A Whole New World, a photo from Leicestershire, England

Photographer's Note

Met up with Kev Ryan today at the Loughborough Fair for some snaps and some beers.

Taken with Kev's 70-300mm lens, not long before he dropped it onto the ground and smashed the UV filter along with a nice scratch to the lens glass. Nothing to do with those beers we had prior to the incident, I'm sure.

I must thank Kev for the great day and his hospitality in showing me around his town.

Brian, Leilani, stamatis, KevRyan, luisafonso has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Brian (3) 2007-11-10 15:55

Ouch! Good thing you got this one off before the fall.
Beautiful smiling faces facing away from each other in the pitch black reminds me of some Trent Parke stuff for some reason.. I love the redish hue on her face while she looks off. This photo is a favorite for sure.

Take care,
Brian

Leilani (1385) 2007-11-10 15:57

This is a great shot. Perhaps a little too much space above for my liking, but the quality is excellent as is her positioning. Lovely light. Rgds, Leilani

batalay (32868) 2007-11-10 15:59

Hello Brendan,

This is an excellent portrait of the attractive young lady. The dark background works well, and the centering of one eye on the vertical centerline is an auspicious asset. It was discovered by the British-born psychologist Christopher Tyler that in almost all great portraits (from Leonardo's Mona Lisa to Rembrandt's powerful portraits, that one eye of the subject is placed very close to the centerline. Dr. Tyler, who works in San Francisco, made the discovery in 1998, and I wrote about it in my book, Math and the Mona Lisa. It is a principle never taught in art schools, yet the gifted artist intuitively frames his/her portrait in that manner.

(My sympathies to Kev Ryan for the damage to his lens).

Warm regards,

Bulent

stamatis (2434) 2007-11-10 17:06

Hello Brendan

Very nice shot.
I like the expression of her face and the light ,i like too the black background.

my regards Stamatis

grantlp (2113) 2007-11-10 20:08

Hi Brendan,
No....I'm sure the beers never played a part......anyway, glad you got this one. I like the way her face stands out against the black background, and it's emphasised further by the fact that she's wearing black. I would have prefered her on her own, as I find the out of focus woman a bit distracting. Nice image all the same.
Cheers Grant

designsoul (21492) 2007-11-10 20:17

I protest-- Kev-cum-Gandalf would never drop anything... not in his nature, even after 8 beers! But a funny note, Brendan :)
If the background were red, it would have reminded me of those Communist party Mao-style Chinese pictures of the super-happy working class... but the background being black, the girl's beaming smiles are different, hope in hopelessness perhaps? Be what it may, photographically great, but somehow I find the girl's smile a bit too saccharine to my taste... forgive, it is just a silly thing perhaps on my part which has not to do with the quality of your shot itself.
ciao
sasa

ninaL (21340) 2007-11-11 0:48

Perfect shot, Brendan.
I like two faces emerging from the darkness, in a kind of reflection.
Pure perfection.
Best regards. Grazyna.

partha (13775) 2007-11-11 1:04

Amazing view. The background is just beautiful and seperates the subject wonderfully.
Regards.
partha

KevRyan (22924) 2007-11-11 1:57

Hi Brendan - well the good news is it wasn't a scratch on the glass so all is OK!!! Just a new UV filter......it actually dropped out my bag as I turned those tight stairs - so the lesson was 'do the bag up'! A really nice portrait of this person, isolating her and that light and the expectation she had in her face - actually for her child or sibling who was on the ride in front of her. Great to see you both!

bw kev

luisafonso (862) 2007-11-12 19:18

This is a great shot Brendan. So good it looks like you set all this. Both girls wearing black, over a black background. Beautiful black eyes and a black cap. Amazing. The light in her face is very good and she really shines beauty from every pore in her face. The exposure on her coat and hat is perfect. Maybe I would like to see a less vertical centered compo, but hey, that's minor. Really like it.

RandomCameraGuy (3069) 2007-11-13 0:53

love all the black in this shot. the girl's expression is great too. seems just a touch soft, but acceptable.

sorry to hear about Kev's lens, that hugely sucks! I worry about that all the time as I'm always changing lenses on the go (or jumping on to things with my cam around my neck and smashing the lens hood on things...)

af

seb_p (498) 2007-11-13 7:22

Great picture. I really like the fact that we have two prople in this shot creating a great third dimention to the shot. Having a good looking gal to look at really helps :P

Seb...

Furachan (0) 2007-11-15 0:40

Nice extreme use of DOF, focus where you want it, blur for the rest. Two faces, like sisters perhaps or two aspects of one person. Mysterious and cool...
Francis

rbcy1974 (20758) 2007-11-15 3:42

Hello Brendan
Very nice portrait, I like the way you have isolated these ladies by the darkness, was it like this or did you apply something to darken everything around them? I am interested cause a few months ago I saw an exhibition with portraits done in this manner.
Cheers
Daniel

brevbrev14 (140) 2007-11-16 6:29

Hi Brendan, beautiful image
i love the use of the DOF, the opposite directions of the women and the black background..
the smile of the girl is great too!
ciao!
Valeria

kensimage (8557) 2007-11-17 8:11

A very creative shot, Brendan--it's not easy to find a new way to photograph a pretty girl candidly. Usually of course one would use a black background to set off something solemn and serious, to remove all distracting context. Here we have purely sweet faces, sweet because, well, why not? Maybe it's not profound but it says one doesn't need a particular reason for a nice smile. Regards, Ken.

ViktorVaughn (1521) 2007-11-19 18:02

Great shot with the two women and the black background. THe lighting is perfect on her face, and she does look very happy. Not much really to improve on here, just an excellent photo.

Regards

donluicu (24692) 2007-11-21 1:00

nice....
superb portrait...cute girl..nice dark background..
one thing: may be the other girl disturbs a bit

regards

loic

yanseiler (20) 2007-11-28 6:54

Nice gazes as I already told you, this dark background and the nice bokeh on the second girl is beautiful, nice tones...

barrufeto_77 (28876) 2007-11-28 9:08

Hi Brendan.

Excellent face of the girl and nice other one in the background.

Well done!

JPlumb (3159) 2007-12-02 19:30

Hi Brendan, very nice low-key shot of these two women. The exposure on them is good, while the rest is blacked out. Your use of depth of field worked very well to bring out the one face while placing the other very effectively into the background.

Thanks, John

stego (22556) 2007-12-15 2:48

Hi Brendan,
An amazing portrait. That beautiful smiling face really stands up in that dark backdrop. If it wasn't so candid, one could think about a studio portrait very well staged and carefully lighted.
Regards, José.