Gas Mask

[Manfred M]

I spent some time this morning working on some portraits for a short online talk I will be doing next week on portraiture.

I used a harder light than I normally would to give the image more of a gritty / grungy look. I like the look of the hair over the eye under the mask and wonder what others think of it?

[Wandjina]

This is an interesting shot Manfred. The main subject seems to be the gas mask which is the dominant part of the image. However I like the fact that the brightest part of the image is the eye and that is where the viewer's eye is drawn. The hair over the eye doesn't concern me.
This image has nice clean lines and I would like to see some other images from this shoot. Maybe, with the subject making eye contact with the camera or even a full front on shot with both eyes glaring at the camera. That could be very dramatic.
I like the muted tones and as I said; it is an interesting image.

[DanK]

The realism is undermined by his hair. My understanding is that gas masks don't seal well over hair and that someone actually using one would have moved hair aside so that the mask could seal on skin. However, to be fair, this is second-hand: I've never had to wear one.

[Tronhard]

I guess a lot depends on the physical accuracy one is seeking regarding the hair undermining the integrity of the mask. In one way, as one who has had to wear the darn things, it immediately tells me that the person wearing it is not a 'pro', military or otherwise.

I find the hair's colour intensity and brightness to be a bit distracting. Personally, I would crop the top down to the top of the main body of the mask to remove the hair and then it gives a natural opportunity to have the back top strap go to the corner, so some cropping in from the left. I also dulled the hair a trifle. Thus:

[Manfred M]

Thanks for the comments Martin, Dan and Trev.

This image was never meant to be a reality shot; not that many people tend to wear gas masks in the studio.

Martin - this is the only shot of the 20 or so that I took that works well for me. The others all had problems with reflections from the glass lenses or with the strange shadows cast on the eyes by the lighting I was using. I may look at a redo at some point and might want to shoot with a polarizing filter to see if I can reduce the reflections / glare/

Dan - I know all about hair and "leaks". I was an active scuba diver until about 15 years ago when a serious car accident caused some long term injuries to my wife, who was my #1 dive buddy. One stray hair on a mask seal would let an annoying dribble of water in. I had a mustache for most of my adult life, until I started diving. I used to coat it with silicone grease to get a better seal, but finally shaved it off because it made diving so much less messy.

Trev - I am going to go back and do a bit more burning of the bright bits of the hair; I've already done a massive burn down of it. The hair was intended to be an important part of the composition. My daughter, who is wearing the mask, has long blond hair that goes down to her knees and we wrapped it around as a prop in this image. I personally prefer my crop, although I understand where you are coming from. I will play around with that some more.

[lovelife65]

Interesting photo. There is something funky about his eye though, not sure what happened.

[mugge]

I prefer Trev's crop from the top, leaving the side as is. I would also leave the hair as is. The strong pupil? I would tone down as I think it competes with the white eyeball.