I saw this photograph and instantly had to comment on it and then I saw that it was up for critique so here I am. First of all, THANK YOU for sharing this with all of us. Artwork like this inspires us and challenges us to keep taking pictures or painting or writing. This is the kind of work that makes artists fall in love with art all over again.
The dual subjects in this photograph (the model herself and her reflective double) play off of each other perfectly. One of my favorite thing about "reflection shots" is that we often take for granted that a person can only "make one face" at a time, that is, that they can only express one emotion, one feeling at any one time through their face. The reality, and it's illustrated quite beautifully here, is that the perception of emotion is based on subtle differences in lighting, in the placement of tiny muscles under the skin, and in the angle from which the subject is being observed. Because of that, a well-shot reflection can show the same model, with no compositing, showing two seemingly different expressions.
In this case, the "real" girl seems to be daydreaming, her eyes focused on something far away through the window. Her hand grips the object as if to draw (Is it a feather, a charcoal stick? I like it best not knowing.) but her attention isn't on what she's doing. Her reflected self IS in the moment, the eyes seem to both look at the viewer and into herself, thinking about what she's doing, fully cognizant of everything that is happening in that one second in time - herself, the viewer, and the world around her.
The beautifully restricted color palette works perfectly to highlight the warm tones of the "real" subject and juxtapose that with the "girl in the window." The way the photo was finished really ties all of the elements in seamlessly; great job with the processing work here. The lines all seem to provide a soft dreamlike quality which sets the stage for the magic of the reflection to work on the reader.
The only thing that VERY slightly distracted me was the bright lock of hair in the top right. Because the rest of the hair seems to be fading into shadow as the eye sweeps up and right, it stands out because it is much brighter and catches the eye just a little bit. I would just tone down the brightness there (maybe burn it in) so that it follows the "fading into shadow" look that the vignetting has created, but that's the only thing I could see that might be changed.
Amazing piece of work. Beautiful, imaginative, interesting, and striking. Thank you again for sharing this with us.
Sta.sh
The dual subjects in this photograph (the model herself and her reflective double) play off of each other perfectly. One of my favorite thing about "reflection shots" is that we often take for granted that a person can only "make one face" at a time, that is, that they can only express one emotion, one feeling at any one time through their face. The reality, and it's illustrated quite beautifully here, is that the perception of emotion is based on subtle differences in lighting, in the placement of tiny muscles under the skin, and in the angle from which the subject is being observed. Because of that, a well-shot reflection can show the same model, with no compositing, showing two seemingly different expressions.
In this case, the "real" girl seems to be daydreaming, her eyes focused on something far away through the window. Her hand grips the object as if to draw (Is it a feather, a charcoal stick? I like it best not knowing.) but her attention isn't on what she's doing. Her reflected self IS in the moment, the eyes seem to both look at the viewer and into herself, thinking about what she's doing, fully cognizant of everything that is happening in that one second in time - herself, the viewer, and the world around her.
The beautifully restricted color palette works perfectly to highlight the warm tones of the "real" subject and juxtapose that with the "girl in the window." The way the photo was finished really ties all of the elements in seamlessly; great job with the processing work here. The lines all seem to provide a soft dreamlike quality which sets the stage for the magic of the reflection to work on the reader.
The only thing that VERY slightly distracted me was the bright lock of hair in the top right. Because the rest of the hair seems to be fading into shadow as the eye sweeps up and right, it stands out because it is much brighter and catches the eye just a little bit. I would just tone down the brightness there (maybe burn it in) so that it follows the "fading into shadow" look that the vignetting has created, but that's the only thing I could see that might be changed.
Amazing piece of work. Beautiful, imaginative, interesting, and striking. Thank you again for sharing this with us.
~Walter F. Rodriguez