Then and Now

[speedneeder]

Hi all - long time no see. I haven't been making the time to visit here as much as I would like, but was recently inspired to pay a visit. I thought I would show one of my first attempts at portraits, and one of my latest. The purpose of this is to thank everyone that has given me honest and constructive feedback on these forums. There are many names so I don't want to mention them specifically because I'm sure I would leave someone out, like Colin, Donald, Jiro, or Loose Cannon.

This was from my first official portrait session:


And this is from my most recent portrait session:

[rpcrowe]

Brian,
I really like the first portrait. Her eyes are beautiful and the bricks in the BG are OOF enough not to compete with your subject. I would, however, attempt to clean up the strands of loose hair that seem to come out of the top of her right ear...

[kdoc856]

Good to see you back, Brian. Both are good images, but I especially like your processing of the 2nd, with the color contrast and luminance contrasts. Very dynamic shot and apropos of your subjects. My eyes do get pulled just a little into that recess on the left, and I wonder if this shot would wstill work with that cropped. Well done

Kevin

[JPS]

Hi brian,
nice to see you back. Hope you and the family are keepnig well.

I can see what Kevin is saying about the 'recess' in the second picture, but it's not a major problem to me personally, but it might be worth cropping out to see if you like it better.
I have 3 boys all in their 20's now so rarely have the chance to photograph them, your daughter always seem happy to pose for you and if you don't mind me saying makes a lovely model.

Kind regards.

[speedneeder]

Thanks everyone. In the second image I left some extra on the width so it could easily be cropped to another ratio.
Even so, I think this photo would look awesome in a 30x20!