The green dress

Tinstafl · Feb 23, 2026

Anastasia rocking the green dress at the bar

DanOstergren · Feb 23, 2026

You did a really good job of mixing your main light source with the ambient lighting of the location. Did you use a flash or constant light for the main light?

I personally like to see a little more of a reflection in the eyes. I love the sculpting effect caused by the high angle of light, but I think you'd still get that nice contour on her features if you just lowered the light's position enough to add catchlights and a little more light in general to the eyes, or direct her to point her chin a little more towards the light to try and get some light in the eyes. For me I just feel that in most cases some light in the eyes is needed to add an extra layer of life to them.
I hope I'm not being a nag with the criticism lately.

Tinstafl · Feb 24, 2026

Thanks. It was a continuous light source. And you have hit the issue about the eyes. I think I will ad a low light next time on very low power and see what that does but I have shots with her head turned towards the light too

smoke665 · Feb 24, 2026

Tinstafl said:
I think I will ad a low light next time on very low power and see what that does

The eyes really are the windows to the soul. I'm envious of the set and the model, but without the catch lights, as Dan mentioned the eyes look dead. Ideally I prefer it to be in the top right quadrant of the iris when the subject's head is either level or slightly raised. In the last two, moving the key slightly more to the side (camera left) would create a classic Rembrandt inverted triangle of light on the shadow side, then use a fill (camera right) high just above the hair line at 45 down, to add your catch lights and regulate the ratio. Don't be afraid to use grids to limit spill. Maybe try metering for a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio. I know it's adding more into the shot, but on these two, a kicker with 7" reflector and 10 degree grid, high, behind camera left, metered just slightly under the key, would give some separation on her dark hair from the background.