Two Artistic Portraits C&C

mo_tography · Sep 7, 2009

Two shots done semi-recently where I tried to take a more artistic approach to portraits. Comments and criticism are appreciated.

1) Canon EOS 5D
1/1024 sec
F/4.5
70mm
ISO 800

2) Canon EOS 5D
1/83 sec
F/4.5
50mm
ISO 800

Yemme · Sep 7, 2009

Love the expression in the first image. The lighting in the second is intriguing. I can still follow the structure of her head to the shoulders. Nice.

CSR Studio · Sep 7, 2009

I really like the second one. As for the first one, cutting off her elbow causes the eye to leave the image.

dtzitko · Sep 7, 2009

I think #1 would look a lot better if her arm was completely in the frame, instead of being cut off some.

MBasile · Sep 8, 2009

I really like #2, I love how subtle the iris of her eye is.

Derrel · Sep 8, 2009

I'm not too enamored of cutting off of the arm on the first shot, but it does add a bit of tension to the composition. Since it is such a light background shot, I think the addition of a border around the shot whould help "contain" the subject,and would really strengthen the overall effect,and would really emphasize that the subject is shown going "out of the box", for example.

The second photo, the B&W one, looks a bit under-exposed to me,or maybe just mis-adjusted in post-capture processing, and I think it would look a lot better if the woman's face was a little bit more to the left in the frame, which could be done by enlarging the canvas size of the print,and cloning in a bit more of the black background. If the blacks had just a bit more density,this picture would just knock people over.

The second photo's strong, directional lighting is very powerful, and the model's lips and neck are very strong elements,and the catchlight in her eye is also a very strong element. The almost-tribal face painting adds to the overall effect. The woman is incredibly beautiful and alluring in her appearance, and although the exposure or processing is a bit weak-looking, if this image were given just a bit more saturation in the dark tones, I think it's be one of the finest portraits I've seen. Maybe a very,very slight lightening of the far shoulder would help. This is a portrait that hides as much as it reveals,which makes it very compelling. The second photo is truly a diamond in the rough.