"Glamour" shots I did for a friend...

[VPellascio]

Wanting thoughts as to composition, lighting, angle... hate it/love it etc.

The rest of the set is here.

Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/400)
Aperture: f/5
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV

[ELAY]

My first thought is to crop down from the top on the one you posted. The highly lit mountains in the back and the very bright spots along the shoreline (are they yachts?) detract from an otherwise good photo.

Help with me with your lighting here. I can't decide if I am seeing some post-production vignetting, or if you have a strobe at camera left with a tightish focus on torso/head?

EL

EDIT: PS -- I think your privacy settings are such that we can't see the rest of the set.

[VPellascio]

Oops! I changed permissions. So sorry about that!

RE: Lighting: I used my Speedlite 420EX, and focused on her head and torso. I wanted somewhat of the feel from an old movie headshot...

RE: Crop: I totally agree. The very bright spots are vacation homes/yachts etc. along the shore of Lake Tahoe.

[Nicole]

I'd also watch your horizons to make sure that the sea isn't "spilling". There's a fairly noticeable tilt along the water. Possibly try warming the picture up slightly in post-processing.

[ELAY]

The lighting is very nicely done. There are some where it looks like you dialed in a bit of underexposure on the rest of the shot (the one you posted is one), and this is very effective in those shots.

Three more comments. On the shot you posted, I don't think the long gloves work, as the one on her right hand gets lost in the sand, and on her left in the dress. Bare flesh would have stood out nicely on those backgrounds. Two, on the same topic kind of, I think the shot you posted might have been a bit stronger with a little more room at the bottom under your subject. Three, the strongest shots in the set are the ones where you framed out distracting elements of the background. There is no comparison between the shots which have beach/water only, and those that have beach/water/dock/shoreline/yachts/etc.

EL

EDIT -- Make it four. There is some kind of yellow plastic thing in the stones sort of in the triangle between right arm and body. Could be cloned out, but it is the kind of thing you should look out for when settig up.

[RussHeath]

I just flipped through the series on your flickr stream. Looks like it was a fun shoot, but I doubt the dress survived the water!

As for this particular shot? I agree with Elay about the crop, and I think it's a touch tilted clockwise, so if you're cropping and leave any of the horizon you should straighten that out.

You did a nice job with the speedlight. It seems well balanced with the ambient light to bring her out as the subject and expose well for the background. I would have also have liked to see one with a wider aperture for narrower DOF, but I can't promise it would be better -- just different.

Looking through the others, I particularly like 0068, which seems like the exact same spot as this one but more zoomed in. I also think 0042 is a great shot. Love the mask.

EDIT: It appears I was typing at the same time as Nicole and Elay. I guess great minds think alike?

Elay makes a great point about the gloves, I hadn't thought of that.

[Celeste]

I have to agree with RussHeath. Photo 068 us a beautiful shot in my opinion.

[Tafnap]

There is atually a couple in the set I like the one posted here I don't really like the top as mentioned or the sinking boat but I do like the lighting. My favorite with a little work horizontal line, crop "FigPhotoShootCRW_0116" of the set.

[WooD]

Originally Posted by Celeste

I have to agree with RussHeath. Photo 068 us a beautiful shot in my opinion.

I also think 0068 was by far the best shot of your series.

[Robin Sarac]

For this shot, I would have mabe put a bit of light on her dress where her glove is getting lost in there. 68 is also my favourite. Nice and tight crop and well lit. Good job!