This is an 11-shot stack of a butoneer my son has kept from his high school prom. After 5 years I think it shows a beautiful character created by time, and I wanted to capture this detail.
This has not done very well in in my portfolio (only 2 community votes) and I'm wondering if I am being overly-influenced by a personal connection.
I would love sincere feedback on this - what do you like/not like, what would you do to improve, whether or not you feel the subject is strong enough etc.
I always treat every comment, good or bad, as a gift so please don't feel you need to hold back - all I request is honesty.
Hey Alan.
I was one of those two votes with a three star for this particular piece. I look at it a a 'mostly' technically solid photo, I love the textures, I like the focus work, I like where you chose the OOF areas, and for what I am looking at, I really appreciate the overall neutral palette of colors.
I wish there was somehow a better composition to this (i.e a better 'creative' positioning, maybe positioned upright with some open space to give it some breathing room, etc). Or, conversely, there is so much wonderful texture happening I am also wondering what a much closer shot would provide here. Maybe a composition that is just the meeting of three different textures fully filling the frame for an all you can eat feast for the eyes. I feel this composition is floating somewhere between two ideas that may greatly improve this piece.
Did you by chance shoot this in a series of different angels?
Thanks Joe, both for voting and your helpful response. I did actually shoot from different angles (although none closer) but chose to work this first as I wanted to get close and capture the varying textures and detail.
As always I always look forward to and appreciate your artistic insight, so thanks again for your input.