Green Girl

[Didache]

Something a little different for me! The .. Green Girl.

Cheers
Mike

[Bobintx]

WOW! that is an awesome photograph, Well done!

[armando_m]

Impressive portrait
strong gaze

only wish the DOF would include the leaves beyond her face

[Frog]

Amazing how strong the eyes are with all else that's going on here.
Would like to have seen it in vertical.

[draymorton]

Excellent. That is pretty much all. Anything I could possibly suggest here would be a serious nitpick.

[LeeIs]

Amazing. National Geographic material right here. Love everything about it.

[readingr]

Incredible - where did you capture her portrait.

Very impressive.

Roger R.

[Didache]

Many thanks guys for your exceptionally kind words! I took it at a local event which featured various conceptual and performance art. It was indoors so my aperture was pretty open (hence the fall off in focus on the greenery behind her face). I had to do a lot of work on it as the background was exceedingly messy - making it all black was the easiest way of dealing with it. I also had to clone in a little greenery on the far right, and crop pretty tightly on that side for the same reason. The shutter speed was a little low too, so I am pretty lucky I got this one sharp.

Once again, many thanks
Mike

[Justan]

^^what they said^^

Fabulous character study.

If you haven't done so already, enter it into some contests, but not ones where you give away your rights to the image.

[Don Schaeffer]

This really is vivid and wonderful. A mind bender!

[Didache]

Thanks Don and Justan

Justan - it will certainly make an appearance in my club's various competitions.

Cheers
Mike

[hminx]

Great image Mike, the way you handled the messy background is top notch.

[arne saknussen]

Mike, this is an extremely wonderful portrait. There is so much spirit and character, especially those remarkable eyes that you captured. The colors are equally wonderful. One could break this shot into many elements from technical to artistic and each one would be highly rated. This has got to be the POW.

[Frog]

And please tell the story of why she is made up so.

[Didache]

frog .. there is a Nigerian family in my church and I had a word with them about it. With the proviso that Africa is a big place and tribal customs are extremely varied, they were able to tell me that, in THEIR village, greenery is a symbol of life and a head-dress made of leaves and flowers would indicate a weddding or, even more likely, the birth of a child. It is a way of saying 'I am not barren'.

Makes sense!

Arne & hminx - many thanks

Mike

[Grandpaw]

Amazing. National Geographic material right here. Love everything about it.

I just want to say I totally agree. Great shot, Jeff

[daq7]

Great color and texture.

[Fernando Mendez]

Amazing, great work, first I saw the strong eyes then the mouth and then around the face and going back to the eyes... great composition

[GB1]

Mike - Definitely a fine photograph.It looks like a National Geographic image from somewhere else, maybe the Brazilian wilderness or some Caribbean or Pacific island.

At the same time, I wonder what is bothering me about it ... maybe it's the jet black background, or the slightly overdone contrast. Or, perhaps it's that her eyes aren't connecting with me overall (they really seem not to work with that black).

Anyway, guess it's good to have a little critical opinion thrown in.

GB