To crop or not to crop....

[Journalist]

I just read that philmco in the previous post was thinking about a bit of closer crop to the nice situation portrait. Well... here is my opinion on my own picture, how I like to turn an ordinary shot into something useful?? Comments?? Shot with a Mamiya 645 on Reala 100. BW in photoshop. Unfortunally I only had low res scans availiable, but I will rescan them for less grain/artifacts in the conversion. First the original then the crop till you drop version. The idea at least in my head is to find an onther picture of more interest?? in the original. I don`t know if I`ve succeeded. please state an honest opinion

[John Parry]

Well, the young lady seems lovely - maybe more hair in the cameo, but...

Well done Oivind

Regards - John

[herron]

Oivind:
I like the tight cropping, I think it works well. ;D

But part of me can't help wishing there had been some more "light" in her eyes...even if it's just more separation to define the white from the iris. They are slightly visible (and it could be the setting on this monitor that's causing them to look so dark) but IMHO they really need to be seen to complete the expression on her face.

I think it's true that "the eyes are the mirrror of the soul"...and if they were more visible here it would give the shot special life! Other than that, I say well done!

[Journalist]

Thank to you both for useful comments. I guess you`re right John, I have to try a bit wider version of the crop. I totally agree with you Ron about the light, normally I will use fill flash for a shot like this as well, but it`s really a "wasted" snapshot that I tried to explore for opportunities. Thanks for the input, sometimes that is useful to see the pictures in a different way.

[GeneW]

I like the tight crop, Oivind. It looks as if there's some detail in the shadowed eyes and I expect you could tweak some of it out with a little Photoshop dodging.

Gene

[Dan Vincent]

Oivind,

I think the crop is the way to go with this photo. Converting to black & white was a good move too.

In the original full size exposure you mainly see a lot of clutter and the backs of heads.

By picking the girl's face out her pensive mood gives us pause to ponder about what she might be feeling at that instant.

I don't care about her eyes or any other exposure details, it's the overall effect that grabs your attention.



There, now I've done my first critique.

[gadget]

Oivind

When I was at University the emphases was on fill in or ring flash to make the eyes sparkle and I had many an argument with my tutor about this. I love this crop though I agree with Ron about the eyes. I really love the grain, it makes the photograph for me as I do love using natural light where ever possible.
This is a photograph I would be proud of.

John