http://forums.photographyreview.com/showthread.php?p=36959#post36959

a photo project I'm working on ...
posted on critique to get technicalities...posted here to get feelings and opinions. what do you like ...what mood does it evoke...what might you do differently...

nat,

You seem to be working on quite a few strong ideas lately. I think this is a very powerful shot, and lends itself to an obvious series of images.

What you're trying to do here can be very challenging, because expression of this nature almost always forces you to break the rules of "traditional" photography. You've managed to make the shot wonderfully abstract, so much so that it borders on ambiguous. My guess is that viewers probably see many different things before they realize what the subject actually is. If they in fact finally do...

The others elements that interest me are the dark moodiness, the tight cropping and emotional color scheme, bathing the subject in an interesting pattern, and using the jewelry (and especially the delicate highlights on it) as an area of subtle tension in a part of the frame normally considered off-balanced. IMO, it all comes together to work in a marvelous way...

BTW, you list some technical details of the shot in your Critique post, but in this case, I'm much more interested in your thought process as you planned and shot this. What were you looking for as you worked and how did you react to the scene as it evolved through your viewfinder. To me, that is much more important than shutter speeds and photoshop details.

I'm sorry that you haven't gotten responses to the pic in this forum. This is exactly the type of stimulating imagery I'm hoping we get to view and discuss on a regular basis here.

Please try not to get discouraged. We need you to keep posting your ideas!...

I'm sorry that you haven't gotten responses to the pic in this forum. This is exactly the type of stimulating imagery I'm hoping we get to view and discuss on a regular basis here.

Please try not to get discouraged. We need you to keep posting your ideas!...Steve, what happened is that everyone replied to this thread in the gallery. It was kind of confusing at first. When you click on her link you can see the responses.
Kit