A portrait - CC

[Abby Rose]

My first semi-decent portrait, actually. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing, my friend and I were at a car show and I said "smile!" She smiled, and I got this picture. Cue snapshot discussion. :roll: I don't care.

I was pretty far away and zoomed in, thats the only way to get the oof background with my camera. I like this kind of background (though I still wish it was more blurred), but I can only get it with head-and-shoulders of people (plus luck, sometimes the camera doesnt want to do it even then and I dont know why) and heads of small animals like chickens. At least, that's what I've got it with so far. I don't think it's possible to get a whole-person shot with a nice blurred background what with the sensor or whatever my camera has. Sigh.

pp-wise, I did some contrast and warmth, and I tried to smooth her skin a little with a gaussian blur on different layers. It's better, but I dont know if I should do more or not. I wasn't sure about cropping to make her shoulders even on the sides of the frame, so I didn't. Also, does that one tree count as coming out of her head? Since it's to the side? :blushing: The red leaves by her right ear sort of remind me of smoke or something coming out of there, but I cant think what I can do about that.

Obviously, it's not perfect, but it is better than I thought I could do.

 

[Geaux]

Great focus on the eyes. Only gripe I could pick on, would be the stray hairs.

 

[whimsy_bug]

I can't give any sort of critique because the colours on this computer screen are soo messed up (as in work is to cheap to replace ancient screens with magnet damage)

But by any chance, is your friends name Stephanie? (and to be more specific, she shows dogs, and rabbits?)

 

[tirediron]

Not bad; I would suggest a portrait (vertical) orientation in future; this one can easily be cropped, and while you've done a good job of using selective focus, you've still got several trees "growing" out of her head. I think with a quick levels tweak and, this would be a nice image.

 

[Abby Rose]

Thanks all!

Only gripe I could pick on, would be the stray hairs.

Windy day. But yes, and thank you!

[quote='whimsy_bug"]But by any chance, is your friends name Stephanie? (and to be more specific, she shows dogs, and rabbits?[/quote]

My goodness, yes! :shock: I spose I shouldnt be that surprised, she knows people everywhere and Ontario is pretty close. But still, holy crap! At home, she also shows ducks, and she used to show goats. But only locally.

I think with a quick levels tweak

What kind of a levels tweak are we talking about here? Levels are one of my weak spots.

 

[tirediron]

What kind of a levels tweak are we talking about here? Levels are one of my weak spots.

Exposure. On second thought however, I think I would suggest using curve rather than the levels sliders. I would like to see the highlights toned down just a hair, and the dark areas around her eyes brightened just a little.

 

[whimsy_bug]

[quote='whimsy_bug"]But by any chance, is your friends name Stephanie? (and to be more specific, she shows dogs, and rabbits?

My goodness, yes! :shock: I spose I shouldnt be that surprised, she knows people everywhere and Ontario is pretty close. But still, holy crap! At home, she also shows ducks, and she used to show goats. But only locally.
[/QUOTE]


what a small world. I opened the thread and was like, hmmm that looks suspiciously like Steph, but it CAN'T be, at Nationals I could barely get a picture of her back. Then I read the car show part, and remembered she said something on another forum about a car show. Then I looked at your location and was like, unless Steph has a twin it HAS to be her.

...Time to taunt Steph :mrgreen:

 

[sam_justice]

there's not much to critique considering it's a point and shoot! it's a well framed shot and nice composition.
If it were a DSLR I would say the exposure could be notched down a stop or even two.

 

[KmH]

Not bad for a quicky, but she has 'racoon eyes' (dark eye sockets).

As mentioned the vertical camera orientation would have worked better, and would have necessitated getting a bit closer, or cropping in post.

 

[Abby Rose]

what a small world. I opened the thread and was like, hmmm that looks suspiciously like Steph, but it CAN'T be, at Nationals I could barely get a picture of her back. Then I read the car show part, and remembered she said something on another forum about a car show. Then I looked at your location and was like, unless Steph has a twin it HAS to be her.

...Time to taunt Steph :mrgreen:

Weird... so weird.

I already told her.

*edit: She said that you just emailed her.* This is funny.

 

[Abby Rose]

Ok... taking all suggestions into account, here is my new edit. Any better?

*edited to add* Now that I see it on here, I think it is underexposed. Or maybe its a little low-contrast now? Back to work...

*ANOTHER edit*

my new second edit, or rather my third edit. It still looks odd, could it be photobucket? Thats where these last two are uploaded from... neither looks this bad on my computer.