Cowgirl Series Is Finally Finished

[zulu42]

Very nicely composed and lit. Great photograph!

 

[smoke665]

@CherylL and @zulu42 thank you for the kind words. I've started using one speedlight with a 40" reflective umbrella outside to fill in the shadow and add a little pop to the skin and eyes. I was a fan of "Big Valley" with a high school crush on Linda Evans, so the theme of the outside set followed along the lines of show memories.

 

[tirediron]

...Went back in the files, to double check, but this one at the tree is the only one with eyes open.

Can you do an eye transplant with another image?

 

[smoke665]

...Went back in the files, to double check, but this one at the tree is the only one with eyes open.

Can you do an eye transplant with another image?

I did a little experimenting the other night, I believe I can shave back part of the bark an reveal more of the eye. May have to transplant some.

 

[bulldurham]

Be careful with the transplanting as it rarely works...lighting just for starters. The bark bothers me as well...old school, I guess. A more identifiable issue has to do with the framing. In your post her right eye is almost dead center which draws my eye there and makes it difficult to peruse the rest of the image. In my crop, I moved the eye up above the middle which also aids in giving her gaze and pout a little more dimension. I also bumped down the lights a tad. There's still a bit of a color cast toward red which is best fixed in the original RAW image.

 

[smoke665]

Be careful with the transplanting as it rarely works...lighting just for starters. The bark bothers me as well...old school, I guess. A more identifiable issue has to do with the framing. In your post her right eye is almost dead center

Initial experimenting with shaving the bark back brought limited success for a lot of work. Might just be one of those "oh well" things. On the crop I generally leave a lot of room until I get the print stage, so it may not follow conventional wisdom sometimes. I've had to many of those "oh sh**" moments when I didn't have enough image to work on a specific print size. LOL

On the edit I'm not sure how I feel on the light/dark issue. I have a version similar to this but I opted for the lighter one, not sure it was the right choice but it was the one that felt right at the time. I've also realized over the last few months, that I seem to have migrated from a darker side to the more light and airy. That's the thing with ADD people never know where we'll go.

Thanks for taking the time to edit and comment. It always helps to see other viewpoints.

 

[bulldurham]

I'm also ADD with a touch of hyperactive tossed in for good luck. I've gone both ways between light and airy and more toward actual...it's always just a matter of personal taste. Cheers.

 

[fishing4sanity]

Great photo! I love the color, the expression and the lighting you've captured. And those eyes, great job.