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CorpulentPanda — Al
Published: 2009-02-19 01:51:11 +0000 UTC; Views: 1834; Favourites: 26; Downloads: 36
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Description
Part 1 of a series exploring self portraits.I am by nature an insomniac and often find myself glaring at the glow of my monitor at 3 am in the morning. I find things to keep myself occupied, like finding an old suit jacket, an old derby hat, some lights and a cigarette..
Wait till you find out how I focused this....
Fujifilm Across 100 B&W film on Ilford RC Pearl
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Comments: 41
I am doing an original comic, and would like to use a black and white version of this pic in a back cover with live action pictures of my character. This pic looks like one of my characters (not shown here).
[link]
If I can use it, I would appreciate it. If not, I understand, and will look elsewhere.
Jag
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I usually dislike photos with cigarettes, but I don't know, the way it's lazily dangling from the lips, almost a different meaning than the others.
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I really like this photo. The expression is really good and the smoke from the cigarette adds a lot of character to the photo.
You already know about the focus problem so I wont really go into that. But I know how hard it is to get a good focus for a self portrait.
The composition is good, well balanced. Nothing to really complain about, good job!
The lighting on the left side of your face is a little harsh, especially on your cheek. I am not sure if that was your intention but, you're losing a bit of detail there. Maybe you can try burning the area slightly to and see if you can't squeak a little more detail in there.
I think what would have really helped here was a reflector on the opposite side, so that even though it is dark we could still see the tiniest bits of detail on the other side of your face. That would probably add a lot more depth to your image.
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I did a quick sloppy edit with some burning just to see if I could salvage any detail in the cheek:
[link]
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sorry wrong link, [link]
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Noo.. don't think so.
If this is a scanned print you may have to make another print and burn it in on the enlarger.
If you took the picture the way you described, it may not have any detail on the negative if the lighting was too strong. ><
=X Which I know is not the most happy way to do it, but when I think detail, I'm thinking the texture like under the eye. Though it does not have to be as dark as that area, having a little of that would be nice. A good example would be to look at some of Richard Avedon's work. I really admire his portraits, and you'll see what I mean by detail.
And I'm very glad you have an very clear artistic vision that you are going for. I think it shows in your work. If you ever want another critique, just note me and I'll be happy to oblige.
Good luck with the image!
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Thank you
Yes I really love Avedon's work as well.
I'll see what I can do for this. I'm supposed to make a very large print for my school to put up in the gallery soon so I'll concentrate on that, unfortunately I can't scan that it's too big XD.
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First off, I truly appreciate your extensive critique on this, really I do.
I will try to see if I can burn in some detail onto the left side of my cheek perhaps it will help. I was using an extremely strong lamp light, I would've used a diffuser or filter of some sort if I had a real light but I agree that it may be a little too much *going into ps to try to balance it out*
Also it was just me taking this on a timer a reflector was not available and wouldn't of been wanted. There is a symbolism behind many of my pictures especially this one. Not only a theme of noir, but if dual tonality, dual symbolism represented not only in the model (me) but also in the character I am trying to portray: the 20's gangster. The extremity of the such different tones is representation of the duality in almost everything. There are some things so muddled by the actions of a person that no light can be shone on it, nothing can light up the darkness that is the other side of our nature as humans.
However, now that I think about it more, there is a certain aspect I tried to show in here that my expression fails to deliver, I will try to attempt this next time I shoot a self portrait. Thank you once again so much for your critique xyeh.
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Really nice shot, great light!
So how did you focus?
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hehe, I had to use my toe stretched out while not moving what so ever, it looks really hilarious in person.
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haha that's awesome!
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i love the way you lit the face.... love the hat<3
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I am so very glad to see that you are still using film. Too many people dont. I have a ton of film work I want to upload and will someday.
I like your composition and lighting here I do have some issues with the focus but I am curious what method you used.
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ah thank you so much! I love film, it's really gratifying to see your end product when you've put in a lot of work. The focusing was very hard to achieve. I had to use my toe to press the shutter button to focus and then click it while it was on timer, I was hoping the focus would hit my eye mostly, but it seems the D.O.F. is centered around the rim of my hat.
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no prob broskii lol
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Odd looking cigarette Panda....Looks like MJ brand if you asked me
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hahaha
I have NO idea what your talking about....
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mmmk 
Great shot btw. The soft focus with the smoke along with the lighting is sweet.
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thanks, it was such a bitch to focus haha, I had to sit completely still and using my leg and toe press the shutter button lightly.. but it was a success in the end! I set up the shutter speed at like 1/2 a second or something like that so I got that nice smokey effect and I think I was shooting at f/2.8 to get that soft focus.
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Nice job.
Shoulda got a video of it too
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haha my mom walked in my room at like 3, and gave me the usual what the fuck are you doing still up look and was about to yell at me, but then saw me with the camera, I shrugged and she left me alone XD
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At least you weren't busy with *cough* other pictures *cough*
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oh hoo hoo, more of those on the way...
XD
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No problem... I am a lover of fine art...
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Well I am deeply honored that you find my work as fine art
Thank you! More on the way if you're interested. I am having a very busy week shooting and will have a lot of new material soon. It just takes a little while since I do traditional b and w photography and it takes some time to develop and print.
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AH... A true photographer... I am a student... I have to do all my work digital but I am allowed to work in the darkroom when ever I want almost everything I have in B&W is darkroom work... I greatly prefer the darkroom to digital work... so develop, contact sheet, print, and scan... that takes weeks for me... but I think I will add you to my watch...
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Yeah I'm taking a photo class right now, just started last semester and I just fell in love. Digital can't come close to the feel and emotion of film, in my opinion. Plus theres nothing like watching your hard earned picture develop in the tank hah. Thanks for the watch, I do a lot of work and usually upload pretty regularly. Keep shooting my friend.
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