Faces with no soul?. . . .depression

[gahspidy]

These are obviously composites. Each of these consist of two complete photographs. . one layered over the other. The underlying image is exposed only through the eyes..
I've been creating something like this in my mind for a while and have tried to put it into play. Not everyones cup o tea, but what do you think. these are close to what I hoped to achieve. They are to go alkong with other shots of masks I had started doing in the past.
Thanks

[readingr]

I love this idea and execution of these masks.

The lighting on the top photo is excellent - would you like to share how you light the subject for us still life beginners? My one chritisism is that the tear looks artificial and you may want to modify this if you so a retake. Also it may be interesting to see what the chap is looking at in the other eye - but that takes away the mystique.

The second photo the tear looks more realistic and I like it a lot.

Excellent, great imagination, well executed.

[JK_Photo]

I like where you're going with these. Good imagination at work here.
My one suggestion to improve the overall appearance and make the two images appear more seamless is to feather your selections so that the knockouts don't appear to be cutout. Either that or take the blur tool and lightly go around the edges of the knockouts.

[mdmc]

Gary,
To me, the mask in the first image looks too digitized and the subject too small.
In the second image the tear seems to be the subject, but there is nothing there.(i like the texture in the mask).
OK, so foot in mouth, I'd like to see the man in the first image in the tear of the second image.
Mark.

[ShotsbyScott]

Great imagination at work! I'll have to say, it is not my cup of tea. But, I can tell you've put alot of hard work and thought into it. I agree with blurring the cut out edges in the first one.
I'm sure some musician would buy this idea from you. Maybe a soloist would like his picture in that spot. I think it looks sort of like maybe an album cover for Phil Collins.

Scott

[Chunk]

Pretty neat, Gary. Got any from inside the mask looking out?

[Seb]

These are obviously composites. Each of these consist of two complete photographs. . one layered over the other. The underlying image is exposed only through the eyes..
I've been creating something like this in my mind for a while and have tried to put it into play. Not everyones cup o tea, but what do you think. these are close to what I hoped to achieve. They are to go alkong with other shots of masks I had started doing in the past.
Thanks

Gary, these are spooky and very eeries. I love the mood in these two and I can only salute your creativity but I must say that I am not sure if this is my cup of tea or not (I honnestly cannot figure this out at that point). The edges betwen the pictures should be softened as others already said. Currently, these look too much like different pictures (even if tonalities works well) due to the edges.

regards

Seb

[Eagle_Eye]

As far as any additional suggestions, I have none. However I would like to say that you continue to amaze me with your ideals. Nice work.

Dudley

[BamaFru]

Love the fact that I didn't actually look at the "window", I went right for the "soul" through the window. I think I like the first one with the moody beach and dark figure the best. Didn't care so much for the tear in either, but that's just MO. Seemed a little out of place to me.

I really enjoyed looking, thanks!
Tanya

[jcharris]

Hallo Gary

About the second photo , the tear . Did you made the tears yourself via photoshop ?
Only somthing about the tears i can not put my finger on .But otherwise great creative work . Both are very nice photo's.
Would you mind if i ask what are you to do with this series you made ?

If one could have used the opacity slider to make the photo in the eye a bit softer or would that ruin the effect you trying for ?

Thanks for sharing .

Regards
james

[CarbonTerry]

JC,
Where is Mpumalanga? I visited Petersburg and Alldays in the Northern Provinces of RSA a couple of years ago.

[gahspidy]

Thanks all for your suggestions and thoughts on these. As for the cut-outs of the eyes, that is how the mask is sort of rough cut out. But since it was mentioned a few times I think maybe a good idea to try to minimize the rough cut appearance and smooth it over some.
The second tear I like better as well, and may rework that for the final piece. The tear was done by mixing a bit of clear hair gel with some water to a consistency such that it just drips slowly enough and long enough for me to work with it. Used a eye dropper type thing to apply it.
Roger, I'm no expert on lighting and do not have it "down" but I experiment with different ideas and a little ingenuity to try and get desired effects. This set up was with a candle light underneath and a mag flashlight painting the stronger lighting from the left. Never directly touching the mask with the beam,, just the softer edge of the light.
I think I will be replacing the image in the eye of the bottom pic with something else, and as other noted may try softening the look of the images in the eyes.
James, they are just another body of work I am doing for myself, and , maybe one day hopefully others may be interested i them as well.
Thanks again,

[Seb]

Gary, After coming back to these two pictures few times, I think that I should further explain my perception of them.

First of all, they are slowly growing on me. These are challenging as you obviously put a lot of thoughts into their crafting and there is an heavy symbology which could be interpreteted in different ways from a person to another.

The thing that prevent me from enjoying them as I should is that I feel that you are walking on very thin line betwen photography and "digital art". Despite my broad interest for visual arts I must say that I have a problem with digital art. I admit that my opinion is somewhat tinted in such a way that I have seen way too much uninteresting so called digital art (by that, I am not reffering to any of your work, I am just speaking generally).

Anyway, my point is that these two pieces of your new series really feel manipulated/digitalized while I would prefer them to have an analog look. I could refer to your cans series for instance: one might argue that they were digital art in such a way that a lot of post processing was involved to end up with the final product. Nevertheless, they looked so natural and effortless that I could fully enjoy them for what they are. I had to stop and try to figure out all the work involved behind them to become conscious of their technical complexity. In other words, the technique wouldn't interfere in my appreciation of the pictures.

Now, the opinion that I have expressed here is fully personal and highly subjective. Also, you are certainly more proficient than me in post processing. I would supose than a way to make the mask series more film like could be to apply a very slight gausian blur over the entire frame to bring down edgy textures and then perhaps adding subtle grain.

As always, feel free to disagree with my long rambling but I just thought that you deserved a deeper explanation of my opinion.

regards

Seb

[gahspidy]

Thanks Seb, I do appreciate your honesty and knowing how you feel about it. It does have a digitized look, but it really is basically the way it was shot other than I converted it to b&w. The second mask a texture was added. Yes, it is a fine line between photography and digital art. I'm definetely not a traditionalist and feel that a photo can be whole and complkete from the snap, and sometimes can be the very beginning of a process towards a certain vision. ( I'm a frustrated artist and sometimes think of the camera as my palette). These two are the only ones in the series that are composites, and I'm not quite sure how far I would go with the next additions.
As always, thanks , Seb and I do appreciate you taking time out to explain your thoughts and ideas.