Two crops, two questions

OrionsByte · Jan 6, 2011

I took this shot tonight, and I know there are a couple things that aren't perfect about it (her bottom lip is wet, there's some schmutz on her cheek, the up-the-nose angle, etc.) but basically I was just playing with lighting. I had a white reflective umbrella almost right over the top of her pointed down, with a white foamboard reflector at her feet reflecting back up. No background was used; I just underexposed the ambient and burned a couple places where the flash reflected off a piece of furniture or something.

The uncropped image chopped off a bit of her right elbow (frame left) so I went with the tighter crops to make it look a bit more intentional. Sloppy, I know.

So my two questions:

How does the lighting look? Do you have any suggestions for making it better?
Which crop do you prefer, and why? How would you have composed it differently?

Crop 1:

Crop 2:

(And I'm not going to tell you whether or not it's my kid, because it's not relevant to the feedback!

)

3bayjunkie · Jan 6, 2011

i think the second one is better. since she is looking up, it is good to have the extra space above her head that you wouldn't normally have. nice shot =)

Wesche · Jan 6, 2011

In my opinion second one is better, the first one seems too close. Im not so sure about a black background, have you tried something different ?

OrionsByte · Jan 6, 2011

3bayjunkie said:
i think the second one is better. since she is looking up, it is good to have the extra space above her head that you wouldn't normally have. nice shot =)

Wesche said:
In my opinion second one is better, the first one seems too close. Im not so sure about a black background, have you tried something different ?

Thanks to both of you, and I like the 2nd one best as well.

As far as background, like I said I really didn't have a background - it was just the living room behind her, and I just made sure it was underexposed to the point where it didn't show up. Backgrounds are something I struggle with when I'm just practicing at home, but I thought this was better than having the couch behind her :lol: