Young Calligrapher - Mark 2

[Jim A]

Some time ago I posted another very different image of this same young lady - hence the mention of Mark 2 .

In this one she is of course looking downwards and I decided on this treatment. Thoughts?

[Manfred M]

The negative vignette works well with the subject, but in my view the major flaw in this image is the crop, especially the camera left hand that is holding the calligraphy brush. The crop there and where the brush engages with the paper are important parts of the story here and the way they are handled here are a bit awkward.

[Geoff F]

Exactly my thoughts, Manfred. I think it would work better without the vignette.

Everything else works well.

[Jim A]

Many thanks for the feedback, this is why my options are so constrained. Any ideas appreciated.

[Manfred M]

Many thanks for the feedback, this is why my options are so constrained. Any ideas appreciated.

Jim - we all have some images that are not going to work well, no matter how talented we are in post processing and the amount of work we are willing to put into them.

Perhaps this is one of those?

[Geoff F]

A difficult scene but I would be tempted to crop off the top of her head above the cross band decorations and the left side but leaving her entire hand complete then darken the background a little. Not perfect but I think it would be acceptable.

Alternatively if you want a bit of work, select and replace the entire background?

[selig1656]

Interesting the first capture. Maybe a different angle might have worked better.

[lubapurkhiser]

I like the initial picture and think the angle is good, but it’s not good for a vignette. If you want to make a vignette eventually, it’s better to take a more straightforward picture.
It just happens sometimes, and nothing goes well all the time. Not all my pictures are good, either, and there’s always room for improvement. By the way, I think it would be better if the girl looked at the camera while holding the brush in her hand. It would look more natural. Once I was taking pictures of a guy who does Persian Calligraphy, and I also asked him to look into the camera for a few portrait pictures.