Gas Mask

[Manfred M]

My daughter and I did some more work with some of the masks around the house. This is an older NATO style mask head shot.

[Digital]

Nice clear photo. Interesting subject.



Bruce

[purplehaze]

The lighting is quite striking, Manfred, and wonderfully brings out the texture of the mask. Still, I wish that your daughter's hair wasn't falling in her eye and across her neck, and that it were softer.

[Manfred M]

Thanks Janice, but that was actually the look I was after.

The scenario we played out was that she put on the mask quickly and looks ready for anything. This goes back to when I had more hair and did a lot more scuba diving; hair was always getting down into the eyes and into areas where one didn't want it, and of course fixing it after the mask was on and you were underwater was always a bit of a challenge. I imagine that the same would apply when one puts on a gas mask in a hurry.

Rather than using a softbox, I used a beauty dish, camera right, as my key light. A beauty dish puts out fairly hard and edgy lighting and this is what I got, but I must confess, I used a soft (camera left) as my fill light. The bit of a fight I had there was keeping the reflection off the gas mask lenses, although there is a sliver on the camera left lens. I feathered the softbox so the light from the edge was all that was hitting the camera left side.

[purplehaze]

Okay, gotcha. I was going to qualify my remark by saying that, due to my absence, I wasn't aware of your objective with this project. Intent is everything. I do love the look in her eye, and it does say "ready for anything". Well done.

[shreds]

I like the lighting and even more the explanation, thanks Manfred.

However as a picture this doesn't unfortunately work for me. If the mask was applied in a hurry, the effectiveness of its function would be compromised. We were always told any hair including beards (obviously not an issue here) could adversely affect function and therefore careful application was essential to survival!

With this in mind it really say to me it is a photographic prop rather than a functional gas mask, and I am itching to see the right eye which is hidden by the mask.

Sorry for the strange crit, but that is what it says to me. (and why hide your daughters' beauty behind an old rubber gas mask?)

[John 2]

Interesting and well made image for certain Manfred . However, not really sure what it says to me though. I shall return to it anon.

[Shadowman]

Nicely composed, a bit too pristine looking for me. I have to agree with Ian, doesn't really work for your intended purpose as one would expect a few smudges on the mask. I also would go monochrome, the hair looks too fashionable for the headgear.

[bnnrcn]

Hi Manfred IMO the image might look better in B&W as the hair looks too fashionable as John mentioned above. I like the light in the image.

[Max von MeiselMaus]

Intense image, there. I personally love gas masks, so good choice of subject.

I hear you on wanting this to look as though she is hastily getting ready for action. However, agreeing with a couple of others that the hair looks incidentally messy, not messy as part of the story. It is a few strands over the eye, which is a little distracting. Perhaps better to go the whole hog and have hair arranged so that a some full strands fell over the eye (on top of the mask) and the rest is artistically messed, or scrape it back so it doesn't feature at all.

I would also have wanted to see the far eye, so have the head turned rather more towards the camera.

For dynamism, it might have had more movement if she had been leaning forwards slightly, head up. It would give you an oblique line from the right hand side and emphasise that she is ready for action. A bit more space in front of her face would give her some room to move into.

But kudos on getting such good light on her face, there. No mean feat through the visor of a gas mask.

[shreds]

I have been thinking about this for a few hours and to me gas masks are generally associated with lots of negatives....bad events......wars......germ warfare....chemical weapons....desperate attempts at surviving the unsurvivable.... so with this, and I hope you and your daughter forgive my limited and rather basic attempts to add an ominous and unforgiving tone into the picture, I have produced the following.

[Shadowman]

I have been thinking about this for a few hours and to me gas masks are generally associated with lots of negatives....bad events......wars......germ warfare....chemical weapons....desperate attempts at surviving the unsurvivable.... so with this, and I hope you and your daughter forgive my limited and rather basic attempts to add an ominous and unforgiving tone into the picture, I have produced the following.

That's a totally different concept, far beyond the traditional use of gas masks. Your rendition has a fetish look to it, nothing wrong with the editing or the concept; just an observation on the presentation. I'd like to see a bit more of the highlights to bring out the detail of the mask. Nice effort.

[shreds]

That's a totally different concept, far beyond the traditional use of gas masks. Your rendition has a fetish look to it, nothing wrong with the editing or the concept; just an observation on the presentation. I'd like to see a bit more of the highlights to bring out the detail of the mask. Nice effort.

It is interesting how pictures are viewed and interpreted by us all.

My thoughts were more on an armageddon/Chernobyl scenario rather than anything rubberist, but how far do we look when we create an image in our mind. (and this was not even my image....sorry Manfred)

Thanks for the additional view, John.

[John 2]

Said I would come back Manfred. I decided that it wasn't the concept that left me wondering. Ultimately I quite like it. What does occur to me though is that the highlights on the body of the mask are quite distracting although that may be what you intended. Taking them down for me at least, makes for more comfortable viewing. Something like: (Not sure whether you mind others modifying your images so I will remove if you wish)



A bit rough and ready and perhaps needs to be a bit less subdued but you get the idea.

[Manfred M]

Thanks, John.

I did the glare and harsh lighting on purpose through by using a beauty disk as my key light in order to get a bit of an edgier look (i.e. the determined student protester) and based on the comments I got, I'm going to reshoot this weekend using a soft box as a key light instead. i might try adding a rim light as well, while I have separation from the background, I want to see what getting more will do for me. The curved glass lenses have proved to be a bit more problematic than I had expected, and I don't think I can remove them without damaging the mask.