Please make suggestions.

This is a portrait of my son - I used Tmax3200 and this is the original uncropped,uninhanced image. I like it as is, but my eyes are weary from staring at so many variations. Please feel free to make suggestions for cropping and enhancing. TFL!
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...ix/dreamer.jpg

Welcome to the forum. I like it as is also. I like the grain, the pose and moment, and the exposure/lighting. The fact that the eyelash of the hidden eye is visible is a plus. I would leave this just as it is. Good work

I also like the grain, lighting and expression portrayed by this shot. Very classy. It would work as a cover for a novel. I would've liked to see the other eye as well or parts of it. That's about the only thing that takes away from this photo IMO.

This is very good, I like the whole idea behind this. My only nit pic would be not seeing the left side of the frame due to the brightness, but that's a very minor issue. Nice capture an one for the family album...
Greg

Man, Gary steals all the good critiques....+1 esp. on the eyelash comment. ;)

Very nice portrait.

Thanks everyone! I appreciate the input!

Interesting angle here. The grain makes it appear from another era. I like how he is looking at a window but I think the area out there is too bright. If there was one of those semi-transparent drapes in that area I think it would have made it less washed out. You may be able to fix it via software (PhotoShop, etc...). Another pointer is to possibly show his other eye more clearly. Overall, it almost appears like a shot from the royal England days.

GB

Obviously, some people have little experience with portrait photography and did not notice the rather serious problem. Looking up the nose of the person you are taking a portrait of, is a serious NO, NO. Change the angle. You should be emphasizing the eyes and the personality of the boy, NOT, his nostrils.

Ronnoco

I don't normally agree with Ron on the rules and try and break as many as I can so that I can learn about what works and doesn't work.

However, in this case I agree with Ron. Don't get me wrong I sort of like the photo with the grain and the dreamy look on your son's face looking out at whatever, but the first thing that grabbed my attention was the nostrils.

I think this would work better if it was from a slightly higher angle but still looking up so that the nostrils were not so obvious and demanding in the photo. So just below nose level.

Everything else about the photo is excellent including the slight angle of the frame and the blown out window, which emphasises the dreamy state of your son.

Roger

I agree that one would not usually want to look up ones nostrils in a portrait, especially if it were trying to flatter the subject. However, this shot to me is not about "flattering" the subject but rather giving us a "raw" moment of thoughts, dreams, contemplation, etc. and this angle works well in portraying this to me. Also, the other aspects of the shot (heavy grain, blown out light, and hard angle) come together to allow the no-no of looking up the nostrils to be ok here. It works as a part of the overall candid, raw capture that this conveys. It is merely a general rule-of-thumb not to look up the nostrils as other rules of general apply, but some can be disregarded and work, and for me, this is one example.

I agree with Gary -- with this young fellow and in this setting, the angle showing the nostrils doesn't seem bad to me at all. He also has a relatively small nose, so it doesn't seem that intrusive (actually, seems most kids have small noses.... I think I read somewhere that the human nose never stops growing, so us adults have larger noses than kids).

GB

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gahspidy

I agree that one would not usually want to look up ones nostrils in a portrait, especially if it were trying to flatter the subject. However, this shot to me is not about "flattering" the subject but rather giving us a "raw" moment of thoughts, dreams, contemplation, etc. and this angle works well in portraying this to me. Also, the other aspects of the shot (heavy grain, blown out light, and hard angle) come together to allow the no-no of looking up the nostrils to be ok here. It works as a part of the overall candid, raw capture that this conveys. It is merely a general rule-of-thumb not to look up the nostrils as other rules of general apply, but some can be disregarded and work, and for me, this is one example.

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All serious portraiture worthy of critique is about flattering the subject and if as you say it is about "thoughts, dreams and contemplation" then the viewer should not be distracted visually by the nostrils and the poor angle of the shot.

Ronnoco

I'd edit the first post to change the word "portrait" to "picture" if that is more fitting, but I cant seem to do so.

I will not be reshooting this, I just wanted input on cropping and enhancing. I will keep the nose and eye suggestions in mind next time around though. Thanks everyone for all your help!

Don't get me wrong, I do like the picture. My critique was to improve a good picture, especially if its not a portrait as originally suggested. However, I still think that a slightly higher level, so that the nostrils aren't so blatant would raise the level of the picture from good to supreme.

Roger

Hmm...I like it. I think if we were looking up the nostrils of someone with ungodly large nostrils, nosehairs, or if there were foreign objects up there, it would be another story. But, that isn't the case here. The first thing I noticed were actually the eyelashes. While I don't necessarily think this is the best shot you could have gotten of the kid, I certainly don't think it's bad.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ronnoco

All serious portraiture worthy of critique is about flattering the subject

Ronnoco

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I completely disagree. Not all portraiture, whether it be "serious" for critique or not, is necessarily about flattering the subject. What a boring world it would be . . . .