Desert Glamour

idcanyon · Sep 28, 2015

We went out to the Alvord Desert in SE Oregon on Saturday night and my daughter wanted a portrait. I'm not exactly sure what she had in mind when she asked, but she seemed to like the result.

She really struggled to hold the glamour poses. I had to go through the checklist every time. Never did get it all right all at once...this might be the best compromise but there is still something that bugs me about it.

kimsuarez · Sep 28, 2015

I love the lighting and colors. It's a very technically beautiful photo. Agree that someone does seem a bit awkward. Almost as if she's looking at a 2nd camera. And feel the pose is very casual, would be great to see even more movement in the dress, it looks like the perfect material/color for the shot.

Derrel · Sep 28, 2015

Exposure looks good, her expression is nice, the location has an awesome sky and a simple and not overpowering background, the dress seems to be flowing great, and she's a beautiful young lady! If there is anything a little off I think what it might be is that her far arm is pressed in close to the body, which makes her waist look heavy....she is doing a high-low hand positioning, which is normally a pretty good thing, but there are a couple of minor issues; her near shoulder is the low shoulder, but that one has the "high hand", and the back shoulder is the high shoulder but has the "low hand", and that's the main thing "off" with this pose. Also, as mentioned, the back arm is not showing any space between the arm and the body, so her pose does not quite read 100 percent as natural, and looks just a little bit off.

Watch the video titled "Classical Posing and Portrait Lighting with Frank Dispensa" on the Sekonic YouTube channel, and I know that he addresses this subliminal high-low hand posing issue directly in the early going, mentioning how people will sometimes have the high-low hands and shoulders mixed, and how one way looks right, the other way looks amiss.

idcanyon · Sep 28, 2015

Derrel said:
it might be is that her far arm is pressed in close to the body, which makes her waist look heavy

You nailed it. I did know about this but didn't want to specify the "something" that was wrong because I wanted to know how noticeable it is. Every shot I had to tell her to move that elbow out just a little. Apparently it would usually swing back by the time I could fire because I only have a handful with it right and they all have other problems. I might end up combining a couple to make a better final. I might also choose a different expression.

Donde · Sep 28, 2015

Terrific location an excellent photo. Apart from that mentioned above I would like to see the same scene but with a serious or at least relaxed expression on her face which I think would suit he location and lighting.

Designer · Sep 28, 2015

idcanyon said:
We went out to the Alvord Desert in SE Oregon on Saturday night and my daughter wanted a portrait. I'm not exactly sure what she had in mind when she asked, but she seemed to like the result.

She really struggled to hold the glamour poses. I had to go through the checklist every time. Never did get it all right all at once...this might be the best compromise but there is still something that bugs me about it.

The colors are clashing.

idcanyon · Sep 28, 2015

Donde said:
...with a serious or at least relaxed expression on her face which I think would suit he location and lighting.

Here is another version, with a better arm position and a better expression. The full size lacks a bit of sharpness compared to the one above. All in all its probably a better photo.

FITBMX · Sep 28, 2015

idcanyon said:
Derrel said:

it might be is that her far arm is pressed in close to the body, which makes her waist look heavy

Click to expand...

You nailed it. I did know about this but didn't want to specify the "something" that was wrong because I wanted to know how noticeable it is. Every shot I had to tell her to move that elbow out just a little. Apparently it would usually swing back by the time I could fire because I only have a handful with it right and they all have other problems. I might end up combining a couple to make a better final. I might also choose a different expression.