Portrait

[Javier]

[William W]

Available Light? If yes, that's a nice gradation into the Shadow.

Consider cropping it bit tighter at Camera Left, to lose the OoF building line in the background: it is distracting, whereas the OoF hole in the corridor at Camera Right is useful to draw the Viewer’s Eye across the shadow line, of the Subject.

This and other images you have posted, seem to be dabbling in, what can be, an highly nuanced Genre of Portraiture: the nuanced effect of the lack of undergarment constricting the Subject’s Breasts is betrayed by the garment line around her torso.

WW

[royent]

Sorry but background spoils it for me
Roy

[Chataignier]

Nice use of the available light, Rembrandt light effect on her face. However, the background is very distracting I feel.

[billtils]

In keeping with the comments made so far, if possible why not try a head and shoulders shot, and lose the light verticals at the left and right?

[escape]

The dark area above and below her eye just looks too dark to me.

[Manfred M]

I agree with Bill that the background is far too busy and it distracts from your subject. Bright areas and areas of high contrast is where our eyes tend to go to and those areas are not your model.

If done a really quick job to simplify the background to show what doing that impacts the on the image.

You have classic Rembrandt lighting here with that bright triangle below her eye. Rembrandt lighting tends to be hard and when used on women and children often needs a bit of dodging and burning to fine tune it a bit.

[royent]

I always understood that the smallest cheek ( in this case the models left ) should be brighter lit than the largest one
Roy

[Manfred M]

I always understood that the smallest cheek ( in this case the models left ) should be brighter lit than the largest one
Roy

As someone who has formally studied portraiture, let me assure you that no such rule exists. What you are describing is a common portraiture technique known as "short lighting", which is the default lighting technique used by many portrait photographers. It is used because it tends to slim the face.

Short lighting has the photographer shooting from the shaded side of the face whereas broad lighting has the camera pointed at the bright side of the face.

Javier has used a technique by the Dutch painter, Rembrandt, who had a skylight in his studio and the light that came from above did produce a bright triangle below the eye and beside the nose. This is what Javier has used in his shot here. In Rembrandt lighting, the photographer can shoot from the bright or dark side of the face, so there is usually a broad / short lighting component when using this type of light.

There are many other types of portraiture lighting; all are dictated by the camera position (with respect to the subject) and how the light falls on the subjects face.

[William W]

I concur, there is no general traditional instruction to always light the face from distant side.

. . . What you are describing is a common portraiture technique known as "short lighting", which is the default lighting technique used by many portrait photographers. It is used because it tends to slim the face.

Agree, Short Lighting almost always slims the face.

... "Short Lighting" is also employed to give a better sense of three dimensions (i.e. Depth): when the Portrait is Framed Tight, i.e. Head Shot or Tight Head and Shoulders - AND - there is not a definitive Dimensional Background to create the sense of Depth by the Subject being in the Foreground, then there are only the facial features to create the sense of Depth; with the lack of other facilities in the image to create Depth, Short Lighting is often employed.

WW

[Manfred M]

... "Short Lighting" is also employed to give a better sense of three dimensions (i.e. Depth): when the Portrait is Framed Tight, i.e. Head Shot or Tight Head and Shoulders - AND - there is not a definitive Dimensional Background to create the sense of Depth by the Subject being in the Foreground, then there are only the facial features to create the sense of Depth; with the lack of other facilities in the image to create Depth, Short Lighting is often employed.

Which is just a nice way of saying that short lighting emphasizes the contours of the face through the use of highlights and shadows. Those are the tools we use to add depth to the face.

[Wandjina]

A great example of Rembrandt lighting on the young model. Manfred's treatment of the image makes it a great portrait.