Head Shot in Natural Light . C&C Welcome

[fotugraphy]

Hi, going forward on my photography venture I stopped and clicked another shot. Can you please review it and let me know what exactly is missing for it to make it much better?

She is a photographer friend and i have clicked this image in natural light. But I have processed it in such a way that it looks i have used a beauty dish with a diffuser (beauty head shot). At 100% zoom all the skin textures have been retained and it was initially a half body shot but i have cropped it a lot to make it a head shot. I have also used Liquify tool in Photoshop to change some of the dynamics of the nose and cheeks. I have also used Color Toning in the image which can deviate it slightly from natural colors but i have tried my best to keep the skin tone almost natural.

Please provide your views and suggestion with composition, frame, crops and processing.

Thank You

PS : Please click on the image for lightbox screen view (Highly recommended)

[Manfred M]

I think this is one of your nicest portraits to date and I might quibble a bit about the title as this is more of a head and chest shot than a "classical" head shot. The colours of the clothes she is wearing work really well with the background you have selected to shoot against. I tend to like being a bit further away from the background (in the order of 2 or 3m), but am not sure if that was an option for you. I often find that this lets me get a bit more separation between the subject and background and that often helps strengthen the composition. You might also want to look at how the image looks if you cropped a bit tighter (eliminate all of the door(?) at the top and cut into the head ever so slightly). That would raise the position of the eyes in the shot and might result in a slightly stronger image.

The lighting is clean and your model's eyes stand out nicely. You also get some very nice sculpting around her cheek bones, with the way the light is falling. I might be tempted to do a tiny bit of dodging on some of the lower parts of her face and neck to see if that evens out the image (but that is really quite minor).

The shot looks slightly underexposed *muddy"; check the white point on this as well. I think the black point needs to move to the right a tiny bit too.

Anyhow, as I said at the beginning, this is a beautiful image you (and your model) should be very happy with. Well done, Raj.

[fotugraphy]

I think this is one of your nicest portraits to date and I might quibble a bit about the title as this is more of a head and chest shot than a "classical" head shot. The colours of the clothes she is wearing work really well with the background you have selected to shoot against. I tend to like being a bit further away from the background (in the order of 2 or 3m), but am not sure if that was an option for you. I often find that this lets me get a bit more separation between the subject and background and that often helps strengthen the composition. You might also want to look at how the image looks if you cropped a bit tighter (eliminate all of the door(?) at the top and cut into the head ever so slightly). That would raise the position of the eyes in the shot and might result in a slightly stronger image.

The lighting is clean and your model's eyes stand out nicely. You also get some very nice sculpting around her cheek bones, with the way the light is falling. I might be tempted to do a tiny bit of dodging on some of the lower parts of her face and neck to see if that evens out the image (but that is really quite minor).

The shot looks slightly underexposed *muddy"; check the white point on this as well. I think the black point needs to move to the right a tiny bit too.

Anyhow, as I said at the beginning, this is a beautiful image you (and your model) should be very happy with. Well done, Raj.

Thanks a lot for your kind review and details explaination and suggestion I forgot to write in the description that i did some color toning in the image (which have deviated the white and black points from the histogram) and in the skin tone too (very subtle). I have edited the description for it just now.

It was an old image which i took in March, 2015 But i will surely keep your suggestions about background etc in my mind for my next similar photoshoot. I will try to crop it and do some dodging on the neck and will update the thread soon

[Shadowman]

Nice composition and the headgear blends perfectly with the background. I like the lighting on your subject but the focus seems very soft, I know most photographers prefer softness with portraits; however the eyes are a bit soft as well. Nice effort.

[rpcrowe]

I like everything about this portrait. Hard not to like an image of a beautiful woman that is tastefully done and technically correct.

[Digital]

Raj, very nice portrait.



Bruce

[gregj1763]

A lovely portrait Raj, easily one of your best
Beautiful image

[IzzieK]

What a beautiful woman, Raj...you have a treasure there for a model. I like her eyes very much...I like the whole image of her but I am a little bit 50-50 regarding the background, just like how Manfred said it, it is just too close to the back of the woman...

[fotugraphy]

Nice composition and the headgear blends perfectly with the background. I like the lighting on your subject but the focus seems very soft, I know most photographers prefer softness with portraits; however the eyes are a bit soft as well. Nice effort.

thanks a lot for your kind review and suggestion. It was shot at 3200 ISO and highly cropped, I tried my best to keep everything soft as I havnt sharpened the eyes much yet. I will surely sharpen them more and update in the description with the sharpened version.

[fotugraphy]

I like everything about this portrait. Hard not to like an image of a beautiful woman that is tastefully done and technically correct.

thanks a lot for your kind review and appreciation

[fotugraphy]

Raj, very nice portrait.



Bruce

Thank you for the valuable review and appreciation.

[fotugraphy]

A lovely portrait Raj, easily one of your best
Beautiful image

Thanks a lot for your kind words and review greg

[John 2]

That's very nice Raj. Much has been said already. My only contribution would be to try a crop from the bottom to just below the second button on her blouse. I don't think that the lower portion adds much and it makes it more of a "Head Shot".

[fotugraphy]

What a beautiful woman, Raj...you have a treasure there for a model. I like her eyes very much...I like the whole image of her but I am a little bit 50-50 regarding the background, just like how Manfred said it, it is just too close to the back of the woman...

thanks for your kind review and suggestion Izzie She is a good friend (photographer) and we are shooting portraits together. It was like when a photographer gets photographed situation. haha

[fotugraphy]

That's very nice Raj. Much has been said already. My only contribution would be to try a crop from the bottom to just below the second button on her blouse. I don't think that the lower portion adds much and it makes it more of a "Head Shot".

Thanks a lot for your kind suggestion and review, I will surely crop the image and will update in the description in few hours.

[IzzieK]

thanks for your kind review and suggestion Izzie She is a good friend (photographer) and we are shooting portraits together. It was like when a photographer gets photographed situation. haha

One of my favourite quotes about portrait photography is of Phyllis Diller, an American stand-up comedian, who said:

​
My photographs don't do me justice - they just ​look​ like me.​

And one tip that I sometimes remember when I will be in the shot is to remember to feel confident about yourself so you will look better in a photograph...I am still working on the confidence thing...

[rpcrowe]

I like the BG in focus, just the way it is. I think that it adds to the image

[DougR]

I don't have a problem with the background in focus. The colors and designs of her scarf and background match and appears to be the intent of the photographer.

[fotugraphy]

One of my favourite quotes about portrait photography is of Phyllis Diller, an American stand-up comedian, who said:

​
My photographs don't do me justice - they just ​look​ like me.​

And one tip that I sometimes remember when I will be in the shot is to remember to feel confident about yourself so you will look better in a photograph...I am still working on the confidence thing...

haha :P

[fotugraphy]

I like the BG in focus, just the way it is. I think that it adds to the image

Thanks a lot for your kind review and appreciation.