Female Portrait

[Digital]

This photo was taken several years ago. The light is unflattering since the flash was straight on. What I want is C&C on the other aspects of this pic. Bruce

[Manfred M]

Bruce - have a look at your image to see what both the lighting (a major culprit here), the pose (exacerbates some of these issues) and the shooting position.

Shooting a child or young model is relatively easy. A combination of youthful (elastic) skin and good makeup can hide wrinkles and other minor skin blemishes disappear. Anything else can be handled in a retouch.

Look at the camera right side of her neck; she has turned in to that side and it wrinkles. The other side of the neck will be stretched and the wrinkles will be less obvious. By tilting her head to the camera right, she creates more wrinkles, so keeping the head vertical can help

Same issue under the chin and along the throat. Shoot with a longer lens (80 - 135mm FF equivalent) and get your subject to thrust the head forward, that will stretch out the skin, hide the double chin, etc. The pose looks strange, but with a longer lens, the shot will look good.

Make sure that the subject does not squint, as that exacerbates the wrinkles around the eyes. Same issue around the mouth; neutral look tends to create less wrinkles.

Clothing - A busy top (checks) like she is wearing is not ideal. Plain colours (mid-tone to dark tones work better than light tones). Look at how the collar is sticking out at the camera right side. I know of a photographer who prefers that his subjects were knit fabrics (they stretch a bit and tend to hide wrinkles in the fabric). A higher neck (think of a turtle neck) can hide the throat and neck.

I would not use camera mounted flash. An off camera white umbrella that is just out of frame and a white reflector as a fill light would be one easy way to light the model. I know you don't have this equipment.

I hope that this makes sense / helps.

[Digital]

Manfred, thank you very much for your comments. I have a reflector that I could have used as a fill light.
Also, I now have an umbrella that I did not have when this photo was taken.

Bruce