into black and give it a little more drama.


Solitude by BrandonBPM, on Flickr

 

[timor]

Kind of surprising no one said anything yet. Amolitor must be sleeping.
It is a lovely portrait or rather a study of a delicate nature of a woman. Despite minimalistic methods used this portrait captures a full range of emotions.
Unusual framing, how you say; negative space might work for some viewers and I understand that. For me, I would prefer to have that black space on the other side of the model. Not because it would be easier for me to deal with of balance composition on my right side, but because bright, white space outside the picture is blinding me a bit and thus make studying portrait of this beautiful woman harder.

 

[manaheim]

Nice mood and it seems like appropriate framing and posing. I'm no expert, though, so I'm curious what others have to say.

 

[brandonbpm]

Thank you so much for your feedback. I understand what timor means about the negative space being on the left side instead of the right, I considered the opposite side with my composition but I decided that I liked the framing better the opposite way only because of the line made from her braid, nose, chin and the shadow parallels and follows that makes a slight diagonal from the top right to the bottom center as opposed to top center-right to bottom center/bottom left if it was framed the opposite direction.

 

[timor]

I decided that I liked the framing better the opposite way only because of the line made from her braid, nose, chin and the shadow parallels and follows that makes a slight diagonal from the top right to the bottom center as opposed to top center-right to bottom center/bottom left if it was framed the opposite direction.

I never noticed that, but I made a different connections, more on mental level. I was looking in the meaning of that in regard to the subject.

 

[sleist]

Love it except the earring which, for me, disrupts the soft lines of the image and does not seem to belong.
There may be a bit too much empty space to the left, but I don't mind it much.

 

[brandonbpm]

Love it except the earring which, for me, disrupts the soft lines of the image and does not seem to belong.
There may be a bit too much empty space to the left, but I don't mind it much.

Thanks for your feedback. You are definitely right about that, it is distracting and adds a dark blemish to an otherwise simple, clean image, if you excuse the fly away hairs. I kept the hairs because I wanted the picture to look stripped and un-manicured (I know that's not a word lol), but now that I notice it, the earring definitely contradicts that. Hm, maybe I can clone it out.

 

[Studio7Four]

I really like this. I too like having the dead space on the left. Personally I think I would have gone with a bit less of it - as it is now, the fall off of her shoulder into the dark is really darn near the horizontal centerline of the frame, meaning the entire left half is black. But I like how near her lit side is to the right side of the frame, it lets you feel that she is turning away from some ambiguous thing (which happens to be casting the light).

I actually like the earring, though I think the shot would also work without it. The embroidery in her top and the braid in her hair are details which agree with the detail of the earring. Had her hair been loose, had her top been plain (or the shot composed to not show it), I would agree that the earring would be out of place.

 

[amolitor]

Having the larger dark space behind her instead of in front of her invokes, in me, a little more tension and a slightly creepy sensation. Having the unknown placed behind her rather than in front, you see?

I like it pretty well.

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

Everything works for me except the earring, as mentioned by someone else.

 

[clarie]

I love this, I'm new to DSLR cameras (1 month) so I don't have much to add in the way of the technical side... but I love the feel of it, it has a soft side to it but also a intriguing side that makes you want to know just what she will see if she looks up.....This is what I want to learn,. black & white photography on black background

 

[runnah]

Having the larger dark space behind her instead of in front of her invokes, in me, a little more tension and a slightly creepy sensation. Having the unknown placed behind her rather than in front, you see?

Mind = Blown

 

[brian_f2.8]

i like it, i could see this used commercially and the left side has some room for text, maybe a jeweler or bridal store.