The Door Keeper

[juznobsrvr]

[Mark von Kanel]

Great image as ever i cant help but wonder whats going through his mind, im viewing on a work monitor and am struggling with shadow detail though

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured.

[juznobsrvr]

Thanks, John and Mark. Much appreciated.

[juznobsrvr]

Great image as ever i cant help but wonder whats going through his mind, im viewing on a work monitor and am struggling with shadow detail though

Mark, I think your work monitor is fine. I deliberately darkened the shadow to emphasize the face of the subject. Again, thanks for noticing and kind words.

[bnnrcn]

I love the way he looks and smiles

[Manfred M]

Interesting image; he has an expression that almost looks like he just pulled a fast one on some hotel guest...

Nicely exposed and the blurred background gives the image a feeling of depth and location. The one thing I don't like is the positioning of his eyes, pulled over to camera right. All that white gives the image a bit of a spooky look.

That being said, this is not a posed shot, so you don't have that kind of control over what your subject does. All in all, a nice and interesting image.

[Mike Buckley]

I like that the subject's personality is so evident. If you would separate all of his hat from the background, the image would be considerably stronger in my mind.

[juznobsrvr]

Thanks, Binnur, Manfred and Mike for noticing and commenting.

[juznobsrvr]

I like that the subject's personality is so evident. If you would separate all of his hat from the background, the image would be considerably stronger in my mind.

Perhaps. Interesting how we all see things differently. On this one, I deliberately darkened the hat so it would blend with the background. In my eyes, the hat as it was in the original was a bit distracting. Also, I thought that the shadow on the left side of the hat looks more natural and consistent with the left shadow on the man. For me, it provided more depth. I'm sure my vision is in the minority. Cheers, Mike.

[juznobsrvr]

The one thing I don't like is the positioning of his eyes, pulled over to camera right. All that white gives the image a bit of a spooky look.

Interesting how we all see things differently. For me, his eyes looked mischievous. Cheers, Manfred.

[wilgk]

Oh isn't he just a darling!
Now I think, he is looking at a lady who has perhaps exited the bathroom, only to have her skirt caught up in her stockings or a gentleman has come from the other side of the bathroom corridor & has some toilet paper stuck & trailing under his shoe perhaps?
Either way those eyes just sparkle with a gleeful expression of "should I tell them? Nah they'll be right" and barely suppressed laughter ...
But....if we are sticking with the whole serious photography critique scenario, then all I would change is in the OOF lights behind him, the 1 on its own on the left is distracting for mine & I would clone that out perhaps?
Great work!

[bnnrcn]

Hi Kay I love this image as much as you love. I don't know if you have seen Rob's other images but I have been following him for a while and I know that he has a different style. Considering his style, I would dare to say that the bright spot on the top left corner is a not a distraction and it actually balances the two bright spots on the upper right hand side of the frame

Have I got it right Rob?

Oh isn't he just a darling!
Now I think, he is looking at a lady who has perhaps exited the bathroom, only to have her skirt caught up in her stockings or a gentleman has come from the other side of the bathroom corridor & has some toilet paper stuck & trailing under his shoe perhaps?
Either way those eyes just sparkle with a gleeful expression of "should I tell them? Nah they'll be right" and barely suppressed laughter ...
But....if we are sticking with the whole serious photography critique scenario, then all I would change is in the OOF lights behind him, the 1 on its own on the left is distracting for mine & I would clone that out perhaps?
Great work!

[Manfred M]

Interesting how we all see things differently. For me, his eyes looked mischievous. Cheers, Manfred.

And of course, being your image, it's your call...

[juznobsrvr]

Oh isn't he just a darling!
Now I think, he is looking at a lady who has perhaps exited the bathroom, only to have her skirt caught up in her stockings or a gentleman has come from the other side of the bathroom corridor & has some toilet paper stuck & trailing under his shoe perhaps?
Either way those eyes just sparkle with a gleeful expression of "should I tell them? Nah they'll be right" and barely suppressed laughter ...
But....if we are sticking with the whole serious photography critique scenario, then all I would change is in the OOF lights behind him, the 1 on its own on the left is distracting for mine & I would clone that out perhaps?
Great work!

Thanks for your witty observation and candid critique, Kay. Honestly, I've thought about doing all those things you suggested when I was developing this image. In my mind, if I do those things, where do I stop? I might as well black out the entire background. At the end of the day, I was convinced to leave those "imperfections". I think in some cases, imperfections enhance the beauty of things. People may not agree but beauty is subjective. I am of the opinion that we need to think carefully about the "do's" and "don'ts" of post processing and photography in general. They were placed there as wise guidelines to be sure. Yet I believe that we should not be slaves to these rubrics. We ought to strive to a level where we should learn them and have the wisdom be able to break them. I am not quite there yet. But it's an aspiration I wish to pursue. Cheers.

[juznobsrvr]

Hi Kay I love this image as much as you love. I don't know if you have seen Rob's other images but I have been following him for a while and I know that he has a different style. Considering his style, I would dare to say that the bright spot on the top left corner is a not a distraction and it actually balances the two bright spots on the upper right hand side of the frame

Have I got it right Rob?

Cheers to you, Binnur. I believe you correctly read my mind. Thanks, my friend.

[wilgk]

Thanks for your witty observation and candid critique, Kay. Honestly, I've thought about doing all those things you suggested when I was developing this image. In my mind, if I do those things, where do I stop? I might as well black out the entire background. At the end of the day, I was convinced to leave those "imperfections". I think in some cases, imperfections enhance the beauty of things. People may not agree but beauty is subjective. I am of the opinion that we need to think carefully about the "do's" and "don'ts" of post processing and photography in general. They were placed there as wise guidelines to be sure. Yet I believe that we should not be slaves to these rubrics. We ought to strive to a level where we should learn them and have the wisdom be able to break them. I am not quite there yet. But it's an aspiration I wish to pursue. Cheers.

Understood and a great approach, I look forward to learning a lot from your steps along the way. One of the joys of photography is the many different styles and approaches that we create and take.
Thanks Rob, for sharing yours.

[truonda]

Interesting how we all see things differently. For me, his eyes looked mischievous. Cheers, Manfred.

I feel the same way. I thought he was up to no good :P

Also, if you had told us that he was a train conductor, I would have believed you. Nice capture!

[Jeffbridge]

Beautiful shot...well done!

[juznobsrvr]

Understood and a great approach, I look forward to learning a lot from your steps along the way. One of the joys of photography is the many different styles and approaches that we create and take.
Thanks Rob, for sharing yours.

Thanks for kind words, Kay. Likewise, I look forward to learning from your approaches.