Classic Portrait

[smoke665]

Anyway, just nit picking, I am sure the parents are thrilled.

If nit picking is the worst you can find JB, I might have hit a home run!! Thanks for commenting, suggestions noted.

 

[SquarePeg]

The lack of eye contact with the camera is my only criticism- this is coming from a parent/viewer perspective, I’m no portrait shooter. Maybe a preference more than a criticism. I like to see either someone looking into the camera, or if not, looking off into the distance contemplatively. Whoever/whatever she was looking at off to camera left makes it seem more like an outtake due to a distraction. Were you behind the camera or off to the side with a release?

 

[smoke665]

The lack of eye contact with the camera is my only criticism- this is coming from a parent/viewer perspective, I’m no portrait shooter. Maybe a preference more than a criticism. I like to see either someone looking into the camera, or if not, looking off into the distance contemplatively. Whoever/whatever she was looking at off to camera left makes it seem more like an outtake due to a distraction. Were you behind the camera or off to the side with a release?

Good "eye" ...no pun intended. LOL I missed that. Shooting kids I generally have some small interesting little toy in my left hand that I give to them after the session as a treat for following directions. Their eyes tend to stay locked to that toy, so either I didn't realize where my hand was, or my assistant (DW) said something at the wrong time.

 

[Derrel]

In the field of traditional formal studio portraiture the most prevalent idea was that the subject(s) would look somewhere other than the lens itself. In other words, no direct eye contact with the camera lens. This gives the viewer a sort of unwritten permission to look at the subject(s) without guilt

 

[smoke665]

In the field of traditional formal studio portraiture the most prevalent idea was that the subject(s) would look somewhere other than the lens itself. In other words, no direct eye contact with the camera lens. This gives the viewer a sort of unwritten permission to look at the subject(s) without guilt

Interesting, because after Square Peg's comment I had been doing a little reading and looking at how old masters treated the gaze. It seems to be one of those either they're looking directly at the viewer or they aren't.

That led to some other "light" reading on gaze perception. Gurney Journey: Gaze Direction It seems that our perception of gaze in an image is affected not just by the position of the iris inside the visible surface of the sclera, but the position of facial features. That's why the same set of eyes, can be placed in two different images of people, with their noses pointed in different directions, and the gaze will appear to be in the direction of the nose. Various authorities suggest that our judgment of the direction of someone’s eyes is linked, in part, to the direction we believe that person to be looking. I'd never really thought about it, but they used an image of Donald Duck to illustrate. Despite the fact that the eyes are drawn cross eyed, we perceive the gaze to be looking straight at us. WTH I'm 70 years old and I just now realized Donald Duck is cross eyed!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is some serious stuff

 

[Derrel]

We can literally see which direction she is looking. We can also see that her eyes do not meet the camera eye. I believe this is the most typical way to shoot a classic portrait.

the blog post you linked to was based upon 1824 research with engravings, about two decades before the invention of photography and around four decades before the popularization of photography.

When you speak of the old Masters that is 300 to 400 years before the invention of photography. I am not convinced that the old Masters is where you should be looking for guidelines on how to make a classic photographic studio portrait.

 

[Derrel]

There used to be a fabulous online resource called ,"The Zeltsman Approach to Traditionla(sic, typo is in the title )Classic Portraiture", which as I recall was broken down into 16 lessons.

it was posted on the world wide web for about a decade, and I have downloaded it and studied it multiple times over the past 15 years.



I think it is an invaluable resourc.It has all sorts of sage advice regarding not only posing but also lens length, studio construction, and lighting tips and tricks to make your studio portraits almost perfect while you are still in the camera room.

 

[adamhiram]

Love it! I don't have much to add that hasn't been said, but I think this this will look beautiful on canvas as-is. I'm not particularly bothered by the bottom of the shoe, but I downloaded the original image as well as the outtake you shared, and it was an extremely easy composite to use the bottom half from the 2nd photo to correct it if you are so obliged (I would share, but your profile says photos not okay to edit). I would have preferred a little more shadow on the fill side, but that's totally personal preference and I think it looks great as-is. As always, cute subject and great work!

 

[smoke665]

Thank you for the kind words @adamhiram. I think I may have some other images that could be used to minimize the shoe, but just can't decide if its worth the effort. They are ballet slippers after all and the unique sole could be taken as a part of the overall theme, so I may just burn it down some and let it go.

It's been awhile since we've seen that 1000 gigawatt smile of your son, isn't it about time for another portrait?

 

[adamhiram]

t's been awhile since we've seen that 1000 gigawatt smile of your son, isn't it about time for another portrait?

Thanks, it definitely has been a while! Living in an area that was harder hit by Covid, we've been isolating for the better part of 5 months now, so life has been pretty hectic. I took on a photo project documenting life in isolation for the first 100 days, which allowed me to capture some pretty meaningful memories, but I've been on the fence about sharing as it was a bit more personal. With the school year starting soon, I think we're due for a fall portrait session soon though...

 

[Photo Lady]

She is a cutie... beautiful photos