I guess this is one of my favourites because I caught someone I care about (love, hate) in a 'pretty' if inconsequential way. Sorry about the selenium, John. Technical info: who cares...Would a bounce have helped?

As with all my scans right now, it's from last summer...shawn

-- shawn gibson (SeeInsideForever@yahoo.com), March 18, 2000

Answers

A reflector would have filled in those shadows in his face.

-- Frank S (fscheitrowsky@interhop.net), March 19, 2000.

Helped with what? What do you want the portrait to be? I see a contemplative young man facing an unknown future. I can't see his eyes, but then, I can't know what he's thinking. This works for me, although if you intended the photo as a classic portrait or for fashion, it needs a whole lotta reflector. He's your brother. Does this show more than you intended to reveal, about him or about you? Is this a fortunate mistake, or is your art slipping past the guards?

-- Ron Erwin (thebookbarn@prodigy.net), March 19, 2000.

Funny you say that; he is in nursing school and dealing with the uncertainty of that (life based on marks, stress, right choice, etc...). I personally would like this less if I'd used a bounce, since it would have become more of a "photograph", about technique, and less of a "moment", about life. Technique is often used to fix the shortcomings in a photographic idea, with me (what does AA say, "There's nothing worse than a sharp image of a foggy idea" or something like that...), and in this case I just happened to have a camera and he was there. I'm glad it is 'borderline' with the exposure. It feels more honest to me, something a lot of my photography is missing--honesty...shawn

ps I wish I'd'a got the top of his head in there...

-- shawn gibson (SeeInsideForever@yahoo.com), March 19, 2000.

Toning works well when there are a lot of midtones - as in this shot. If you want to add color to higher-contrast pics like some of your others, try changing them to duotones in Photoshop.

-- John Kantor (jkantor@Mindspring.com), March 19, 2000.

I don't miss the top of his head at all. His face show no evidence of a dodge, perhaps you could open it up a little that way? The loss of transition (seperation) of forehead from sky is more troubling, mostly because the rest of the image is so full tonally, it seems inconsistent (a good scan might be the difference?). I agree that any obvious fill would completely change the feel of this moment, which is honest and appealing... t

-- tom meyer (twm@mindspring.com), March 19, 2000.

yeah, it's the scan. In the print itself, the maximum blacks are just below paper max, so everything 'glows' a little more, almost like there is subtle flare.

-- shawn gibson (SeeInsideForever@yahoo.com), March 20, 2000.

...just to give you an idea of what the original might look like, I spotmetered the dark part of his face at straight 18% (the same way I always meter if the subject is greatly in shadow; then I cut the development by about 20% time to save the highs...though I can only guess that I DID do that here). shawn

-- shawn gibson (SeeInsideForever@yahoo.com), March 20, 2000.