Beautiful

[Lois khalafalla]

I was wondering if the lighting was good here. I was going for dramatic. And what about focus? Thanks for any comments.



canon rebel xs
shutter speed 1/40
no flash
focal length 40mm
f/stop f/5.0
ISO 200

[sunvalley23]

A little too dark on the left side. I do love a good high contrast shot, but you lose a bit too much in her face.

[WooD]

I'd crop out all the white on the right side of the frame, and crop the top just below the shiny spot on her hair.

If you duplicate the layer, and convert it to screen mode at 50%, and mask out everything except her right eye it gives the image more impact IMHO.

[Lois khalafalla]

Originally Posted by WooD

I

If you duplicate the layer, and convert it to screen mode at 50%, and mask out everything except her right eye it gives the image more impact IMHO.

I am not sure how to do this. I just got elements 8. I know how to do a duplicate layer, after that you lost me.

[Andreas]

Lois,

Instead of trying to fix the shot in post-processing, I think in this case it would be easier to simply reshoot with a few adjustments:

1) Remove the window from the frame by moving the girl to your left. That way you won't have the blown-out highlight of window which is quite ugly (and pretty much unavoidable if it's in the frame).

2) When changing the girl's position, try to catch the window's light in her eyes to give more life to them.

3) Use a piece of white cardboard or cloth to bounce back the light from the window to lighten a bit the shadow on her face.

4) At 40 mm and f/5 you should be able to get her whole face in focus, but if it isn't possible, try at least to get her eyes pin-sharp out of camera.

5) If your camera has a live histogram, try to check for clipping highlights when shooting. In doubt, under-expose a bit or, even better, bracket your shot.

Hope this helps ...

Andreas

[Lois khalafalla]

Thanks Andreas. I am going to try what you said right now. The things you said sound so logical, now that you said them. These are all things I am learning from the critics. Thanks everyone. I will try to repost the new image.

[Lois khalafalla]

Okay, photographer was willing but subject was not. I could not get one good pic out of her. Will try again. Thanks everyone.