STOP...in the name of loveby
StrontiousComment by rjkstesch: Greetings from the Critique Club:
You have a very interesting image with much to see and many questions to answer. I want to know "Why the dirt and grime?" "Is the sweat turmoil or strenuous work," and "Why am I being stopped?" The model is appealing and adds to the "Wow" factor of the photo.
Technically, the choice of lighting, colors, dof and perspective work well for the emotion of the image. There is some blurring on the lowered sleeve that is minimally distracting.
The areas that I feel could have decreased the image are the tight crop on the top of the head and the positioning of the hand. Both are parts of the composition. The arm and hand, clearly in the sharpest focus, create a leading line that carries the eye right out of the picture, past the anguish of the face, which IMHO is the strength of this shot. Bringing the hand down, to the right and facing it more toward the viewer would have strengthened the composition, creating a leading line directly to the face, while supporting the emotion.
Because the face feels so important, I feel there needs to be more space on the left of the eyes. The closer something is to the center, the more our mind perceives it to be important. By having the crop so tight, the face feels as though something is missing.
Meeting the challenge: Clearly there is a single light source. Whether it is artificial or not is difficult to tell, but appears that the voters assumed it was. The lighting on this shot is easily a strength and creates much of the impact.
Overall, an emotional shot with clear appeal that could be enhanced with small compositional changes. Well done.
Becky
Photographer found comment helpful.