Portrait of my wife - Helen

[madhatas]

Hi,

This is a portrait of my Helen. She will kill me for putting this up here, but I would really appreciate any feedback as I am not that used to portrait photography and would love to learn more about it. I admit to slight tweaking in photoshop elements....



Cheers

Tim

[clockdoc]

Hi Tim. Can you tell us a little more about how you lit and took the shot such as camera/lens, ISO, f/stop and shutter speed. My initial thought is onboard flash that was bounced off the ceiling. You may want to crop it into a portrait format to get rid of unneeded white space. The pose seems a bit awkward for your wife because of the turn of her head. With this, the frames of her glasses have cut into her eyes. Good sharpness and nice tonal range throughout.

[madhatas]

Hi Lee,
Thanks for the commets - here is the info you were looking for.

This was taken with my Oly E500 with the kit 14 - 45 Lens.
ISO 100
Shutter - 1/60
App - f4.7
Focal Length 32mm

Yes, it was lit with my FL36 flash on board with the heard turned to bounce up onto the ceiling behind me.
I got this photo by chance when Helen turned her head round. So, not really posed, but I see your point about the glasses.

I will look at the cropping into portrait.

Thanks

Tim

[wulf]

The pose is quite a classic one (see Girl with a Pearl Earring by Vermeer) although this is mirrored. However, the point about the glasses frames is a good one; just a touch more rotation (probably of her body rather than straining her neck further) would fix this.

Also, I definitely agree with the suggestion of cropping in - even if you don't want a more exact copy of Vermeer's outline, it is a generally good rule to make the subject nice and large in the frame unless you particularly want to emphasise their smallness or their environment.

Wulf

[clockdoc]

Hi Tim,
Thanks for the additional details. Glad to see that you are experimenting with using the bounce flash capabilities of the FL36. If you are interested in off-camera flash photography, I can highly recomend a site called Strobist at www.strobist.com. I look forward to seeing more of your work.

[kirbinster]

While it might be a classic pose, I must admit I don't like the pose. It reminds me of the Exorcist an I think her head is about to spin 360 degrees. But hey that is just my opinion.

As for the lighting I see dark vinetting in the lower left corner but less in other corners, would like to see that more balanced.

[madhatas]

Ok, I have tried to crop this into a portrait format as you all have suggested. Does this work better?

Cheers

Tim

[peeperita]

your wife is a beautiful lady....

you recropped nicely.....and the colors of the image are beautiful....as mentioned earlier, i'd like to see you add a vignette along the upper part of the frame as well....

thanks for sharing....

peeper

[wulf]

I think the recropping is definitely an improvement - you might even be able to crop in a bit closer still. Keep going until you are sure you have overdone it and then back off a bit.

Wulf

[jiminyClickit]

madhatas,

No doubt Elements is more advanced than my program, so I know you could do this too. So consider this a suggestion of what your photo could become, if Helen might actually do you harm should you try another shot. If you can try another, maybe use some of the preceding suggestions. You lucky, lucky man: