Self Portrait - The Music Man

[mattson]

Attempting to catch the mood and emotion of writing and recording music I came up with this result (yes it's me)



It's a little different shooting yourself and then making desicions as to what to do next and setting up your shot and then setting yourself up before the self timer runs out

Good fun though

C&C's welcomed

Matt

[Stealth]

I like this portrait. Self-portraits can be tricky.

I have two comments, they are meant to be constructive, please take them as helpful criticism and not me just being picky.

That said, I'm pretty picky about framing in portraits, particularly how and where limbs can be cut out. If you're going to cut off part of a limb for framing, the top or a head, an arm, or whatever, it should look intentional. The bottom of your elbow here, is what bothers me. You only just cut off the bottom, so it seems unintentional. I'm not as worried about the ankle.

The second is the colour and saturation of the picture. Was it intentional to have the colours washed out to create a mood? I kinda like it, but it might be interesting to push it a little further if that is what you were trying to do.

I like the short lighting you've created here. Also, there is a nice leading line created by the guitar that brings they eyes diagonally from top right to bottom left. That really helps to fill the picture rahter than just reading through the body from top left to bottom left.

Ok, I think I'm done

[mattson]

Thanks Stealth,

I unfortunately had to loose my elbow because I shot slightly downward and it picked up the skirting board on the floor and looked a bit naff (again cons of self portrait, can't see what your shooting until you've shot it) I could have tried again, but was a little pressed for time...

The colour is intentional, it's a sepia wash in photoshop, I did it to bring out the mood.

Thanks for the comments... really helpful

Matt

[Manta]

I like it too Mattson, especially the colour treatment. My only concern would be the lack of sharpness around your face but overall it's a very relaxing shot. Now all you need is a sax in there somewhere. Can't have that rascally Ibanez hogging all the limelight!

I'm not overly concerned about the missing elbow - all part of the learning process and something for you to think about next time.

Nice work.

[mattson]

cheers mate

[the foto fanatic]

I think the cropped elbow is a minor point.

I like the composition, and I agree with Manta that the face could be in better focus, either by extending DOF, or by shifting point of focus to eyes and leaving fingers and guitar slightly OOF.

It's good to experiment with colour too. I think that the present colour just lacks a little punch (may be your intention), so I wonder about a full B&W conversion where you could have a little more contrast?

Anyway, I like the shot as is; well done and thanx for posting it.

[Grev]

I only have one line to say,

I love that JS! Coming from an Ibanez user myself with two RGs with DiMarzio pickups already.

[hdj80]

Quite admirable capture really. If someone else was taking the shot then I woudl say face focus isn't spot on but considering the difficultly in doing this you have come up with a great image.
Good mood, great colour theme. It works for me.

[mattson]

Hey Thanks Guys,

appreciate the kind words

I would like to try this again sometime soon with a proper lighting setup.

Stay tuned, perhaps more will follow

[gstark]

I think the cropped elbow is a minor point.

Trevor,

That's a C#7 that he's playing, so I'm not convinced that a minor point is a relevant statement within the context of a major chord.

I'm not sure that I like the colour treatment either. It's heavily desaturated, or off, but looks like a half done sepia toned image to me, and I don't think that that works.

Just my humble opinion.

[mattson]

It is a half done sepia tone... correct.

thanks for the comments Gary

[ozimax]

Matt, this is a keeper, one you'll look back on in years to come, in my book a good self portrait. BTW, do you play the guitar or is it just there as a prop? Max