My Beautiful Daughter

[LePetomane]

Here are a few pictures of my daughter Jenny Leigh from our back yard in Wyoming. She and her husband came down to spend time with us. Our son is with us, too. I will post pictures of him later.

[Rent]

Sorry but I personally don't like looking up a girls nostrils
Roy

[rpcrowe]

She is certainly beautiful and with a warm smile!

I love image #1 but, could suggest some minor changes...

Closer crop to avoid partially cut off hand, warm up skin tones a bit and brighten her eyes a tad. What do you think?

[bje07]

Better framing Richard. I agree with Roy.

[LePetomane]

Richard,

I like it. Thanks.

[Manfred M]

Paul - I tend to have a very narrow range of a few inches above or below the eyes when I take a portrait. I tend to stay away from the extreme angles like the one in your second image, as they tend to give us a distorted view of the subject's face. A lot of fashion and beauty photographers do shoot from a bit lower down, as that will emphasize the neck, much like you have done in your first image.

One of the "rules" of portraiture is to be careful where you do the photographic "amputations". Cutting through a joint, like the elbow in the first image or cutting through the hand or finger, (again like you have done in the first image) generally do not work all that well.

Richard's crop has fixed that as well as opening up the eyes a bit (our eye sockets tend to cast a bit of a shadow). I tend to also do like Richard and do my portraits slightly on the warm side of neutral, as I also find that the images tend to look better that way. Just a small point, I rarely take my portraits straight on as they tend to be a bit more flattering when you take them with the head turned slightly. Often people have a "good side" that they tend to favour and shooting it with a bit more prominence generally give you a nicer looking portrait.

That being said, I like the intent of your first shot. It is a genre referred to as an "environmental portrait", where the surroundings are a significant element in the image. The sweater and denim jacket nicely reflect the wide open spaces I associate with Western North America.

[madcrow]

Your right she is beautiful. +1 for Richard.

[LePetomane]

The nostril shot is gone. There was no saving that. Thanks for all of the comments and suggestions. I didn't realize there were so many aspects of photographing humans.

The pictures were taken in our back yard which backs up to farmland that backs up to the Bighorn Mountains. It was a cold day so we didn't stay outside for long.

[Shadowman]

Nicely done, crop is much better. I also like having the environment in the shot but it should be a bit straightened and not parallel to the head however that would require you to shoot more nostrils if you took a lower position. Perhaps on your reshoot bring along a stool for you to stand on and have your daughter tilt her head a bit higher; if you are shooting just head and shoulders the angle won't distort the body too much.

[Manfred M]

I didn't realize there were so many aspects of photographing humans.

There are lots and lots of books and tutorials on this subject. People (from portraits to brides to fashion models to babies) are a very common subject for photographers. The amount of information (and misinformation) on photographing people is quite plentiful.

[bnnrcn]

Nice image of your beautiful daughter, Richard's edit improved the image

[rpcrowe]

One final suggestion... I tend to like using a small flash for portrait work outdoors...

The flash brightens the eyes and adds catchlights to the pupils which make the eyes seem more alive.

My favorite way to use a flash for fill is to modify it with a reflector/diffuser have it on a bracket such as this. That way the flash is always directly over the lens...
https://photos.smugmug.com/Other/Pho...era%20flip.jpg

However, even the built-in flash will add a bit to an outdoor portrait, as long as the flash to subject distance is not too great...