YEEEEEES!!!! :D

pursang, where's she from? Poland? Argentina? The Mars?

Was she asked to wear this expression or is it spotaneous?

Was she asked to wear this expression or is it spotaneous?

I think I just kicked it over the top...

Congrats pursang on your feature ! this is an amazing image..like seeing an angel for the first time..brings you really far away !!

George, would you care to explain just why you find this image so feature-worthy. I have to confess to not liking this at all. Sorry, Mark.

It's an interesting photo, but it's not as appealing to me as some other featured shots. That's all personal taste, but it lowers it's impact on me. It might fair well in a creepy or dramatic portrait kind of theme.
I'm finding a lot of shots in this theme that don't really match the theme to me..not as much as some others. I've knocked out my idea that both a door and a window should be present, and am judging relevance solely on the idea that the window and/or door seems to be the main subject of the photo. If not, the relevance goes down. This photo has a woman in a window, not a window with a woman. #114 is a very similar kind of shot in which the main subject is clearly the human, and not the window. This theme is wide open for all kinds of interpretation, which is pleasing for some, and not for others.

First off, thanks for all of the comments. I appreciate comments whether you like the image or not. This is a composite image. The window is from Washington Square in SF, the girl is Jen who I captured between performances at the Performing Arts Center. The lighting on her face matched the window lighting and I wanted to composite them.

Ana, as far as image 114, it is one of the most compelling and moving shots in this theme for me. One of the great things about relevance is it is all about the viewer. You see the child, I see the child through the window. For me it's completely relevant, but again, that's me. psychodudu, I appreciate your candor and can understand why you may not like the image. Everyone has that right.

I often look through books by Leibovitz, Loengard and Avedon and wonder, 'why did they like that image?' But I was told by a master that if you can eventually answer your own question in that regard, you'll become a better photographer. So I keep looking!

All photos arre subject to taste, of course. I, personally, think that at least ten featured photos of this theme are not that good - but that's again a mere opinion.

I gave it a max score because it caught me. Others don't like it that much. That's the way it is.

(I would say his "smoking Irina" photo would have deserved getting featured more than this one, but it didn't make it...)

I agree about shot #114 (and have said as much).

Compelling and moving, yes.
Wonderful capture? For sure.
Windows and doors? Nope.
Personal opinion? yep.
That's part of the beauty.

Strange.

Now that I know it's a composite I have an eery feeling I wouldn't have given it a max score had I known it before. Not as if it was bad that it's a composite, though. I just... i don't know.

I guess I'm lucky that I've learned this when it was too late because this one definitely deserves 25 points.

Thanks bio. My view is that unless I am shooting for journalistic purposes, any photograph - composite or not is fine for the purposes of artistic pursuits. Everyone has their own view of how an image should be done, no processing, film only, no composites, no studio lighting, no filters, no placing objects where they weren't, no cropping, etc.

We can go back and forth on whether the use of one method is still within the 'purity' of the photographic 'norm' or not, but I prefer to shoot, use my imagination and produce something that I think says something visually and more important - emotionally. To each his/her own.

" ... use my imagination and produce something that I think says something visually and more important - emotionally. To each his/her own..."

I like that!

I notified Jen's dad Bill that his daughter's image was on this site. He's not a member, but here are his comments:

"Thanks, Mark! If I could comment, I would reiterate what I said to you that I find it to be evocative of the subliminal imagery in The Shining. Subtly disturbing. Best, Bill"

Jen is a minor and the image of her was taken on private property, so I needed Bill's permission to use this image on my blog and at my exhibit.

What's wrong with my breath? I brush my teeth last week!

This image is great because it visually creates an illusory world -Photography - that speaks to our intuitive mind -- Also, I think, the window is essential in the Image - by framing the subject, positioning her mentaly up in space and reflecting the world "outside" - we also guess an inside world !! And, don't we say that "the eyes are the windows of the soul".. ;-))

I find this image to be quite cinematic, so it's interesting that she is an actress. Not sure exactly why, but this reminds me of Hitchcock's The Birds. The whole atmosphere is like that small, dreary town in the movie.
As for the relevance, the theme is Windows and Doors and until Ana mentioned it, I didn't consider that both were required. The creator of the theme said simply this: "How about both? Both can be equally interesting, and perhaps it's nice to compare." That seems pretty open to either or, to me.

Very interesting and impressive shot. Perfect textures, reflection of clouds in the windows. All this together with girls portrait makes this shot very strong visually.

pursang,

I must stress that I've got no problem with composites - probably the feeling that I wouldn't have given it a max score if I had known it was a composite is because it's sucha good one that I haven't realized it's not a straight one. It's just fibne the way it is.

And now I'm going to cut it.

A technical question: pursang, I guess I'm not the first one to realize that you seem to use a unique shade of grey (that I like a lot). I realize almost all your b&w photos by that unique "pursang grey". How do you achive that?

I try to match the gray to the gray in the hair I have left on my head.

After that incident at Self portrait II. no wonder you have not much hair left :D

(Still, I meant my question)

bio, I'm not really sure how to answer your question regarding the levels of tone in my black and white images. I use Levels, Shadows and Highlights, Curves and a Soft Light mask on most of my images during post processing. Sometimes I just use Brightness and Contrast, but not often.

I study images for tone quite a bit. Hope that helps.

psychodudu, you ask what i find feature worthy about this image (sorry for the slow reply; things have been moving fast of late).

well, the first striking thing is her face. the tilt of her head. there's a soulful yet stoic look in her eyes. the fact that she's behind a window looking out makes it all the better. it's almost as if she's denying to herself that she wants to be free. like she's living up to someone's expectations of her but her true spirit is begging for liberation. then there's the placement of her in the frame: smack dab in the middle. i love it, and i think it works particularly well because of the choice of the position of the rest of the elements (window frame, etc).

as for this shot hitting the mark on relevance or not, to me it hits it right on. again, she's behind a window. a closed window. she's not out in the open. she's not behind an outhouse. or over a barrel. or under the hood of a car. she's behind a window. the connotations and implications are just too damn obvious.

in my opinion this is a great image. well done, mark. congrats on the feature.

pursang,

I had a suspicion that first you converted your image to grayscale then you set the level of a certain color (say green) to maximum, anad then back to greyscale. Sometimes this can result in unique grey tones.

But thanx for the technical details, now I know what I wanted to.