Kate's Grandma

[ritables]

advice on cropping this? is it too central? is this not flattering? i.e. hard light to right is making her wrinkles too prominant? I have not done much portraiture, as my subjects usually tell me they do not like the pics i took of them LOL




Version: 0221
CameraMake: NIKON CORPORATION
CameraModel: NIKON D80
DateTime: 2008:05:24 12:46:25
Height: 3386
Width: 2592
Orientation: 1
IsColor: 1
Process: 192
FlashUsed: 0
FocalLength: 26.00
ExposureTime: 0.0667
ApertureFNumber: 4.20
Distance: 0.00
CCDWidth: 0.00
ExposureBias: 0.00
Whitebalance: 0
MeteringMode: 5
ExposureProgram: 3
ISOequivalent: 200
CompressionLevel: 4
FocalplaneXRes: 0.00
FocalplaneYRes: 0.00
FocalplaneUnits: 0.00
Xresolution: 72.00
Yresolution: 72.00
ResolutionUnit: 1.00
Brightness: 0.00

[imagesbyjk]

I like it. The light is nice and soft. Her straight on pose and expression fit with the centered composition. I don't usually worry too much about wrinkles with older folks - they've earned them. I like the way the doorway in the background frames her. The split lighting works but I'd also like to see her turned slightly towards the light to see how that works.

[Dodgeinart]

I would agree with you about the lighting being a bit harsh and defining the wrinkles more. Typically front lighting for seniors helps the wrinkles fade away a bit, whereas side lighting enhances them. Turning more into the window, or a reflecter of some sort, would help even out the exposure a bit.
If you center her head in the dark door instead of touching the edges it would help. That may be getting a bit picky, but IMO the more you notice the little details the better you get.
Hopefully this doesn't sound too harsh, just trying to help.

[PhotoNewt]

I agree with the light comments above, the subject looking towards the window would produce a more even and flattering lighting of the subject. More attention to the pose of the person can also enhance the results, usually a flat forward looking pose is not too flattering.

Looking at the full sized picture I can't help but notice chromatic aberration around lit hair producing a bluish halo - I would venture to guess you used a kit zoom lens for this photo. To better control the chromatic aberration you would want to close the aperture by 1 or 2 stops above the maximum to get better optical quality. If you want to do more portrait work, you would like to invest in a prime (such as the inexpensive 50mm primes) for better results.