computer gal - really!

[snappygal]

Hi, 2nd time shooting a person, took advice from previous portrait i did and tried to make her feel comfortable. In real life she is in IT.
There is no post processing, only because unless I am shown how to do things in photoshop, I just don't have a clue!
so here is what i am asking you to critique
1) lighting position!
2) sitting position of my model
3) possible backdrops?
4) if you can photoshop this, i'd love to see what you did and how you achieved it..so basically, edit away

Thanks!


<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/21136535@N03/2279611681/" title="nicola4 by dmorrell463, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2149/2279611681_f9df7fc098.jpg" width="283" height="500" alt="nicola4" /></a>

exif data
Camera: Nikon D40
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/16
Focal Length: 20 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: -14/3 EV

X-Resolution: 72 dpi
Y-Resolution: 72 dpi
Software: Picasa 3.0
Date and Time: 2008:02:20 20:54:01
YCbCr Positioning: Co-Sited
Exposure Program: Manual
Date and Time (Original): 2008:02:20 20:54:01
Date and Time (Digitized): 2008:02:20 20:54:00
Compressed Bits per Pixel: 4 bits
Maximum Lens Aperture: 37/10
Metering Mode: Pattern
Light Source: Fine weather
Sub-Second Time: 60
Sub-Second Time (Original): 60
Sub-Second Time (Digitized): 60
Color Space: Uncalibrated
Sensing Method: One-chip colour area sensor
CFA Pattern: BLUE GREEN GREEN RED
Exposure Mode: Manual
White Balance: Manual
Digital Zoom Ratio: 1/1
Focal Length In 35mm Film: 30
Unique Image ID: b66acb6e01603ffd7a59d0b509b26299
Compression: JPEG
By-Line (Author): Picasa 2.7
Image Width: 1352 pixels
Image Height: 2389 pixels

[KathrynWilson]

I would suggest there needs to be more light going into her face. Also the shadow that she creates is quite distracting and you may want to clone that out. The pose looks a little bit unnatural, and I think it would have been better for her if her frontmost leg (her right in this case, could have been brought up, i.e. bent at the knee with her foot resting on something higher. Next time try bringing that aperture down to maybe f5 or 6 and then upping your SS - 1/60 is too low. Not sure why you've got your exposure bias to underexpose either - this image is a little too dark.

Here's a play for you. I recropped, did two curves layers for contrast and to brighten the midtones, a color balance layer to take out a little bit of the yellow/orange, then just brightened her eyes and sharpened.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kathrynwilson/2280690484/" title="2279611681_d6f44d0207_o copy by KathrynWilson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2343/2280690484_2ae800f108.jpg" width="357" height="500" alt="2279611681_d6f44d0207_o copy" /></a>

[KathrynWilson]

Oh and I didn't mean to be all negative either - this is a really nice shot and she's beautiful!

[snappygal]

Oh and I didn't mean to be all negative either - this is a really nice shot and she's beautiful!

wow! thanks...i loved what you did to the photo!

[RussHeath]

I think you did a really nice job, here. I'll try to comment on your questions in the order you asked them:

1) While it's fun to guess where you put the lights, we might be able to give a more specific critique about it if you told us more about the lighting setup. To me this looks like a fairly large, soft light source just camera right with maybe a reflector for fill. Nice job getting some light up under that hat. I would vote for more fill, more exposure (like Kathryn said) and I think she needs to be moved away from that background to keep the distracting shadow from falling in the frame.

2) I think it's a cute pose, but you should check out this article (http://photocamel.com/forum/tutorials/16516-rules-good-portraiture.html), which WooD recently mentioned in another thread. It has lots of good information about "rules" for portrait photography, many of which deal with posing. You broke a few of them, but nothing that I think really detracts from the photo. She looks happy and fairly at ease, so that's the most important.

3) I like simple backdrops, but I would have pushed this one a little whiter with more background lighting. The grey in her shirt and the grey background are pretty close in color. I'm also just a fan of bright white backgrounds and high key portraiture overall. Her upbeat mood in this whole photo shoot (I looked at the rest on flickr) seems to match best with a high key style. This is close, but not quite what I would call high key.

4) I like Kathryn's edit, so I won't add anything there.

I seem to remember that you asked us last time about making your subject more at ease. If she's tense in these photos, you sure fooled me! Good job. The one you showed us seems to be a particularly "real" smile, not forced and very pretty.

While the hat is cute, it can be a real pain to expose correctly for dark suede, so you may want to re-think your wardrobe a little if you plan on using the hat again. It would work well for an overall dark picture, but here all the texture in the hat is lost when you expose correctly for the rest of the scene.

Thanks for sharing your work with us! :)

[netbymatt]

Great pose, and nice work keeping the model relaxed.

As for your questions, my eye went right to the shadow and everything looks a little under exposed, overall, however, I do like the lighting. Kathryn's cropping or Russ' fill light suggestion would both help with this. I'm a bit more fond of having all of the model and chair in the photo, so I'd try for a bit more fill if you can.

[mikem12188]

I like the photo except for the fact that her feet are off the ground. For some reason, that bothers me and I don't know why.