Pretty lady

Aggressor · Dec 10, 2008

C&C Welcome

Strobist portrait of my wife
SB-600 Camera Left
SB-600 Camera Right EV-1.0
Triggered with Nikon CLS

Christian · Dec 11, 2008

Good photo, although I think it would make much better if she was looking at the camera. Or, even if you could take the photo from the side of her or at a diagonal angle from the back, making sure to get a good amount of her face, so it looks more like she's looking off at something.

Flash Harry · Dec 12, 2008

Would benefit from more DOF, too much oof for me, then again I've just got new specs, but, stick by my comment, she is pretty though. H

tsaraleksi · Dec 12, 2008

If you're posing the portrait, then I'd suggest having her wear something that doesn't have a lot of text-- her sweatshirt is very distracting.

skieur · Dec 12, 2008

The experienced pro approach would be to pose her on a diagonal with the front shoulder higher than the back shoulder and facing the camera with her face toward the camera. Too many men portrait photographers are notorious for not looking at a woman's hair before pressing the shutter.

A comb is necessary. Her moles should either be on the side of her face that is away from the camera or they should be de-emphasized in postprocessing, since the viewer's attention should be on the eyes. Her top should be without text or buttons that are visually distracting. The flash was handled pretty well, but the reflection off her lipstick is distracting and should be reduced in postprocessing. The little bit of light on the end of her nose should also be cloned out, since that is not where the visual attention should be.

The mix of sun and shadow is also creating some problems including two sharp "shadow lines" going downward and across her face from her nose.
Her lip is also split by sun and fill flash. The sun/shade in the background also takes your eye away from the model too.

It would also help if this photo were cropped to just about the text on the pullover.

Portrait photography is attention to absolutely the smallest detail and that takes practice. At least you have a great looking model/wife to practice with. All the guidelines for portraiture flow from the basic premise that the visual attention must be on the eyes and nothing in the photo should distract from them. :wink:

skieur

Aggressor · Dec 12, 2008

Wow that was incredibly helpful! Thanks -- good advice all around. Also, you're right about not looking at a woman's hair... It wasn't even in my mind to check if the hair looked right!

I'll keep those in mind for future shoots.