Good morning everyone. I trust you all had a good Resurrection day yesterday. We had a wonderful weekend with Jenny’s family in northern Missouri, filled with good food, lots of chocolate, and dozens of hidden eggs.
Now its Monday, and everybody’s back to the grind. So lets get to it… This week’s image up for critique comes from my good friend, Ms. Black & White herself, Beki T. You can check out her work HERE; and her super informative blog HERE. If you’re a photographer at any level, I’d highly recommend looking into her blog!
The image she sent in is a BW detail shot of a hand against an obscure and out-of-focus background. Being an abstract detail type of shot, this kind of image is very subjective. The image is subjective to the interpretation of the viewer. And regardless of what I, or anyone else says, the viewer either likes the image or they don’t. It’s that simple.
I like the feel of the image. There’s a story behind this image – a story I, the viewer, am free to narrate. It makes me think to myself “what’s this person doing? Is she going somewhere? Or is she looking at something she’s already done?” The darkness of the overall image makes me lean towards the later, thinking the subject has just done something dark and sinister. But hey, that’s me. That’s my subjectivity. Overall, the image is intriguing, interesting. It makes me stop and think, and wonder what’s going on. What do you think is going on?
Lets take a look at the technical aspect f the image. I like the shallow depth of field. Isolating the subject from the background is a major key to making this shot work. It looks like a very busy background, which would distract from the subject. By being out of focus, our eye is lead straight to the hand. And, while we’re on it, for all the gear-geeks out there, the Bokeh is quite nice =).
I’m not sure what the colors were like, but the use of black and white works well. It helps serve my dark narrative for the shot. As does the high level of contrast. The contrast brings out the gritty dirt on the palm. Which again adds to my case for the dark scenario.
I also like the composition, lots of dead space on the left. Of course, I shoot in an editorial style, so go figure. Concerning the composition, I like how there’s near black on the left, graduating to lighter as we look right, then back to a darker grey tone on the subject’s shirt. This creates a stark contrast between the BG and the subjects hand, and keeps our eye right there.
The only thing I can nit-pick about this image is its exposure. Again, I stress “nit-pick.” Now, if the aim of this image was in fact a darker scenario, then it was nailed. However, if the intention was a more pleasant scene, then it needs to be brighter. And, the dirt on the hand needs smoothed out or removed. But again, this all depends on the intent of the final result.
So that’s it. That’s my two cents for this week. And, as usual, everyone reading this is welcome to offer their comments on this shot. Its an open forum. So feel free to make a comment, suggestion, or ask a question. As iron sharpens iron, together we sharpen one another’s skills in our craft.
Lastly, for those of you in the TULSA area, be on the lookout for an upcoming announcement. There might just be a hip new photoggin’ club starting soon. =).
Now, go out and shoot something!
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