Bailey - Swimsuit at the beach

Trever1t · Jan 18, 2016

_POR3771-Edit by Bill Grayson, on Flickr

OK this is a close friend, she's a former pro model. I took her to the beach today, ate a huge swell and fried my iPhone. My battery for the strobe started smoking but seems to be OK. Drove home earlier than anticipated soaked and sandy.

#2)

_POR3857-Edit by Bill Grayson, on Flickr

#3)

_POR3791-Edit by Bill Grayson, on Flickr

#4)

_POR3767-Edit by Bill Grayson, on Flickr

EIngerson · Jan 18, 2016

Stunning! Nicely done.

JoeW · Jan 19, 2016

That's a terrific shot--just terrific. First, I love, love, love the framing by the geography...most photographers who achieve stuff like that have to use artificial means like doorways or windows or fabric...instead you've got nature helping you out. Good stuff. And she's lovely. It's a great pose. The depth of field was a wise choice. Color and light is good. I've got only two things to quibble about: her left thigh, just a few pieces of the bikini bottom tie...b/c we see so little of it, its' distracting and detracts from the line she creates with her thigh and hip. Second, on her right thigh there is something small that protrudes just above the waterline. For the life of me I can't figure out what it is...a bit of foam from the water, a very large wart, who the heck knows. But you should clone that out.

One last thing--and it's a very small thing. I don't think it detracts from the photo at all. But if you had a chance to shoot her here in this setting again, I'd pose her so she doesn't have her right elbow with the cliff/rock in the background. I think it would be even lovelier with her totally surrounded by sky and then the rock arch. And that said, that's not a negative thing in my mind, just one small element that could make future shots/poses in this setting even better.

Thanks for sharing....

FITBMX · Jan 19, 2016

This is a stunner!
I completely agree with Joe's C&C, but I also think her right elbow has a funny thing happening with the colors. Kind of a abrupt change from light to dark. This could also just be me, if it is just me please tell me it is me.

This is a really lovely photo.

Trever1t · Jan 19, 2016

JoeW said:
That's a terrific shot--just terrific. First, I love, love, love the framing by the geography...most photographers who achieve stuff like that have to use artificial means like doorways or windows or fabric...instead you've got nature helping you out. Good stuff. And she's lovely. It's a great pose. The depth of field was a wise choice. Color and light is good. I've got only two things to quibble about: her left thigh, just a few pieces of the bikini bottom tie...b/c we see so little of it, its' distracting and detracts from the line she creates with her thigh and hip. Second, on her right thigh there is something small that protrudes just above the waterline. For the life of me I can't figure out what it is...a bit of foam from the water, a very large wart, who the heck knows. But you should clone that out.

One last thing--and it's a very small thing. I don't think it detracts from the photo at all. But if you had a chance to shoot her here in this setting again, I'd pose her so she doesn't have her right elbow with the cliff/rock in the background. I think it would be even lovelier with her totally surrounded by sky and then the rock arch. And that said, that's not a negative thing in my mind, just one small element that could make future shots/poses in this setting even better.

Thanks for sharing....

Damn, good catch on the spot on her right thigh! I believe it's a piece of debri from the beach. She was covered in it and I totally missed that when cleaning up. Thanks for the detailed response!

Trever1t · Jan 19, 2016

FITBMX said:
This is a stunner!
I completely agree with Joe's C&C, but I also think her right elbow has a funny thing happening with the colors. Kind of a abrupt change from light to dark. This could also just be me, if it is just me please tell me it is me.

This is a really lovely photo.

I did notice this during edit, it is natural and I wasn't sure to alter it too much. Thank you!

Donde · Jan 19, 2016

I think I would crop out about half of the cloud like form at the bottom and frame the shot so that her elbow is moved further into the dark area or completely clears it. Exposure looks just right.

Trever1t · Jan 19, 2016

Donde said:
I think I would crop out about half of the cloud like form at the bottom and frame the shot so that her elbow is moved further into the dark area or completely clears it. Exposure looks just right.

it's sea foam, the beach was covered in it. I like to have OOF foreground elements, i do that often. Thank you!

Granddad · Jan 19, 2016

Where was that shot Trever? It doesn't look like Natural Bridges State Park - unless you used an tight angle at low tide?

Trever1t · Jan 19, 2016

Granddad said:
Where was that shot Trever? It doesn't look like Natural Bridges State Park - unless you used an tight angle at low tide?

No, there's many beautiful beaches north of Santa Cruz. This is one I like but it's a little difficult to get to.

_POR3857-Edit by Bill Grayson, on Flickr

Granddad · Jan 19, 2016

OK, thanks. The furthest south I've been from Halfmoon Bay along that coast is Pigeon Point, but we didn't have time to stop much - I seem to remember grouchy and car sick kids. Next time we're in the Bay Area we'll have to dump seeing family and spend some time seeing the coast.