Senior portrait

[EOBeav]

Just wanted your general thoughts regarding crop, editing, and lighting. Are the shadows on the right side of her face awkward and ruin the shot? Thanks in advance for your helpful comments. I think I'm better at shooting places than I am people.



EXIF:
Camera Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi
Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L
Exposure 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture f/7.1
Focal Length 40 mm
ISO Speed 200

Strobist: LP160 shot through umbrella, camera right, setting Eastern Oregon sun, camera left.

[kelleyrie]

I don't mind the shadows, though i'd like to see it warmer and a bit more saturated but that's just my personal preference.

[ceremus]

Yeah, I'm not sure if it's the PP but there's a lot of color vibrancy in her dress, and even in her eyes, and to me her skin tone looks a bit flat in comparison.

[Infinite Monkey]

I like the crop and the overall image but I agree with the other posters about wanting more warmth overall and particularly in the skin tones. This looks to me like it could be a white balance adjustment but I could be wrong. I might also look to use a longer lens as it seems that 85mm-135mm provide a sweet spot for portraits. Just my $.02.

[RLucas]

I find the shadow transition quite pleasing actually. The only place that bothers me is around the bridge of her nose. Quite a harsh shadow transition there, but it doesn't kill the shot by any means in my opinion.
The straight on shoulders look a little stiff, but that's just another minor nitpick.
Did you bump up the exposure in her eyes? They seem lighter than they should be just judging from the area around them.
It's a really nice shot though overall. I like the tones and the color balance as well.

[Hill Country Hack]

Overall I like the capture. The comp/crop is fine for me. I do find the shadows on the camera left side of her nose and ear a bit disheartening. The hair on the model's right side of the head is a bit blown out for my liking. Too much differnce in color from the part in natural light and what you lit.

I am far from a lighting expert so I cannot give any constructive input on how to improve the lighting issues.

I agree with the other posters as to needing a bit more warmth in the skin tone.

[TNH]

It's a great picture! I really like it.
I do agree with the others, that it looks like the whole photo could be a little warmer. The shadows don't bother me at all.
The crop looks fine, except it looks like you cropped out the bottom of her hair. That doesn't look quite right to me, but if you meant to do that, and like it, then that's fine!

[EOBeav]

Thanks for the thoughtful comments, everybody. Yes, I bumped up her eyes in Lightroom. Too much? Also, I desaturated and de-intensified the entire image globally in LR, so that might explain some of the 'cooler' tones you're seeing. I might go back and try it again with fixing the white balance.

Somebody mentioned that her skin seems a bit 'flat'. Could you elaborate?

Again, I appreciate your helpful feedback.

[DivotMaker]

Couple of things...

Crop: For the most part it is ok, I am just having a little bit of a hard time because the bottom of the hair is cut off....or too close to the bottom edge. Not a killer, but if you could back off just a little, I think it would add. (Not sure if you cropped in LR)

Editing: The desaturated colors dont bother me, I tend to go that route myself. But the skin does look a little flat, as mentioned. Might try bumping the contrast a little...or painting a soft blur (although this just masks it...not fixes it)

Lighting: The brightness on the side of her face, leaves this a little less than what it could be. If you could have her turn her shoulder (camera left) in towards the camera just a tad, allowing her face to turn just a touch you could have used the setting sun as a backlight which would have given her some depth. As it is, there is not light behind her so this causes her hair to melt into the brush...whereas if the back of her head would have received some light, the highlight would have provided separation. In addition, this would have moved the bright spot on her cheek to just behind the hair (camera left).

I also think by doing this, you would have used the soft light source (umbrella) to fully light her face. This would have eliminated the "hard" light from competing with the "soft" light.

Think of it as the "Hard" light (setting sun) doing the separation work, and the "Soft" light doing the illumination of the "soft" skin...In this kind of a shot, they need to do their own job and not mess with each other.

The other way to address it, would have been to turn the setting sun into a "Soft" light source with a GOBO...but without a helper, or a stand..sometimes that is hard.

Overall, I like the image. These are just some suggestions to improve....

Dont give up on the portraits, I for one, would like to see them get to the level of your "places" images....

Just my 2c's

[DanaLane]

I'm good with the crop, losing the little bit of her hair doesn't bother me at all. Sure, if you submitted this to a competition, they might ding you for that, but in the real work, it looks fine to me.

I'm also fine with the shadows. It shows what this is, a portrait under sunlight. Sometimes we get so caught up in the "rules" that we forget the real goal, for a photo that looks pleasing.

I'm with the other folks though around the skin tones, she looks a little ashen to me and could use a tab bit of warmth.

And lastly, her eyes look over processed and look like they've lost some contract. I normally give the eyes a slight bump, but its gotta be slight to not look over done.

In general, I really like this portrait.