Chopping off heads

[DarkroomExperimente]

I think it was Duke Ellington who said..."if it sounds good, it IS good"

for us: if it looks good it IS good

[Gary Holliday]

At the moment I'm trying to put forward my favourite image in a portrait sitting. It's of a boy looking down to the side...some replies...

He's not looking at the camera!
He's got his head chopped off.
His head almost looks as if it's floating!
I can hardly see it, it's too pale.

I'm clearly not very good at this.

Interesting comments, I will try a print with the top included.

[Cheryl Jacobs]

Gary, more than likely you just haven't reached your target market. Do what you love the way you want to do it, and you'll draw the people who appreciate it.

- CJ

[Gary Holliday]

Yes, I'm planning to exhibit the prints and do some very direct marketing to certain areas to attract my kind of people.

[Shmoo]

In all seriousness, cropping/chopping off parts of the anatomy can be used to emphasize the image or the emotion. A lot of film makers use it to great effect.

S

[Kino]

Yeah, I have no problem with "chopping"; it can be powerful IF the subject warrants the crop.

[Gary Holliday]

In all seriousness, cropping/chopping off parts of the anatomy can be used to emphasize the image or the emotion. A lot of film makers use it to great effect.

S

Certainly; I feel that the image draws the viewer's attention to the subject's eyes.

[SoulSurround]

Do what you love the way you want to do it, and you'll draw the people who appreciate it.

I must say I agree with Cheryl (and with most tips on her website). Like almost everything in life, it's better to do things the way you prefer doing them... as it attracts people that "think alike" and makes your life a lot more pleasant than, having fruitless discussions over and over again.
Personally I am a head-chopper... whether you like it or not ;-). As Cheryl points out: "Know your style before you hang out your shingle. If you don't, your clients will dictate your style to you. That makes you nothing more than a picture taker. Changing your style later will force you to start all over again, and that's tough.".

[Akki14]

Ah I thought of this thread when I got some colour prints back yesterday... Wish my brother-in-law would have looked up a bit and swept his hair out of his face but, no, he had a bottle of beer in the other hand out of shot...and I chopped off his head too. :rolleyes: I don't think it's as artsy as the nice shots on the rest of this thread.

[Steve Smith]

When I was about eleven years old, I was the only person with a camera at my aunt's wedding (despite my father being a wedding photographer at the time).

I had an Agfa Isolette which I used to produce a lovely set of perfectly exposed images. The problem was that the subjects heads were missing in most of them. I assume that I was a bit enthusiatic with the shutter and pushed the camera down at the same time.


Steve.