--- Shel Belinkoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi Frank, > > Well, glad you liked it. Tri-X has a very nice > tonality, and sometimes I > get lucky and catch everything just right, and get > the processing right, > and then the photo looks pretty good. > > You didn't mention it, and I usually don't ask such > things, although I'm > going to make an exception in this situation: did > you notice the softly > focused background surrounding the childs head, > creating a star-like > pattern, running to (or from, depending on your POV) > the the upper and > right corner and frame edges? > > To my mind that is a major compositional element, > and I was wondering if > you noticed that, and if you felt it adds to the > final image, or is a > little too much. Your opinion won't change a whit > how I feel about it, but > I just had to ask since you didn't mention it. > > I know what you mean about just letting a photo take > you wherever it does > without paying attention to the details, letting it > affect you without > thinking about the why or how of it, and then > perhaps going back for a > second or third look. Some of yours bring me back a > second or third time, > and there are other photogs here that do that for me > as well. Sometimes > I'll save a pic and use it as a center piece on my > screen, which allows for > multiple viewings outside the confines of the > browser and with no need to > call up Photoshop or whatever. I've made the screen > like a gallery, > setting the background to a middle grey, moving all > the shortcuts out of > the way, so the photo gets a priminent display. I > think there's a way to > make a slide show on the screen as well, but I've > not explored that option > yet. > > Well, I've rambled long enough and far enough > afield. TTYL,
Hi, Shel, To be honest, I didn't notice the starlike OOF background behind the child's head. It's kind of cool, but to be honest with you, I was so taken by the child's eyes, and the mom's emotional nuzzling, I didn't spend much time on the ~form~ of the background. That's quite odd, because I distinctly remember feeling very calmed by the bokeh; not the form of it, but the creaminess of it. Am I making sense? I fear not. Of course, now that you mention it, the cross/halo/whatever is pretty cool. I don't know that it's a major compositional element for me, but maybe I'm just saying that because I didn't notice it the first time. I'm going to have to come back several more times to absorb it before I can say much more. What I did notice, but didn't mention until now is that mom has an eyebrow piercing (pretty cool), and I noticed the incredible detail in her knitted sweater. This is obviously one of those photos that will reveal much more to me at future viewings. You know, it's very deceptive. At first glance it seems to simple, yet important details emerge with subsequent viewings. I know this is the third comment I've made on this photo (mind you, you ~did~ ask for this one <g>), but I really think it's one of your more important works (which of course speaks volumes, given the high quality of what I've seen of your work). cheers, frank ===== "The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true." -J. Robert Oppenheimer ______________________________________________________________________ Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca

