Dear Renderosity Members, I am TomDart, a complete newbie on this wonderful site. I will upload an image and want your opinion on what I should have or shoud not do with it! That is, if you have an opinion. This face shot is a man feeling pain. Since it is me, my perspective(following sinus surgery! Yikes) is distorted as to the image others might see. The image(can I upload 2?) is the full face, self taken with the camera in the left hand and fortunate sun light. To show something with the idea that "His Eyes Feel Pain" would you crop to the eyes? Would you scrap the image and go for another one? Would you just keep it in the family album and scrap any title? That will not hurt any feelings here...I am trying to learn, not be pretentious about myself. Any comments will help, positve or negative, all is needed to learn for those who know more about this than I do! Thanks and God Bless. TomDart.

Welcome to the Forum, and I do hope you are feeling better. Excellent that you told us the background and what you are trying to accomplish. The eyes alone do show pain, but the rest of the face shows bravery. I wouldn't really change the photo. Maybe experiment with B&W; it is sometimes more expressive.

Dear Misha, I do feel welcomed. Thanks for that. I sent this image to some friends, who know I wear glasses and are used to a happy face. They considered it "serious" compared to the me they know. I guess that is correct. I will try some black and white stuff and see what happens. BTW, the lighting is natural. Trees block the sun and at a certain time in the evening just a bit shows through..a beam here and there. That is the lighting used. The pic is unretouched; I thought that best considering my question. Thanks so much for the reply. God Bless. TomD'Art

Welcome :) Sorry for your pain, I hope you are better now. I'm impressed that were holding the camera for this photo, you obviously have a much sturder arm than I. I think Misha described the emotions in your face perfectly and I would agree not to take away from that. I would crop off the left a tad, just along the frame of the door. That way you would have a more even backgound. Just an opinion you can take or leave. May God Bless you as well TomDart :)

Dear MzOt, Cropping is a good idea. I see what you mean. That is for tomorrow. I will be glad to get home to work on it. I have tried a little tonight with greyscale and bending the histogram a bit. Not terribly satisfied yet but working on it! I have always felt in many images, black and white says what is said and color often distracts the eye and thought from the image. In my "Tulip Bee view" image, color IS the essence of it with a bit of natural translucency and nice sunlight from the backside, too. Each image has its way. So, I will work on a bw of the portrait and play with crops. As you said, just a bit here or there will make a difference to what catches the mind's eye. I am not a pro at all..but being a jeweler by profession, I do have a few clues as to what is "seen" by the viewer of that work. Those who are just looking for big and gaudy to impress others will not find me satisfactory. Those looking for some heart, well, they might find an answer. The first impression is so vital. The image or object reaches a place in the mind(hopefully!) and that sells the image or item as good, bad or ugly. The first "mind" impression can rarely be changed or reconvinced. That is my thought on it. So, I have direction in that, looking for more in the ethereal and technical means to get there. Thanks so much for the post. God Bless. TomD'Art (aka TomDart)

Do you see this as any better? I might have cropped too close to the left.(Does that rule of "thirds" work anyway?) The stuff over the head bothered me, too. Let me know.Wow,I feel better already. You folks are great! Really apprciate being here when such a newbie. I do realize, "I know what I like" doesn't mean I know what I am doing. Ha. God Bless. TomD'Art

Yes, I think much nicer!

Welcome to the forum! It is a great shot. I love the natural light and how it curves just so. To express the eyes a bit more is difficult. However if the lighting is right and you can make them the brightest point in the image, well then you will have the image to match the title. This image I would have named he feels pain. I see more than the eyes in pain. I see a man how is hurting. I wouldn't have guessed physical pain though, I would have thought it more emotional. Any way you look at it, it is a very good shot. Magick Michael

Now while I was typing you were uploading! Now you are making me type again! Now THAT is His Eyes Feel Pain!

Dear zhounder, In truth, the pain was both physical and emotional. The emotional is perhaps the greatest. You hit right on that, on the mark. The physical is easier to bear in that case while dealing with the "rest", which is emotional, more than any might know. This has little to do with the image but at this very time, the place where I work decided to close, quit, shut the store. The future is iffy with a foot in another door at least! I didn't think this would show...perhaps the emotion did show, even if the "reason why" is not so important. You have some eye to see more than I saw from this perspective. I was too close to see it showing to the open eye. Thanks so much for your insight and comments. God Bless. TomD'Art.

First welcome to the forum, hope to see more of your work.

Ok, just my two cents worth. The first image is good, but the second is much, much better. Its been my opinion that portraits of men, when the intent is to show emotion, are all about texture. And the second brings this out. Also you are following the rule of thirds in the second. In that your eyes are the focus of the image and your eyes are in the upper left third of the image.

The color version would have worked better with a shallower depth of field, to blur the background, and toned down to decrees the highlights, also help to draw attention away from the background. This could have been accomplished with a larger aperture and a slower shutter speed, but at the same time you would have risked completely losing your eyes in shadow. But considering that you were holding the camera, this is good.

In the edited version, if I were to go any further, I would adjust the contrast up just a little to increase the texture, but keep a close eye on your eyes, because they are just about right. And there seems to be a bright speck just above your upper lip. Hit that one time with a clone stamp, put it in a frame, and hang it on your wall.

Hello Thomas! I'm glad you decided to stop by. Welcome to our little photo forum! Feel free to post away. There is no limit to amounts here....(within in reason of course!) The photo is wonderful and works so well in B&W. It was nice to here your thoughts on how you see things.... I think you and I are going to get along splendidly.... :~) Q

My personal and unprofessional opinion; I like the original better. The color is excellent, skin tones the shirt the hair all make for a nice realistic shot and the light makes a perfect oval frame around the face. The extra darkness on the outside edge of the picture helps the look of sadness and focuses the viewer to the desired point on the photo. I think you have a very nice shot in the original, you may play with it but I don't see how you can improve it. But, do experiment and have fun.

I second the motion that the second was the best photo. I senn and read some really good comments. thank you for posting this. I think it looks fine. Including the dot of white on your upper lip. Thumbs up great job. Bsteph

Dear Friends, I have a small question, like the chicken and the egg. In the portrait I presented, there was serendipity in that the subject(me, yikes!) was feeling what the picture attempts to capture. Do you catch the idea first or does the idea come from the subject? I imagine it is a combination since some pics are setup and others perhaps chance and the heart, eye and artistry to see what is happening and catch that at the right moment. Is there a particular direction in this any of you take? God Bless. TomDart.

If an idea falls in the forest, and no one hears it??? Mostly my inspiration comes from place; tomorrow I'm going to the Gardens, so I expect some plant forms, and will prepare for those. But may also find some surprises along the way. I actually have a very difficult time with the monthly challenge themes; they are good to stretch the brain, but I do not usually work that way.

Tom, welcome to this great forum! Hope you'll enjoy it as much as the rest of us....looking forward to seeing more of your work! That's a great self portrait....something that I only managed to do once (although my face ended up in the corner of the picture) and the lighting is rather fantastic. Was that the natural light, or did you set something up before hand ? Take care & have fun!

Welcome to the Forum, Tom! There's nothing much to be said here that hasn't been said before (yeah, I like the b/w version, too!). Anyway, nice to see you here and I hope you have a great time with these nutcases, errr, forum regulars. ;-D (*

I am not a nutcase! I am curious why I keep getting E-mails for Prozak and viagra in the same E-mail. Does this mean I have to calm down and get excited? :-)~

Well, after message 19, I DO feel a lot more at home here.: ) No doubt. God Bless. TomDart.

I prefer the second one. Strenght, pride, intelligence and doubt. the future is somewhat hazy. And, even if you did not mention it, we feel that something terrible is happening. Black and white delivers more meaning (less is more) than color in that case. Lights have a "Karsh" quality I like, as in the Hemingway portrait (...maybe softer). As for your real worries, I sympathize a lot. Hang on. PH

Dear PH, My nose is now not so rounded! The real worries are at ease in my thoughts, what will be will be in that regard. Thanks for the comment on that part of things. I am trying soon to do some more shots worth posting, not sure what direction that might take. In that, too, time will tell. God Bless. TomD'Art