Putting aside the name and title - Critique This

[ed9119]

This is NOT my image BUT I have gotten the kind permission from the owner to use it in Critique Section

The image owner's identity, background and image circumstances temporarily witheld ...... not telling for a week ha ha ha (wicked laugh) ..... :devil:

1. in what area is critique to be sought?
I enjoy honest conversations......... :bsmilie:
Without knowing the name and background of photographer, I would like to ask you
a. what strikes you in this image
b. does the slightly OOF face matter in the overall interpretation of the image

2. what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
I put this up with as little information as possible (the only info is that this is NOT my image) to strip away any hints or clues so that an unbiased, impartial, honest and gutteral accessment can/might (?) be made

Morale: An image should stand or fall on its own merit and faults respectively irregardless of who/what/how it was executed

3. under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)
not saying anything until later :devil:

4. what the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture.
I reserve my comments until a week later


Discuss.............

 

[ed9119]

AND if by some chance you know who took this pic and its circumstances........ PLEASE hush hush ....... thanks

All views and opinions (newbies and oldies) are treated with respect here

 

[limwhow]

Interpretation
Let me just give my version of how I would interpret this photo.
I see a soot-covered worker, I presume after a hard-day's work at the coal mine, coming back into the locker room, puffing on his cigarette, looking around irritably for something as he rushes to change up.

Question 1
a. what strikes you in this image?
The most important message it brings to me is what must be in the mind of this person:
"What the $%#& is happening?! Where the %$^& are my pants?! How am I going to get out of this place like this?!"

b. does the slightly OOF face matter in the overall interpretation of the image?
Maybe I am a stickler for technical details like this, but although deep inside my heart I felt that the message has been successfully sent to the viewer, I would personally prefer the face to be kept in focus.
I feel that it is still important on the photographer's part to try his/her best to ensure that the most expressive part, in this case the face, is kept sharp. It is, in a way, a very basic part of photography - you would want the part that you want attention to be drawn toward, tack sharp. (And thus the obsession with subject isolation....)

Question 2
2. what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
... thus bringing us to this question, part of which I have answered in my part 1a... the face with eyes looking out of the corners, the pursed lips just holding the cigarette with a waft of smoke snaking out from the other corner of the mouth, his stooped posture ready to spring - this photographer is portraying an emotion of hurry, of irritation, of impatience... you step on this fellow's tail, he will eat you right up.
The subject reminds me of the Hokkien pengs (army boys) with whom I spent a large part of my infantry unit life, at the end of a day, rushing to book out to enjoy a swell night's out.

 

[ed9119]

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: thank you SIR !

 

[limwhow]

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: thank you SIR !

Hey, ed9119, you are welcome.
Please hopefully don't let whoever the photographer, be sorely offended by my green words. I am merely taking up ed9119's reassurance to inject my very humble personal opinion... hehehe...

 

[sabee]

Yes, the OOF face matters, because I think we're easily drawn to recognizing faces in a photo. The vibe that I get from it is both the subject and the photographer is in a hurry - though from what is not apparent. The cigarette seems to do little to alleviate his anxiety. The posture of the subject is a little awkward, slightly bent - perhaps from retreiving something.

Besides the face, my eyes were also drawn to the in focus areas, the shoulder with a line of cleanliness indicating that the person in the photo must have been wearing short sleeved clothes prior to getting dirty - though again from what is not apparent, perhaps a coal mine of sorts.

Right beside the shoulder, the lockers are also in focus which I found fairly interesting, long rows of dirty lockers with equally dirty locks again given more clue naturally to the photo, indicating the possibility that this is a workplace and the dirty state of this particular person in the picture must not have been an uncommon one.

And that is the story this photo has told me

 

[ed9119]

Hey, ed9119, you are welcome.
Please hopefully don't let whoever the photographer, be sorely offended by my green words. I am merely taking up ed9119's reassurance to inject my very humble personal opinion... hehehe...

dun worry about that your comments have been educated and honest .... that is very appreciated

BTW the photog knows full well what I intended to do with the volunteered images..... been fully advised

I will post the photog's own views on this a week later

 

[ed9119]

Thank You Ken (Sabee)

Did it cause you to feel anything? Dun worry, there are no wrong answers

 

[Dream Merchant]

This is NOT my image BUT I have gotten the kind permission from the owner to use it in Critique Section


Discuss.............

BOBDOOM? :think:

Sorry Ed, couldn't help noticing the resemblance.

OK, back to Ed's transmission.

 

[sabee]

For some reason I can no longer view the image, replaced with a clubsnap logo instead.

 

[ed9119]

Dream Merchant bro, share your views and comments leh..

Sabee, i can still see the image..... hmmm will check on another monitor tomorrow at the office

 

[sabee]

Its fine again now, seemed like Singnet proxy was acting up.

The photo evokes a mild feeling of lower class despair but somehow without the context, I do not feel the full range of emotions one would associate with such a photo.

Maybe I'm an unfeeling beast

 

[cabbySHE]

The expression of the subject's eyes is the most striking, though it is purposely make out of focus.
A wide angle shot, proportion of head and body shows.
A deliberately posed picture.
Subject heard some sound / noise while doing something at one end or corner and hurriedly ran over to take a peek on who's coming.
More like shoe polish than soot to me.

That's all I could gather.

 

[phazed1]

a. what strikes you in this image
the smoke coming out of the corner of his mouth.

b. does the slightly OOF face matter in the overall interpretation of the image
it would not matter if the guy was looking directly into the lens (scarier). but now he is not, so the OOF doesn't imply motion at first glance so .. doesn't work for me.

 

[ed9119]

Thanks cabbySHE and phazed1 :thumbsup:

 

[wildcat]

#1. Picture needs a micro tilt to the left. Don't see any reason why it's tilted to the right. Sometimes there is, but I don't see the need for it in this pix. In situations where the locked box have converging lines that I can actually feel, this could be used but in here, it leads to the person.

#2. Intense eyes and expression works well for me. I sense a sense of urgency.

#3. One of my first thoughts is also the OOF face. But in this case, I assume the situation calls for it, or it was done on purpose by the photog. Works well with #2

#4. Picture is done with high contrast, which works well with subject and very well with the background.

#5. Err... I can't find any surgery marks, if that's what we're supposed to be looking for :embrass:

 

[night86mare]

1a. the face and the soot covered body. the soot seems to be randomly spotched on, yet it stops at the arms.. i find myself thinking why this is so.

1b. no, though i thought this might work better in bnw, if i really had to do something with it.

that aside, i think it's a rather half-baked idea, face oof and all. what i don't get is the context and concept here. i am trying to think very hard what the photographer intends to convey, and my mind is coming up blank. recently we have been seeing these series of things that just involve "doing something really cool that no one else has done before and people don't really want to do". what you end up with is basically a load of images that mean nothing, signify nothing, speak nothing, but just are different for the sake of different. i'm sure that holds value for some people, but unfortunately, it's not something i can understand or aspire to. maybe as a fun shot, sure. if it is meant to be thought-provoking, i apologise for not being quite thoughtful enough here.

just my 2 cents.

 

[ed9119]

thank you gents !

Wildcat, what surgery marks ??? LOL :bsmilie:
Nightmare...... good to hear your views, forthright :thumbsup:

 

[ajcreation]

At first look, i noticed the focused lockers, then the oof face. My sight keeps going back and forth between these 2... then i continued to read others comments before going back to look at the picture again and this time i noticed that wet patch at his underwear.... it's probably the focus of the picture rather than the face or locker??

it is thought provoking and somewhat confusing. If purpose of the picture is to make people think what is it about, then i think it is working...

 

[shiruikage]

i get nothing from the image...for all intent and purposes...it's a rather ugly photo...and badly taken. oof face is fine as long as there's an accompanying motion blur since it can be explained away as motion blur (the face) but lacking that, this pix fail. story wise...uninterested to know coz of the distraction caused by the face.