Red-haired girl

[Armand]

Hi, what say you?

Please ignore the stray hair, I am aware it should be fixed, but I cannot do it properly.

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Armand,

First let me say these are a nice series.

I am just moving in to this area of photography myself, so have been following many portrait genre threads here recently and learning much from online courses - all I need do now is take the first real practical steps as you have (and I hope I am as successful as you have been).

So I'd like to critique these as much as a learning exercise for myself, just bear that in mind - I am not experienced.

I find #1 the weakest of the bunch; the gold reflector has imparted too much colour to your subject and (I feel) it was held a little too low and close; the 'up-lighting' looks unnatural. I think the shot would stand a crop of the left hand side to remove all the blue background items. The model's arm attracts the viewer's eyes to the right of the frame (and out) because it is so large and bright; seriously competing with her face.

#2 I quite like, the most distracting thing are the two black blobs on the background pole supporting the sign - I'd consider cropping, or perhaps just cloning them out, leaving just the sign and pole, which are nicely out of focus. I might crop a slither off the top edge to remove the sky peeking above the sign.

#3 is my favourite; the background colours on the right nicely compliment her hair and sweater.

Overall, good DoF and (I think) focus, although they might be a tad sharper (in final PP sharpening as seen here) for the eyes.

She is a lovely model with good expressions captured - and no doubt you played your part in that too.

Well done, Dave

[Donald]

Somewhat like Dave, I want to move my photography more into including people ... that means portraiture as well as other types of image. So, I am most definitely not an authority on portraits.

I think there are three main components in these images-

1. The model
2. The lighting
3. The background

The model - She is a very beautiful lady, but more than that, she is a natural in front of the camera. As has been said of others (movie stars) in the past, the camera loves her.

The lighting - This is perhaps the most important element and one that is worth much study. In the second image, for example, we have a light background and the model's face is in shade. I think we need to think about lighting issues such as this when we are setting up our shots.

The backgrounds - If through choice, or because we do not have the resources to set up a studio indoors, we decided to shoot outdoors, then I think it is crucial that we think of the background. A former member of the forum, Colin Southern, published a series of excellent tutorials on here about portraiture. One of his contributions was about backgrounds and locations. The link to all the workshops is - School of Portraiture - Links to Lessons 1 through 8

[dragon76]

Nice shots & beautiful model who did very well with not squinting the upper lids with that much light reflected into her eyes. With #1, I am with Dave in that the reflector should be higher and backed up a bit as it washed most of her skin details away as well as enlarging her nose. Also, maybe you should try to place the reflector on your right hand side next time. Were you holding the reflector yourself while taking that shot?

[Armand]

Nice shots & beautiful model who did very well with not squinting the upper lids with that much light reflected into her eyes. With #1, I am with Dave in that the reflector should be higher and backed up a bit as it washed most of her skin details away as well as enlarging her nose. Also, maybe you should try to place the reflector on your right hand side next time. Were you holding the reflector yourself while taking that shot?

Exactly that is the issue. I had to hold it with my left hand whily trying to get a sharp photo with my right hand with my heavy 5D Mark II. Not an easy task!

[rpcrowe]

Lovely series! Absolutely beautiful young lady. It must be very enjoyable to work with her. She seems like a natural in front of the camera.

Her eyes are beautiful but, are of a light color and seem to get lost in the versions posted.

I copied the #3 image, and selected her eyes and lips with NIK Viveza control points (contracting the control point circle to just include the eyes and lips). I added some structure, some contrast and upped the saturation a TAD (which is quite unusual for me - usually I reduce saturation); which resulted in this example. What do you think?



BTW: I also played with that stray wisp of hair (image left) using the clone stamp tool. I didn't take too much care in doing this but, I think you get the point.

[Armand]

Lovely series! Absolutely beautiful young lady. It must be very enjoyable to work with her. She seems like a natural in front of the camera.

Her eyes are beautiful but, are of a light color and seem to get lost in the versions posted.

I copied the #3 image, and selected her eyes and lips with NIK Viveza control points (contracting the control point circle to just include the eyes and lips). I added some structure, some contrast and upped the saturation a TAD (which is quite unusual for me - usually I reduce saturation); which resulted in this example. What do you think?



BTW: I also played with that stray wisp of hair (image left) using the clone stamp tool. I didn't take too much care in doing this but, I think you get the point.

I actually really like what you did with the picture an the eyes. Seems better that way for sure. Thanks.