My portrait shots went up a notch today

[Lawrence]

This is, of course, entirely subjective and presupposes you have more image to work with. By shifting her body left, you have created a right hand band of background roughly equal to the mass of her body. Against the dark side of her body, it has too much visual weight, overloading the image and creating the effect that she is falling backward, which I don't think was your intent. Her left side, that she is turning away from, is the more interesting, but needs more background to play against; the visual tension created by the forced imbalance does not enhance the point of the image, but distracts from it. I do not know if the top of the hat was cut off in camera, but if done in crop, it serves no purpose except to allow an easy way for the eye to leave the picture. I keep wondering why it was sliced off.

I have taken the liberty to re-frame the shot , albeit crudely without the original.

View attachment 196865

View attachment 196866

This is, as said, simply my opinion and I am a fairly boring fellow, so I fully expect folks to disagree.

I will add, without fear of contradiction, that whatever the preferred surrounding, the capture of her is first class.

Now from this I learned a lot more than your original post - thank you. It all makes complete sense to me.

The hat was cropped to accomodate a certain size in the event of the need to print it at a later date.

Your crop looks MUCH better .... Grrrrrr .....

PS there is no more image to work with on better side

 

[RON_RIP]

Even boring fellows can be right. Your crop has improved the photo, in my opinion. We must leave at for @Lawrence to decide.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Moab Man]

Another composition technique for portrait is when you have a clear dominant eye to run that eye on the vertical center line. This is the crop I would have done with it because there is such a dominant eye. I also like this crop because it feels like she was leaving the frame but something caught her eye.

 

[Lawrence]

I love this group

 

[Lawrence]

Another composition technique for portrait is when you have a clear dominant eye to run that eye on the vertical center line. This is the crop I would have done with it because there is such a dominant eye. I also like this crop because it feels like she was leaving the frame but something caught her eye.

View attachment 196907

And that is exactly what she was doing.

I had said let's call it a wrap and as we were walking back to the house I liked something and I called to her to stop and turn.

I will go and fix all my errors forthwith

 

[Moab Man]

And that is exactly what she was doing.

I had said let's call it a wrap and as we were walking back to the house I liked something and I called to her to stop and turn.

I will go and fix all my errors forthwith

And that is why I like this dominant eye crop for this shot, from what you told me this crop style nails the shot.

Great work and keep shooting.

 

[RON_RIP]

Excellent work @ Lawrence. You continue to excel in every photo category that you try. Hope you will be able to work with this model for quite a while. She is not only stunning, she also seems to know how to play to the camera, a not unimportant aspect of portrait photography.
So kick back, have a cold one ( you can charge it to my account), and then get out and keep shooting.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Lawrence]

Excellent work @ Lawrence. You continue to excel in every photo category that you try. Hope you will be able to work with this model for quite a while. She is not only stunning, she also seems to know how to play to the camera, a not unimportant aspect of portrait photography.
So kick back, have a cold one ( you can charge it to my account), and then get out and keep shooting.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

You just want more photos of her - don't you?
I can spot our type a mile away

 

[Moab Man]

You just want more photos of her - don't you?
I can spot our type a mile away

You can throw me in that category too. LOL

 

[hark]

You just want more photos of her - don't you?
I can spot our type a mile away

You can throw me in that category too. LOL

Even I enjoy seeing this model. She is engaging yet coy at the same time. She seems to draw the viewer into the picture. The only comment I have about the last image is I would have liked her eyes a little more if the irises weren't so much right at the corners of her eyes.

Moab Man's crop is excellent. Nice job, Lawrence! Keep it up.

 

[Lawrence]

and here in Black and White.

 

[wev]

I think this previous one works well in BW, as well

[I will delete this post if you would prefer]

 

[Lawrence]

Yes I agree. I looked at it after you first mentioned it.
Keep it up - no problem

 

[Moab Man]

Are you using Photoshop? Thinking an adjustment brush to bring up the lighting on the face would be perfect.

 

[Lawrence]

Are you using Photoshop? Thinking an adjustment brush to bring up the lighting on the face would be perfect.

I think I was heavy handed with the burn
need to step away from pretty girl for a while

Edited to include the better lighter version here.

 

[Moab Man]

I walk in and out frequently when editing.

 

[Lawrence]

I have just noticed that my focus is not spot-on. I think it is me and not the lens.
If I remember correctly I was using 9 focus points instead of 1 and I think this may have caused the problem.
A closer look reveals that the hat brim is in focus while the eyes are slightly soft.
I don't think it is a front-focusing issue but I do need to determine what caused it.
In the meanwhile here is one photo processed two different ways. I like both.

 

[Moab Man]

Both are nice pictures and you're spot on with your analysis. When doing portrait I will either go to AF-S or back button focus AF-C with a single point of focus.

 

[Moab Man]

Studying the picture, the soft look isn't necessarily bad, but you might try and do a soften using layers on just the sharp part of the picture to bring it more in line with the softness of the rest of the photo.

 

[Lawrence]

Both are nice pictures and you're spot on with your analysis. When doing portrait I will either go to AF-S or back button focus AF-C with a single point of focus.

Just when I think I am getting there I realise I am still learning.
I guess no-one get's there without learning.

User 1 now has portrait settings locked in.