I'm beginning to notice more and more how much I miss an art community. There are some times when you really need some critique and advice, and this is one of those times. Last week, I took quite a few pictures one night while a few of us on the island were hanging out. It was a dark, cozy space, and it feel like a good time and place to experiment a little bit. One of the many wonderful things about Star Island is that many of the people that work there are artistic or creative in some way. This means they are usually more comfortable being photographed, or at least seem to be used to it or able to ignore it or accept it. This makes my life much easier. I think I tend to get fixated on one thing or one person at a time when I'm taking pictures and for most of that night last week it was Mandy. The combination or lighting and gesture made her a really great subject, but I'm struggling with some of the images I got. I like the movement of her hand but I'm unsure about the framing. I think I'm a bit of a purist, so part of me gravitate towards the full-frame, the unadulterated shot as it was when first taken. At the same time I understand that there are times when extraneous objects are distracted, and need to be cropped out, and I really enjoy a square crop in the right situation. So, I'm left trying to figure out what feels right and I think this might be a good opportunity to get some outside input. So, what do you think?
(Just FYI, these are each a different image, but they all started basically the same in concept and composition. The gesture itself is the only difference)
Uncropped:
Cropped at the same aspect ratio:
Square crop:
Different square crop, excluding the spoon:
