What is beauty?

[Osmer_Toby]

The aggrieved and the injured among us say, / beauty is kind and gentle.
Like a young mother half-shy of her own glory she walks among us."
And the passionate say , "Nay, beauty is a thing of might and dread.
Like the tempest she shakes the earth
beneath us and the sky above us."
-Kahlil Gibran


anyway, i did a sister-brother portrait shoot the other day. i worked with them together and each separately. this was one of hers- i'm lookin' for suggestions for improvement, so be picky...
thanks in advance for any input

 

[Dew]

i really like this shot

to be a little picky .. i wish her face were a tad bit lighter and the bottom of her shirt a tad darker ... but thats just being picky, also personal taste

its a good shot nontheless ... love it in b&w and the shallow dof ... is this the b&w forum now

 

[craig]

If I was going to be picky I would say: What direction is the key light pointing in? To me it seems to low and to centered. Other than that, the subject seems comfortable. For me that is half the battle.

 

[graigdavis]

I like it. But there are a couple things that bug me. Seems like she is leaning back and her hips are in front of her. Looks uncomfortable and makes her face farther back in the picture. Also looks like the light is coming from the bottom. The bottom of her face is lit up, but from cheaks up are darker.

I would also have her wear a darker shirt. No white in it. This way the lightest tones in the picture are her face. You can light her up and a darker shirt wont light up as well.

Also another little nitpick that I learned. Always show both hands if you can. You can see her finger tips but maybe if she put her thumb in her pocket and more of her hand was showing.

I do love that the back ground is out of focus. Nice Composition.

 

[doxx]

I have to 2nd what the others said, especially the light from the bottom,
also the pic is not crisp - motion blur (or is it camera shake?)
Maybe I would crop the bottom part - her left cropped arm gives the
pic a weird angle.

What bugs me most tho, is that I can see the Photoshop work to
separate her from the background. There are too many obvious
tonal changes / sharpness differences around her silhouette.

 

[graigdavis]

What bugs me most tho, is that I can see the Photoshop work to separate her from the background. There are too many obvious
tonal changes / sharpness differences around her silhouette.

I didnt see that at first. I do like when the back ground is out of focus. Just try to do it with out P-Shoping it.