Portrait by the Lake

[carlyfan]

Here's a shot I got of my best friend on a camping trip this summer. We were by beautiful Lake Superior, and I wanted to capture the reflections in her glasses. I am mainly wondering about focus and composition, but I'll take anything you want to throw at me!


EXIF:
Camera Brand: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT
Date Taken: 2010:07:09 16:14:34
Exposure Time: 1/200 sec.
Aperture Value: 3.61 EV (f/3.5)
ISO Speed Rating: 100
Flash Fired: Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode.
Metering Mode: Pattern
Exposure Program: Normal program
Focal Length: 50.0 mm

Thanks!
Lisa

[OK_to_Point]

The reflection in her glasses looks great. I think you captured that right on. the only thing I would try is selecting her face and perhaps trying the multiply mode or levels. Her face just seems a bit flat or washed out. Just a little bit....

[carlyfan]

Thanks for the reply! I will try your suggestion and see how it goes. I'm not too good at PP though, but I think I know how to do masks now, so hopefully that will work. Thanks!

[shuveshek]

Awesome pic!! Nice job.....Love the reflection on her glasses!!

[Browno]

Hiya, I'm a complete newby so I hope you don't mind my opinion. I like the reflection in the glasses but I didn't notice that until I'd read what you wrote. Maybe I'm wrong but would it be better if you go closer to her face and cut out some background ? Would that make the reflections more obvious ? This is a question not an opinion as like I said I'm a newb.

Kind regards

[Niresangwa]

Previous respondent was right here, in my opinion.

If the reflection is the major POI in the image, (and I think it is), get rid of the rest, especially if it doesn't add anything such as pretext or perspective (I don't think it does).

A B&W with good contrast would be a great way to go to emphasize the reflection rather than losing it in the rest of the image.

Here's a quick and dirty edit (literally 20 seconds to crop and convert to a gentle B&W), but were this my image, this is how I'd be using it.

If you'd like me to remove it, please just let me know.

[kristenh]

Hi, Lisa- i agree with steve b and browno the newby on the crop. i'm not usually into selective coloration, but could it work with her face in b and w and color on the glasses?

the thing that bothered me the most is something i think is hard to fix- the shadow on her lower face....

its a cool idea, though, and nicely executed.

[carlyfan]

Thank you so much for your replies everyone! I love the crop! I didn't even think about a crop before. I guess I was just focused on the reflection before because I knew what I was going for when I took it. But now I see that it should stand out more. You are so right Browno. Thank you so much!
Thank you Steve. I love the B&W! I will definitely try this. I love the horizontal orientation too!
Thanks Kristen! I think I'll have to try the selective coloring as well. I also am not too into that, but sometimes it can be cool. I agree about the shadow on her chin. I'll see if I can smooth it out without making it look processed.

Thanks again for all the advice! It really helped!

Lisa