a99 Portrait

[cosmonaut1959]

My first official portrait session with the a99. The little girl was tough to work with. I used a Gary Fong.


Charlie by Cosmonaut's, on Flickr

[Dr. Harout]

Superb.

[sury]

Great capture of the little girl. i feel the negative space to the right as I see the shot,
is distracting me. I am curious if a tight(er) crop would be better.

With best regards,
Sury

[cosmonaut1959]

Thanks. Sury I'll try the crop.

[jbtaylor]

Embrace the negative space.
The reflections frame her nicely.
Not even sure that the term negative space applies here.

[John David Cubit]

I agree with Sury. Regardless of what one calls the space to the right, I think it's too much extraneous space. The girl is looking to our left, which tends to make that space to the right unbalanced. Adding to the distraction is the brighter Y-shaped concrete mortar to the right, and the pair of symmetrical matched gables reflected in the water. Cropping out the right space (and some from the top, too,) would ameliorate the distractions and shift the viewers' eyes to the joyful girl that you caught so well.

[mvanrheenen]

All discussions about the framing aside: I just love her expression! You also picked a nice, classy setting. Great work!

Mark

[cosmonaut1959]

Thanks all. I provide all of the pictures to her mom I can give her this one plus a cropped one and let her decide. Thanks for the comments and suggestions.

[artington]

Looking at this on an ipad there is no empty space to the right - it is a square crop from the left vertical - so I wasn't sure what was meant until I realised this. As a square crop it works beautifully although I cannot comment on whether or not this is also the case for the whole image, since I cannot see it.

Wonderful picture - real Zeiss type contrast; i assume you were usingthe CZ 24-70. I had been planning on buying the new Tamron 24-70 but if this is the sort of thing one gets from the CZ I must think again. Or maybe the RX-1 with CZ 35/2!

[John David Cubit]

....
Wonderful picture - real Zeiss type contrast; i assume you were usingthe CZ 24-70. I had been planning on buying the new Tamron 24-70 but if this is the sort of thing one gets from the CZ I must think again. Or maybe the RX-1 with CZ 35/2!

In one of their reviews, Luminous Landscape said the Zeiss 24-70 is such a great lens that it, alone, was worth buying into the Sony camera system. I have the lens and agree.

[cosmonaut1959]

....
Wonderful picture - real Zeiss type contrast; i assume you were usingthe CZ 24-70. I had been planning on buying the new Tamron 24-70 but if this is the sort of thing one gets from the CZ I must think again. Or maybe the RX-1 with CZ 35/2!

In one of their reviews, Luminous Landscape said the Zeiss 27-70 is such a great lens that it, alone, was worth buying into the Sony camera system. I have the lens and agree.

I think that is very true.