Thanks, Gayle! You are absolutely right. If I had been able to execute this the way it was in my mind all the things you mention would have been accomplished. In order for it to work properly with the living face being lit from the projected image part of the projected image would have to have a nearly completely blown out area with no textures. I knew that when I started which is why I included the window in the b&w shot but the window mullions don't work with this at all, I don't have a picture window in my old farmhouse and it is too cold to make the shot outside! Excuses, excuses! I will try again in the summer. Meanwhile, the shadows on my face do have the result of not making me look as fat as the direct projector light did! lol! ~Sharon
I've been coming back to this image because it draws me in, but until now, I wasn't sure quite what to say. I like it....but it could be a whole lot better, But I think you already know that. It would work beautifully if your colour portrait was better lit, clearer, sharper and less noisy......then it would provide the texture contrast it needs against the graininess of the black and white image.
Better lighting would reduce the heavy shadow on your face too.
Thanks for taking the time to comment, Mary Anne. I do have a version of this without the windows but I thought the shape and composition of this one was more pleasing. Thanks to all of you out there who didn't leave comments about how bad this is. It was an experiment that didn't work very well. This is not Photoshopped at all, other than the usual and a little Gaussian blur. I am standing in front of a projected b&w image and I am being lit by the projector lamp. The shadows and mottling on my face are from the projected image. This may have been a failure but it was fun, if complicated, to do and I learned a lot from trying it. For instance, I learned that bright, direct, front-on light will make your face look really really fat! In any case, I was trying to draw a comparison between the non-living b&w image and the living one in color. ~Sharon
It looks as if you're standing in front of a larger-than-life poster of yourself. I'm undecided about including the window on the right...maybe the image would be stronger without it.
--Mary Anne
