Maya

[Lisa H]

Here's one from the gorgeous Maya's session. The rest can be seen at the top of my blog (link in siggy).

Ok, stats...

This was shot with the Canon 5D Mark ii + 70-200mm 2.8L II
ISO 400, 1/160, F-2.8, natural light only

[tyasa81]

wow! stunning eyes... dang i think you should be the one giving us critique...

my humble observations.. how my eyes flow i guess.

1) nice hair light/ rim light/ back light...
2) excellent catch light...
3) a little bit too much in the chest area, but i'm always more on the reserved side... so ignore me on this one..
4) beautiful girl.. beautiful portrait..

somehow lisa holloway doesnt sound unfamilar... i think i see you from other forums before... if i'm right, your work has always been excellent...

Tony

[MrJones]

Perfecto! love it

[carlyfan]

I am definitely not qualified to critique this, but I just went to your blog, and I just wanted to say that I absolutely love your work!!! This is a gorgeous portrait, although I'm with Tony on the chest thing. I just find it a bit distracting. She is a gorgeous model and every photo that I saw on your blog was amazing! Lovely catchlights too! I would love to know how you lit this. Do you use mostly natural light and reflectors?

Fantastic work! I wish that I could be half as good as you someday!!!

Lisa

[sheila3]

This is gorgeous!!! I too am a huge fan.

[docxnoel]

Ohhlalalallaaa , honestly I got stunned with this image,,, i just said. WOW! because you bring the focus on her eyes which is really important and you nailed it.

I like the rimlight on her hair which separates her from the background.

The color is warm but for me it is perfectly suited., although there are some dark areas but very minor and can easily tweak in photoshop.

Overall it's a great job, nicely done.

[SusanH1970]

No CC from me, Lisa. This is perfection. The cleavage doesn't bother me - her top is pulled up to her armpits and it's not like it's showing all she owns, lol.

Did you use a reflector at all? If so, where was it positioned? My backlit shots always have the reflector very visible in the catchlights, this doesn't at all.

[Lisa H]

Thank you guys! Umm...I honestly don't remember if I used a reflector in this particular shot or not. We were using it for most of the session, but this was taken at the very end, and I know we were preoccupied with some weird drunk people who were gawking at us. LOL I honestly just don't remember if this particular shot involved a reflector or not...

[ttosifa]

Originally Posted by SusanH1970

Did you use a reflector at all? If so, where was it positioned? My backlit shots always have the reflector very visible in the catchlights, this doesn't at all.

Can I guess? I can't get a high resolution version of the photo, so I have to go by the low res one. The OP could probably blow up the eyes and verify.

There was at least one reflector. The only question is whether the photographer put it in or whether it was part of the natural surroundings. For instance, my garage doors are great reflectors.

I'm going to guess there were likely two reflectors, both put in by the photographer. One is camera right, up high a little bit, and reflects the yellow sun into the face. You can see it in the camera right part of her left eye (the camera right eye). I am guessing it is smaller than the other. The second looks bigger, perhaps tilted back. You can see it in her right eye, along with the reflection of her blue dress. The odd thing for me is that the light being reflected by the second seems cooler than that by the right, as if the light source for that one is not the sun but something else outside the picture.

That would be the only thing I could hope to CC on such a beautiful picture -- the camera right side of her face seems to be shot in the warm glowing sun and the camera left side seems to be shot in the typically bluish shadows. Maybe a gold reflector on the left would have helped, or a bit of local warming filter in PP might even out.

But obviously it is a great picture.

[oldwolf]

Went to your blog post and I have to say that those are gorgeous pictures. Can't believe she's only 14. Her eyes show a wisdom beyond her 14 years. Probably because of all she's had to go through. Glad you got a chance to get her in front of your camera.