How would you improve this photo?

[michael9000000]

How would you improve this photo? C&C please...

 

[gsgary]

Use a long lens, the close up wide lens makes her arm look massive

 

[mommyof4qteez]

Just whiten her teeth..other than that, great shot!

 

[o hey tyler]

I would have positioned her differently to minimize the background.

 

[Solarflare]

Its very nice already.

Focus on eyes (as far as I can tell with this low resolution)
Light to the eyes, though it looks like its from a flash.
Maybe a bit flat because of pretty even lighting.
Sky is overblown, background is blurred but not too pretty.

Just whiten her teeth..other than that, great shot!

There is absolutely nothing wrong with her teeth.

 

[JClishe]

I agree with everyone else, I think it's a really nice photo. But if you're dying for ideas, perhaps a hair light behind her to the left would be nice.

 

[cgipson1]

I would not use a 24mm to shoot a close up portrait.. her nose and arm are enlarged and distorted. Classic barrel distortion..

and whiten her teeth, they are yellow.. she must be a smoker.

 

[Designer]

Michael; are we trying to fix the shot as taken, or are you open to suggestions as to how to take a better shot next time? Please clarify.

 

[Derrel]

Use a long lens, the close up wide lens makes her arm look massive

Yes...that was the first thing I noticed--he lower arm looks, well, massive. An entirely different arm placement would have improved the shot, but that is a pre-shot change. AS to a way to improve this photo now, post-shoot, I think burning the arm in (i.e. darkening it) might help remove some of the emphasis from it. The old adage, "Light advances, dark recedes," applies here. Because her lower arm is so light in tone, it appears to "advance", or become visually prominent. Her face, being a darker value, appears to "recede", or to become LESS_prominent...which is kind of the exact opposite of what we normally would want in a portrait type shot.

The more-difficult approach would be to rotate the canvas to the right, and crop in EXTREMELY, and make this into a tight, vertical portrait...paint in another backdrop, to eliminate the un-level horizon the extreme rotate would create.

 

[Edsport]

Used the liquify tool in photoshop to make the arm smaller...

 

[michael9000000]

Michael; are we trying to fix the shot as taken, or are you open to suggestions as to how to take a better shot next time? Please clarify.

In my original post, I was thinking solely of post-processing/retouching/finishing, but I'm always up for suggestions on how to take a better photo.

 

[michael9000000]

I would not use a 24mm to shoot a close up portrait.. her nose and arm are enlarged and distorted. Classic barrel distortion..

and whiten her teeth, they are yellow.. she must be a smoker.

Yeah... Shooting at 24mm with my 18-55 kit lens was a dumb move. I was probably being careless and rushing through the shot. It would've taken me two seconds to step back and zoom in.

I didn't notice her teeth were yellow until I started processing the RAW files... I asked her a few days later if she was a smoker... She said no... Luckily for me, it's a pretty easy fix in post-processing... Meh...

 

[The_Traveler]

lower the brightness of arm and shirt

 

[KmH]

Michael; are we trying to fix the shot as taken, or are you open to suggestions as to how to take a better shot next time? Please clarify.

In my original post, I was thinking solely of post-processing/retouching/finishing, ....

There is a forum specifically for that Graphics Programs and Photo Gallery.

​