Your photographs of the human figure

[Asher Kelman]

WARNING: Art Challenge of the unclothed Human Form, unclothed or not, Natural Light

Please submit all images to w84u(AT)mac(DOT)com with age of model(s) and note that you have consent. Pictures can have been made with any film/digital process anytime in the last 10 years.

Here, we want to just begin to explore our creative capability. It won't necessarily be perfect. That's O.K.

So don't feel you as you are not selling these pictures, therefore they can't be shared. Discussing imperfect attempts is great too; as mistakes can be opportunities for us to learn.

Thanks for contributing

Asher

 

[Frank Piechorowski]

There Is No Finer Art Form

Then the female form.

Title - Pulchritudinous

 

[Sean DeMerchant]

A quick suggestion Frank, return the color to her eye shadow makeup. In B&W eye makeup tends to simply darken the areas about the eyes and creates the looks of baggy eyes rather than bright clear eyes. Albeit, that may not be your artistic intent either.

enjoy,

Sean

 

[Asher Kelman]

Please submit all images to w84u(AT)mac(DOT)com with age of model(s) and note that you have consent. Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

In order for this to work, keep comments to the art. Don't hold back because you're not a "qualified critic". Still, give the honest good before the honest bad Your opinions will be balanced by others anyway, and no one is wrong, if enough people post and tell what their own reactions are.

We have just one image posted and one will appear on monday. Feel free to make suggestions for or comments on the

subject
title
pose,
composition
lighting
makeup
processing
reactions pictures cause
reference to other myth, art or books and the like.

You like it, or not, please comment. There's more to come and we should try to get in comments in the order of pictures being posted as much as we can.

Asher Kelman

 

[Jack_Flesher]

Here is my first entry. Lighting was one strobe and soft fill reflector. Processing was original 1Ds file converted to B&W in PS via channel mixer. Goosebumps are original and left unretouched for effect. :

 

[Asher Kelman]

Thanks Jack for the image. This is an interesting composition. I haven't seen this before. This shows how one might use the limbs alone as compositional elements.

I am holding my comments for now but everyone is free to describe their own reactions and impressions. This part of photography, is, IMHO, as critical as taking the picture in the first place. Not that it means that the photographer thinks as we all do. Not that the photographer should or needs to change anything, but that, "as is", these are our reactions. This body of impressions can be used by the photographer or not since only the photographer will be able to measure the relevence of any comments to their own intentions and execution of their creative vision.

Still, we all can use the images to demonstrate what can be done and what meaning can be inferred by particular subject, compositional, thematic, textural and lighting approaches to convey meaning.

Remember, this is perhpas the most difficult part of photography. Pleasy post your image so we have a good body of work and great discussion.

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

Thanks Jack for the image. This is an interesting composition. I haven't seen this before. This shows how one might use the limbs alone as compositional elements. Everyone else please add your feeling, thoughts and ideas.

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

Please share your own reactions, feelings, thoughts, ideas and impressions. Are there any take home lessons from this particular photograph that might impact one's future work or suggestions for new work.

This part of photography, honest critique, is, IMHO, as important as taking the picture in the first place. Not that it means that the photographer thinks as we all do. Not that the photographer should or needs to change anything, but that, "as is", these are our reactions.

This body of impressions can be used by the photographer or not since only the photographer will be able to measure the relevance of any comments to their own intentions and execution of their creative vision.

Still, we all can use the images to demonstrate what can be done and what meaning can be inferred by particular subject, compositional, thematic, textural and lighting approaches to convey meaning.

Remember, this is perhaps the most difficult part of photography. Please post your image so we have a good body of work and great discussion.

Asher

 

[Jack_Flesher]

Well, if you are asking ME to share my own thoghts and ideas, I would simply say when it comes to the 'Human Form' I prefer more abstract representations over the more traditional poses. Or I like to photograph them in interesting places like in and around ruins:

Entry #2. 35mm Tri-X scan, natural light with stone wall as reflector. Provence 2001:

 

[Asher Kelman]

Hi Jack,

I do like the last one. What lens? Also what did you use to scan the film?

Asher

P.S. my remarks were to people looking at other peoples pictures who might not feel they have the right, authority or training to critique someone elses picture.

My writing is meant as both a stimulus and a guide for others to become involved so this is not just show but also tell us what viewers feel and think when they see your pcitures.

Asher

 

[Carl Harsch]

Intertwined: I am fascinated by the various lines and angles formed. My eyes roam over the image taking it all in. I immediately noticed the goose bumps and my first impression was to prefer to see them softened, but second thoughts came in and now I'm not sure. I like the contrast of his and her legs, hairy/smooth, dark/light.

Le Bout Droit: Not too crazy on the angle here. The distortions caused bother me a bit, particularly her foot. I like the tones achieved in your conversion. It looks as if you may have added some grain to her body -- if so, good choice, if not, it's still a nice touch. (edit....added grain comment withdrawn after reading that it is scanned b/w image)

Pulchritudinous: I like the composition and the clarity of the image. Mixed emotions on the saturation levels, leaning toward thinking b/w conversion might have worked better in my mind. I particularly like the dark shadows in her neck and shoulder areas along with the blackened background.

(my .02, which when added to another .98 gets you something on the $1.00 menu)

 

[Jack_Flesher]

Asher: Thanks. That second one was taken with a Leica M and 21mm lens just to prove to somebody you could shoot people up close with an ultrawideangle lens. I scanned the film on my Epson flatbed scanner.

Carl: Thanks for the comments. The film was (old) Tri-X which is where the grain comes from. There is nothing special done in post, pretty much a straight shot.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Re Tonalities:

In case any folk might think otherwise, Pulchitrdinous is perfectly exposed. On a lesser monitor it might look as if the higlights are blown. Not so! I thought that using an Apple 15" LCD, then on my Eizo, it is fine. Just something to remember if you are trying to print, you may be adjusting out of range if your monitor can't deal with the dynamic range!

Asher

 

[Don Lashier]

Re Tonalities:

In case any folk might think otherwise, Pulchitrdinous is perfectly exposed. On a lesser monitor it might look as if the higlights are blown. Not so! I thought that using an Apple 15" LCD, then on my Eizo, it is fine. Just something to remember if you are trying to print, you may be adjusting out of range if your monitor can't deal with the dynamic range!

It looks fine here, even on my cheap uncalibrated Dell laptop. Actually, I usually have to be careful the other way with high-key images - my printer doesn't have the DR of my monitor. Actually it's not the DR that's crucial but rather how the ends are handled on both monitor and printer. For this sort of image this (shadows and highlights) is the most critical part of profiling both monitor and printer, and often overlooked because may not notice it on more typical images.

- DL

 

[scott kirkpatrick]

That second one was taken with a Leica M and 21mm lens just to prove to somebody you could shoot people up close with an ultrawideangle lens.

I like the picture also. Since the pose is traditional (e,g, Weston's Tina Modotti pictures, before he started leaving the faces out of his nudes), its distortions add a humorous note to an already strong picture.

I found the textures and lines in "Intertwined" intriguing, but didn't think that the composition used the right edge and bottom of the frame very well. It just stops there.

scott

 

[Eric Hiss]

Is this challenge over?

Just stopped in and saw the last post here was in October....
I've got quite a lot of figurative work and would be happy to post some.
Eric

 

[Asher Kelman]

We are still open! This is and will be ongoing!

If you could share set up and lighting where you remember that will be helpful. Also if there any stylistic or other ideas you are concerned with, this would be interesting to share!

Happy New Year!

Asher

 

[Ross Stockwell]

Hi Asher/all

I do not know how I missed the start of this thread - but I did - and I am just discovering it now.

I have mostly done landscape/scenic images - but have really turned-on to portraiture and figure work in the last year or so. I plan to post some images here for critique early in the new year.

Thanks for starting this Asher!

 

[Asher Kelman]

Great! We'll be interested in how you start out. Don't worry about making mistakes, but it's a good idea to have a goal and prepare for it by sketching the pose and the set and also working out the style and lighting. Books are helpful. Such a lot of great work has been done so that there's a lot to emulate and be inspired by. However each human being is different, so allow the subject to speak to you.

Asher