Character: Neighbourhood Watcher

#21

I like the piece, it reached out and tapped me on the shoulder right away…I must have had a neighbor like that as well.

#22

The neighbor looked female to me, too… like an old crone. And that is the sort of behavior one would associate more with a fishwife (much as I hate to malign my own gender). But people kept insisting it was a man.

Anyway, I think the expression’s great.

#23

I get no feel that the person has to lean over to view out the window. Aren’t the bottom of most windows of this type at waist height, not shoulder?

I also think that the compositing my be a little off. The nosy neighbor was the last thing I saw in the image. Just glancing at the image I fist saw, hand, curtains, flower, shutter, face. If the point is to have the face be the story, then change the compositing a little so it is seen first.

Here is a quick hack of your image to show what I mean:

I tilted the head a little, but I could not get the pointing finger to fit in the picture. Have you thought about placing it below the window sill?

P.S. I love the texturing job you’ve done. Everything is excellent, but you might be able to add a little more detail to the hair cloth/net/whatever on the ladies head.

#24

Oh, I think this crop really strengthens the composition, even though you lose your pointing finger. If you think about it, the expression itself is a pointing finger with a capital P; the image doesn’t need additional visual cues to make that… er… point.

Also, the begonia is no longer competing with the person’s face for the viewer’s attention.

#25

I agree. But I worked so hard on the plant and the shutters and the wall - hehe, time for me to take a dose of my own medicine. And I can always reuse them elsewhere.

By the way, it’s a geranium ;).

Nice job Slaughters. I do like the tilt of the head - it makes him look like he’s coming from the side more, as you would do if hiding behind the wall. And yes, the window is at waist height - the watcher is simply kneeling on the floor, as my neighbour used to do.

I may also try a letterbox crop, retaining more of the plant and right shutter, but placing the head in the centre of the composition to compensate.

#26

LOL. Geranium. And a fine one, too. :slight_smile:

#27

I think the hand should go under the window. I also think the woman should be more visible, and have her hands grabbing the window sill. That’ll give her the appearance of ‘peering’ out at her neighbors. The composition of your shot focuses on the hand too much. It becomes the centerpiece.

The composition of the shot is bad photography. If you were going to photograph this scene, it wouldn’t look that way.

-Eric

#28

The woman’s face looks like it’s floating, as if she had no body.

#29

First, I’m from the U.S., I’ve been living in Japan for a few months, and I’d like to mention that if I start to change the way I was trained in design and graphics to match my current culture, I won’t be able to get a job when I go home. I would recommend asking others from New Zealand how they feel to get a more accurate idea on whether the disagreements are particularly cultural.

That said, when I put together in my head the scene you’ve created with my own impression of a nosy neighbor, I see a hand pulling back the curtain on one side and only a half or two-thirds of the face peering through. The eye(s) are squinted, and the face looks angry rather than surprised. I feel that most nosy neighbors are judgmental, bitter people with a lot of anger built up inside. I wouldn’t see them as being particularly surprised, because I think they already expect the worst from their neighbors.

I do like the idea behind the hand, though it does need to change somehow. On the other hand, it reminds me of one of my favorite Jerry Van Amerongen comics that reads, “The [so-and-so]s look for someone to blame,” and it shows a couple walking around their neighborhead carrying a giant hand with the index figure pointing. :slight_smile:

#30

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