Headshot for critique

[sit]

A friend of mine asked me to take a few portraits of her over the week-end; she wound up liking this one a lot. We used natural light from the window and I bounced a little bit of flash off the room to my left. This is a slight crop. Suggestions for improvement? Thanks!
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/136728291-L.jpg
1/100s @ f/2.5, ISO 500.

[LiquidAir]

I like the the light and the exposure--her eyes look great! However, her smile looks a tad forced to me.

I am not at all fond of the background--cluttered backgrounds need to make some kind of sense in the overall composition and, for me, this one doesn't. Also, I am not too fond of the perspective. The camera is looking down on her which I don't think sends the right message for this shot.

[quark]

I agree about the background - very distracting. You can probably fix in photoshop. Composition is too centered, you need to play with the crop to get this to have more power.

I like her eyes the best. When you fiddle with it try techniques that would put the emphasis on the eyes.

[sit]

I am not at all fond of the background--cluttered backgrounds need to make some kind of sense in the overall composition and, for me, this one doesn't. Also, I am not too fond of the perspective. The camera is looking down on her which I don't think sends the right message for this shot.

Thanks for the comments. The background is a good point; I'll try and keep that in mind.

The posing is something I had some difficulty with; I experimented with some different things and this one seemed the most engaging. And I'm not too good at getting people comfortable in front of the camera either. If you want to see some other shots to get a feel for my other shots, PM me and I'll send you a link.

Thanks again for the critique.

[sit]

I agree about the background - very distracting. You can probably fix in photoshop. Composition is too centered, you need to play with the crop to get this to have more power.

Thanks for the comments. I don't like to do cloning and such in PS, but at the risk of running low on pixels, here's a crop that may solve the background problem and bring the eyes into top left third.


http://www.smugmug.com/photos/137317437-L.jpg

[Marc Muench]

Thanks for the comments. I don't like to do cloning and such in PS, but at the risk of running low on pixels, here's a crop that may solve the background problem and bring the eyes into top left third.






I think it is a fun shot but needs to be taken at a lower angle to highlight her eyes and not her forehead.

[sit]

I think it is a fun shot but needs to be taken at a lower angle to highlight her eyes and not her forehead.
Marc,

Funny how much that stands out when you mention it. Thanks for looking and pointing that out; much appreciated.

[binghott]

I think it is a fun shot but needs to be taken at a lower angle to highlight her eyes and not her forehead.

:agree

i would also consider touching up her forehead as well.

nice work, i hope you get to shoot more of her.:thumb

[wmstumme]

It's her eyes which are the most captivating. I also think the lighting on the forehead causes the skin to look much rougher than it probably his.

I tried the following crop--which brings it even tighter and think it gets that focus on her beautiful blue eyes.

[rosselliot]

It's her eyes which are the most captivating. I also think the lighting on the forehead causes the skin to look much rougher than it probably his.

I tried the following crop--which brings it even tighter and think it gets that focus on her beautiful blue eyes.


definitely the most flattering crop so far. I definitely thing the original picture had too much stuff in the background and definitely focused too much on her forehead.

- RE

[Scott_Quier]

Each of the successive crops is better then the preceeding as they eliminate more and more of the distracting background. This young lady has wonderful eyes and you've done a great job there. I, however, would have like just a touch more DOF to get her chin a little sharper. The fuzzy edge of her chin I find so distracting.

[sit]

Thanks everyone for the great feedback. There's clearly a lot to keep in mind for my next portrait shoot. Maybe she'll let me try again sometime. :D

[jdryan3]

I agree with the forehead and angle commnets, but I also find the DOF too shallow so that her eyes are nice and sharp but her teeth are out of focus. If she was just smiling it might work but her teeth are such a large part of the image I think they should be in focus. The out of focus hair works for me, however.

[Mike02]

I think it might look a little bit better if you had more room around her face, but otherwise it looks very good.:clap