Another attempt at Portrait

[sury]

Here is my attempt at portrait in natural light. This is my daughter. The camera is A900 and
the lens is Sonnar 250 f5.6 at f11 and 1/400s. All C&C is welcome and appreciated.

With best regards,
Sury

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigsu ... .jpg[/img]
DSC32491_ppeyescrop by BigSury, on Flickr[/url]

[Greg Beetham]

Sury,
Like I’ve said before I’m no expert on portraiture but I think the shot is too tight in the direction the face is looking at, need more space there I think and possibly a touch too tightly framed as well perhaps and the background looks too dark, actually if it were me I’d be inclined to have included some flash fill and exposed the base exposure for the highlights minus 1/3 as that lighting seems maybe a little too harsh...the lens and camera has produced the goods though, lots of potential there.
Greg

[sury]

Greg,
Thank you for those astute observations. The original is below. You can see why I had it so tightly cropped.
You have given me some good pointers to pay attention to when composing the image. I had to contend with
a reluctant "model" who is annoyed that her dad has interrupted her watching her favorite TV show.

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigsu ... .jpg[/img]
DSC32491_ppeyes by BigSury, on Flickr[/url]

[aster]

Hi Sury, : )

I took the liberty of doing a couple of adjustments in your portrait shot. I hope that's fine with you.

I agree with Greg about the extra space where she turned her face to and I played with levels and a little contrast to bring her fine facial features forth leaving the highlights of the hair but definitely darkening some parts of the image. This way, the focus is on the face and the hair and the background are merely complemantry. Also the dark contrasty shadows to the right of nostrils are very distracting and divides the face into portions. I tried to lighten that shadow using levels.

This photo is best taken under diffused daylight rather than strong, direct sunlight which produces dark pactches of shadows. Light on an overcast day is usually perfect or the daylight passing through a translucent curtain produces wonderful subtle details with no dark shadows. : )

I attached the edited jpeg. It's merely a representation of a possibility of what might have been produced in terms of this particular portrait shot. Naturally, possiblities are endless/infinite.


Yildiz

7911462880_6a3bfd469d_b - edit.jpg

(214.2 KiB) Downloaded 1990 times

[aster]

Ah, you uploaded an other version of her shot while I was posting... : )

Well, more room there for you to make lots of changes and adjustments.


Yildiz

[UrsaMajor]

You have given me some good pointers to pay attention to when composing the image. I had to contend with
a reluctant "model" who is annoyed that her dad has interrupted her watching her favorite TV show.

This is a standard challenge with your children after a certain point in life - when they decide that you are intruding upon their time.

My younger granddaughter covers her face or hides to prevent her picture being taken. The older granddaughter looks straight at the camera with what I call "The Stare" - intended to create an image that will not warrant pressing the shutter. Below is a sample of this, taken a couple of months ago by my son-in-law.

With best wishes,
- Tom -

[sury]

Yildiz,
I see what you did I like it better. Thank you for illustrating the point about having the space to to left of the image
as we are looking at it, as Greg mentioned. I posted the original to get a feel for how much of space I should leave
and your edit illustrates just that. I will tinker with the original as suggested by you and Greg and post my results.

With best regards,
Sury

[Anne_LilyofTheValley]

Hi Sury,

I am glad to see you're taking photos of your daughter. I would take photos using reflector. I think the dark zones near mouth are not needed, and what about using soft light, not the direct sunlight. I tried a couple of adjustments, I hope you do not mind

[sury]

Anne,
I absolutely do NOT mind the suggestions and changes, especially given that I asked for it/them.
I am learning both what to do and what not do as well, in addition to how to do some of
the techniques. When you care enough to take time for me, least I could do is listen and learn,
right?

With best regards,
Sury