These are two pictures I took for the portrait assignment. I wanted to capture part of the loneliness or sadness dealing with effects of alcohol. I think that I really might not like the second photo? I cant figure out if they way her face is turned so much is a bad thing or if it works. Yeah, no i don't like the second one=] I liked the first photo more because of what she is doing, the sunken look of her face, the crap on the table and the rays of light in the right corner. However, I'm also not so sure on the yellow/orange tint of the photos-think it would have looked better if I didn't do that. The first one might be ok but the second is just too much. What do you guys think?
You picked a very interesting topic. I am curious to know how you approached it with your subject. Did you just ask her if you could take pictures and she happened to be drinking or did you ask to take pictures of her drinking?
ReplyDeleteI like the first one. It is relatively close up and shows nice supporting elements that help tell the story. I like the yellow/orange natural light in the room and it accents your subject's hair nicely and adds a warm glow. By placing her head in the top left corner, you eliminate some of the picture on the wall behind her head simplifying the background somewhat which is a nice added touch. I wish the bottle in her lap was either completely out of the photo or more in it because as it is it could be a mildly distracting element. I am curious how the photo would have looked from even lower such that most of the table's contents are still visible but you were shooting more up at her, including more of the bottle in her lap but that may have not been possible or functional.
The second photo seems to me to be one of those situations where you have keep looking through the viewfinder until you see "the moment", trying desperately to avoid the urge to press the darn button. I have a hard time with that and still find myself taking too many useless photos. It is hard to resist. However, I am not calling your photo useless! Most of the rest of the photo works fairly well as is, it just would have been nice to see some emotion or some form of action. Basically, it looks like the wrong moment to click. But it is not bad either.
Nicely done!
I think the topic is very interesting although it seems like it would be really hard to capture in a straight forward portrait. Maybe if you would've incorporated some other elements, possibly leaning more towards a conceptual portrait it may have been more interesting. Like maybe at a bar or something more connected with peoples ideas about alcoholism. But for what you had to work with it worked out pretty well.
ReplyDeleteTwo ways you can convey loneliness is by light or by space. You need to be able to see she's alone and these shots are just a little too tight to get that message across.
ReplyDeleteThe first shot doesn't give us a lot to go on with alcohol. The top of a Vitamin Water bottle isn't enough. And the beer or Mike's Hard bottle in the background isn't enough either. If you want to have those bottles as a telling element, put them front and center. Frame her through the bottles. Wait for her to drink from them. Find some sort of interaction between the two elements.
As for the second shot, just not doing it for me. There seems to be something unfolding in this scene and as Andreas said, waiting for that moment to happen would have gave the shot some purpose.
I think Gabe hit the nail on the head that there's not enough to give viewers an idea or show interaction with your girl and alcohol.
Plus, where's your caption?