moody abbey

[gunners67]

Hi i have been trying my luck with black and white portraits and would like some critique on this pic any advice on framing model position or anything else would be most helpful many thanks

http://

canon 40d
17-85 lens 24mm
1/125 sec
f4.0
spot metering

[peeperita]

very nice exposure, gunner, your model, her clothing, and the location all have wonderful details throughout........and a great time of day for the session.....the light is soft and directional....

i do think that with her looking off to the left that i might be missing something just out of frame.....if she were looking right into the light source, i would be as edgy about what's not there....but that's just me....

this is a terrific location....i can definitely see why you chose it and why you framed as you did.....

peeper

[zona5101]

What a awesome location! I don't see a lot that I would change...there is good lighting and tonality throughout the image, the composition is interesting. The subject it lit well, has interesting textures that keep my eye interested...she has a bit of a specular hightlight on her forehead/cheek thats a bit unfortunate. Really nice work.

[Jerry.Hammond]

I’m not very good at giving notes so please forgive me if my notes seem harsh or strident.
Location: Nice location with lots of texture. Unfortunately do not I get a real feel for the texture of the location. The lighting, though decent, does not fully exploit the texture and feeling of age I would think could be brought out by cross fill lighting or a run through of your photo software curves control.
The Lighting: semi-flat. Maybe this is what you are going for—it is about our taste after all.
The Pose: I like it. I think it works with the exception of her eyes. We see too much white of her eyes. If we want that far-away look keep her eyes centered and turn her head slightly. Maybe raise the chin a bit.
Composition: There are a lot of ways we might have shot this. The composition seems as effective as any I can think of without actually being there. The only thing I would consider at this point is cropping out anything to the left of the pillar (and burn in near the top of the pillar a bit). It’s a thought, though I am not sure it will improve the emotional impact of the photograph, it might help focus the eye more quickly upon the model.
Those are my thoughts on your work. Take them and a full pamper and what have you got?

[FallinWoman]

I agree about it being a great location. And that the dark clothing she is wearing is perfect against the lighter stones. Great light.
I would crop it differently, though. To me this crop makes the picture about the location and the arches, not about the woman. So I would crop off the top of the arch to bring the focus in on her more.

[gunners67]

Thanks for your comments guys this is an old abbey near from me which was built in 1128 so i felt i needed to include as much as possible without making the lady too small in the frame.
I do feel that if she were looking to the left of frame it would look more balanced maybe?
i was also a little unsure of wether to do a bit of dodging and burning of the brickwork but a bit of a newbie there so didn`t want to ruin it.
Many thanks Dan