I happened to be with this little guy when he was watching his favorite cartoons on TV, and tried to catch him in what I call his cartoon coma state.  The light was from a nearby window and created some good shadows and highlights.  I kept thinking of that nursery rhym, " little boys are made of snips, and snails,. and puppy dog tails" and used mono processing to achieve some grittyness .  Don't know how successful I was, but thought I would submit it here for any comments of suggestions.

F5.6, iso 1600, 1/15, FL 38.  Affinity photo software.

Thanks for your time.

Patrick

Hi Patrick and welcome back to " The Real Critique " May I jump right in - Great looking image love it. - Now that's a good start Patrick.

Yes Great capture a magic moment  full of innocence and love - Well done Patrick 

I do think you could have a winner here you just may have to re-visit a small area of the image.. Bottom left corer could use some bruning or healing maybe and behind this young mans head what have you cloned out Patrick. Remember who's voting in selection - PHOTOGRAPHERS -

I have had your image back into Photoshop see attached - I flipped your image just to see what it looked like. I used the healing brush to try and hide that cloning...

Thank you for sharing Patrick great looking image just some idea's to think about...

Thank you Daniel for the helpful tips and nice comments.  I really like the horizontal flip, the image reads so much better this way. I will try and clean it up and maybe give it a shot with the big guys :)).

Best regards,

Patrick

Patrick,

I think it's a delightful photograph!  Daniel has made some suggestions worth trying.  I love your term . . .  cartoon coma . . .  that's brilliant. You have a way with words! 

I have no ideas for improving the image.  Black and white and adding grain/noise were good steps for reducing the 'family snapshot' feeling that a noiseless colour photo might have had.  

I know the look - I think adults get it too, but not usually from cartoons.  Maybe it's 'Television Trance'.  (SuperBowl Stupor?)  I once did a series of my young granddaughter watching a Disney movie and chose several frames with different expressions to make a polyptych for the family album.  As the action developed, her look changed from neutral - to concern - to suprise - to amusment - then to joy with a full smile. 

Thanks for sharing 'Puppy Dog Tails' with us here in Critique.  It brightened up my day!

. . . . Steven, senior critic

Thanks Steven,  happy you enjoyed it.  You brightened up my day :))!

Regards, Patrick 

Hello, Patrick Compagnucci 

Thank you for sharing your image with us on our forum. I would like to share my opinions about this image. First of all the emotion you captured on that boy's face is really marvelous. There is really a deep meaning in his looks. I wonder how effective this image would be if you had taken the photo from the front and not the side. His eyes speak for themselves. My friend Daniel made a nice observation on the blurry part in the corner which would cause you to lose technical points. 1x is really a site where very sharp eyes detect the shortcomings both technically and artistically. I have two different opinions on the grainy effect. One is that the grain  increases the dramatic aspect of the image. It doubles or tripples the emotion in it. Yet when I view this image as reflecting a momentarily emotional shift in a simple moment of the boy in question, I think the noise should not belong there and I also think the image should have been in color with a softer touch. It is just a little boy and he is captivated by what he watches so why this drama? At that point I think the image would have been equally impressive. You have the original. So you could try a softer, colorful editing as well and then we could put them side by side and think about the more effective one. I wish you great light.

Cicek Kiral Senior Critic...

Hi Cicek,

Thanks for taking the time to comment on the image, and for your valuable suggestions on improvement.

Regarding a color, versus a black and white version, I wanted to let you know that I had actually tried a color version on a less cropped image and I just couldn't seem to get it right.  The couch is black leather, his shirt is a light peach color and he is blond and very pale.  I will give it another try with the cropped version and see if I can come up with something I feel is worthwhile.  As far as the need for drama, I thought it appropriate, because I see a dichotomy in him.  I was trying to capture him in two ways. One, as the cute little spellbound boy, but also the gritty little guy that is also a part of his personality.  

Again, many thanks, always interesting to hear how someone precieve your work.  That for me, is one of the joys of photography.

Warmest regards,

Patrick

Hi Patrick

This is a beautiful and touching portrait capturing the little boy's trance-like state and the endearing way he is holding his soft toy so close to his face. You have already had excellent feedback, and I certainly like Daniel's edit of the photo. I was going to say I would like to have seen a less-cropped image and I've just read that you do have one. As for colour, it sounds as though the peach and the blonde hair would be a good contrast with the black sofa, but it's hard to know without actually seeing the colour version. I'm wondering if you have worked on the image again and are going to post a different version here.

Warm regards,

Elizabeth

Dear Patrick,

Thanks for sending your photo to the critique forum. I share my dear friends view that it is a beautiful, sensitive, and emoting evoking, expressive portrait. Well deserve to be published.

Personally, if it would be my photo, I would crop it tighter for two reasons.

As you cropped the tip of the top of the child head, the more his face take of the frame the more rational there is for cropping the tip.

Secondly, it is such an expressive image, where the focus is on his eyes, that I think that the more his face fill the frame, the more powerful the image is (but keeping his hands holding the dog tail).

I attach the image with the cropping I suggest. Hope you like it.

Have a good weekend.

Kindest regards

Arnon Orbach S.C.

Hi Elizabeth,

Sorry for the late reply.  Regarding the color image, I have been rethinking that and maybe the color image will work, but I haven't gotten anything I like, to date.  If something materializes, I will definitely post it here.

Thanks again

Patrick

Arnon Orbach CREW 

 

Dear Patrick,

 

Thanks for sending your photo to the critique forum. I share my dear friends view that it is a beautiful, sensitive, and emoting evoking, expressive portrait. Well deserve to be published.

Personally, if it would be my photo, I would crop it tighter for two reasons.

As you cropped the tip of the top of the child head, the more his face take of the frame the more rational there is for cropping the tip.

Secondly, it is such an expressive image, where the focus is on his eyes, that I think that the more his face fill the frame, the more powerful the image is (but keeping his hands holding the dog tail).

 

I attach the image with the cropping I suggest. Hope you like it.

 

Have a good weekend.

Kindest regards

Arnon Orbach S.C.

 

 

Thank for the kind words and suggestions Arnon.  I do like your version with the tighter crop, i think your right, the more of his face that shows the better.  I guess it's just like anything else, you have to know when to stop :)).  Brings to mind an architecture studio problem, you could never get the designers to stop designing a building. At times we were already in construction and they were still revising the design.

Thanks again, all you folks in the forum are so generous with you time.  For me, it's one of the main advantages of this site.  You can't put a price on it.

Patrick