Portrait

[TobyMac]

The other day I went for a walk around the neighbourhood with my girlfriend. The sun was just about setting so I thought we could have some fun. I but her with her back to the sun and filled in the shadows with just a little flash from my speedlite. Think the result is pretty nice and I kind of like the little bit of flare I got, what do you think?
C&C always welcome


Day166 by Tobias Weber, on Flickr

[Geoff F]

Basically a good shot, Tobias, but I wonder if showing a fraction more at the top and/or bottom, with a different image size ratio, might have produced a slightly better balance between her and the background?

Alternatively, how about cropping to a different size ratio and losing a little from the right side.

It is almost working for me, but there seems to be a little bit of scene balance conflict here.

[TobyMac]

Now that you mention it I see what you mean. It also brought me to notice that the top of her head looks slightly weirdly shaped.

[Emmie]

Beautiful

[Manfred M]

Nice shot; the umbrella frames her nicely. I wonder though if the shot might not work better if she were looking to camera right; i.e. into the frame, rather than out and perhaps up a bit. The lens flare is personal taste; some love it others don't. In this case the reflected colours work nicely with the colours in the umbrella.

[RustBeltRaw]

One thing no one's covered is that your DoF is spot-on. She's sharp front to back, and the parasol's out of focus. Nailed it.

I can't say the flare works for me here. Maybe if it was off to the right, in front of only the parasol. PP-wise, there's a bit of a hard light effect going that doesn't seem to help the mood, and it looks a tad over-sharpened. But maybe that's the style you were after. The crop is a little tight for me, especially around her chin. Despite all those quibbles, it's a darn good shot.

[Nat]

I agree with what's already been said. She has a bit of a Barbra Streisand look to her....It is a darn good shot despite the quibbles....LOL!