Outdoor Portrait

I took this picture of my friend so that her fiance could have a picture of her and so that I could work on my photography. She is great to work with and is always willing to pose for me. I'd like to get opinions on this picture and any suggestions on what can be improved.

I would have cropped this so her head isn't exactly in the center of the frame. The leaves and branches above her head don't add to the picture.

And, the angle (looking down at the top of her head) makes the pose look a bit odd.

I'll let someone more knowledgeable address the lighting. It seems odd to me, but I can't identify the problem or how to make it better.

Hi Jessica,

This is a fine picture for a lover since he just wants her picture, so that works, at least for now!

However, Charles is right about the angle and the crop but centering, although frowned on doesn't bother me so much.

This picture has a lot right: happiness, a sense of future and a beautiful smile.

What it lacks is great composition.

Massive post/tree to right: that's fine for a larger picture with other interesting things going on or else to go along with vertical, diagonal or other geometrics to complete a pattern of balance the composition. However, here it is on it's own.

Now if the tree was very intreresting with branches then it would be great, but you don't show that.

Here right arm is cut off

Her sweater is not arranged neatly.

The lighting: is that mid day with a fill flash?

I'd try more pictures, say from a window in northern light with a white board on the opposite side (and perhaps a tiny amount of fill flash. That is a great inexpensive excercise where your relationship with the model will pay off.

Make a scrap book of poses you like, not of glamor pictures, just editorial pictures in magazine, photographs you see on the internet that you really like so you can emulate simple compositions. Start with a black background and concentrate on the lighting of her face and limbs and how she is posed.

If you can do this, why not post this here so we can carry on a project of getting at least the shapes and the tonalities right!

You have a willing subject, the light is free. All you need to buy is a 4ft x8ft piece of white card for here side and a 4ft x8 foot black card for the background!

Asher

I agree with Charles

Hi Jessica,

Yes, I agree with Charles, the face should never be centre frame, unless some unusual circumstances I guess.

I think the pose is fine except for her right arm. You will face a problem if you decide to crop the image because her right arm will look like it has been severed off midway, which of course would look very odd. I would have had her arm in a more relaxed position down by her side.

On the up-side, I think she has a really great smile, the back-lighting gives it a nice touch, and your exposure and DoF are well chosen. Well Captured !!

That's my opinion anyway....

Regards...

Charles,
Thanks for your suggestions. I think you're right about the angle and pose. They look a little weird to me too. I'll post a cropped version when I get home.

Asher,
It was all done with available light in the afternoon up in a canyon. I'll have to try out your suggestions and post the results here. I'm sure she wouldn't mind helping me out. She's been my favorite model since I decided I was interested in photography.

Barry,
You're right about the arm. I didn't notice that when I took the picture. I'll have to be more careful of that in the future.

Cropped and color

I took your photo and cropped in tight - eliminated the tree altogether.
I took the color and took a touch of the red out and then I took the highlights down and upped the contrast. There wasn't enough of the image to work with - it's very small. Then the phone rang and I closed the file without a save and upload. But, try that - the photo really had a different flavor.

Ok. Here is a quick edit that I did.

YAY!

Close to what I did. I like it much better this way. That captures her pretty smile, takes the limbs out from the trees. My crop was a bit tigher. I learned to be careful of where I crop on people - just above the knee or elbow.

Jessica Weight said:

Ok. Here is a quick edit that I did.

Click to expand...

..and this is mine!



Asher

Hi Jessica,

Just a quick 'work towards' from me, to show how I would crop. I would try and extract detail from the hair, contrast the texture with the similar coloured bark of the tree. Great smile, I'm sure you could do a lot ith this image, but maybe it would not print much larger than postcard size with the more extreme cropping I suggest.






Best wishes,

Ray