Black and white portraits

The overblown highlights work very well here, creating an energy to the high contrast look very well, for a start. But the overall mood, pose, framing and background really pull me in to whatever story is happening – not sure what it is but it drives me in.

Without sounding like a jerk, I see a lot of b&w images of bearded, older men, replete with tons of skin texture and contrast, everywhere. This one takes that idea, but gives me far more. There is a story here, and even the environment initially piques my curiosity enough to want to know what is happening in the shot. The framing is subtle but perfect, and his look-away is genuine, and makes me again want to know whats going on there. Smoke and light are nice touches, and the light modeling is quite nice.

So much pure joy in one shot. Children are so good at being themselves on camera, but to capture 7 of them in a moment of clearly pure bliss, all looking adorable and excitedly happy, that is a rare thing. The energy here is incredible.

I don't know what more to say except, perfect. The framing, the edit, the mood, the hair across the face – i love all of it. Even the earring bringing a stylistic touch to it all in a subtle manner. The geometry all over all of this is really good.

There is a lovely energy here, and it's quite nice how the rain drops are captured to help evoke the overall scene and tone of the shot. The depth of field use here is stellar, but I wouldn't add so much sharpening / contrast the camera blur areas. Regardless, there is a happiness to the shot that contradicts what appears to be a gloomy, cold, rainy day.