Portraiture - The Potter's Wife

[ashish]

C&C welcome

[Manfred M]

Nice image Ashish - I think B&W works really well here.

Two things strike me about this image; first of all it looks a bit flat. Look at your histogram - a B&W image should have a full dynamic range and show substantive data ranging from pure black to pure white.

The second thing that I notice is that you might want to consider a tighter crop and get rid of some of the negative space in the background that does not add to the image, something more along the lines of this (I might go even tighter).

[Geoff F]

What did you want from this shot, Ashish?

Your original is a little 'flat' but an interesting portrait which just needs a little bit of a 'boost'.

While Manfred's version is ideal for a younger model with perfect skin it does tend to bring out the skin pores and lines etc. This can work well with a mature man where 'character lines' may give an interesting 'weathered' appearance but some ladies prefer a slightly softer appearance.

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured, I like the lights of the eyes.

[ashish]

What did you want from this shot, Ashish?

Your original is a little 'flat' but an interesting portrait which just needs a little bit of a 'boost'.

While Manfred's version is ideal for a younger model with perfect skin it does tend to bring out the skin pores and lines etc. This can work well with a mature man where 'character lines' may give an interesting 'weathered' appearance but some ladies prefer a slightly softer appearance.

Thanks for your thoughts Geoff... She is a middle aged woman who works in rather harsh conditions but she had a very expressive face and this is what i wanted to capture.

[NorthernFocus]

Nice shot, Ashish. I'm no portrait expert so can't offer much in the way of C/C. I do think a bit of crop taken from left of frame and bottom wouldn't hurt. Purely as a viewer of the photo what I see is a beautiful lady with a lovely smile and lines of wisdom around her eyes. She looks like a calm and steady wife and mother.

[Sergio M.]

she had a very expressive face and this is what i wanted to capture.

Ashish, you did that very well. Very expressive indeed.

Sergio

[IzzieK]

I like the edit of Manfred but I also like your version even though it lacks the contrast pop a bit. I was trying to make a portrait I shot of my DIL a bit softer the other day but for a young lady like her, it just do not clicked at all, so I abandoned it for a day and got into it later today. I think different people see editing a face in a different way...I like sharp but it may not suit the personality and character of the subject...