Portrait

[berbig]

I would be glad to get some honest feedback on this portrait. What should I have done better?

Regards
Bernt Bigton
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[Slobodan Blagojevic]

To me, clothing is quite distracting, especially the lacy part and her right shoulder. Also, not sure about the background, kind of greenish gray... does not work quite well (again, for me) with her hair. Perhaps a hair light would help to separate it from the background?

[Dick Roadnight]

I would be glad to get some honest feedback on this portrait. What should I have done better?

Regards
Bernt Bigton

You have got the subject looking happy, well posed, well lit, but the lighting is a little contrasty, with nearly blown highlights and dark shadows. On my screen it does not look sharp, but I do not know how sharp the original file is.

Like Slobodan said:

Separation from the background is O.K., but could be better ¿lighten the hair in post?

With this particular subject, I see some nice copper highlights in the hair on her right shoulder, and more direct "spot" light on the hair might have lifted the image,,, you need hard light on the hair and soft light on the face.

[shutterpup]

I find the wispy hair trailing on her neck distracting. I would have rearranged that before I shot.

[popnfresh]

I agree that the lighting is a bit too hard. That, coupled with her hair style, overemphasizes her forehead and makes it appear too large and dome-like. Also, that hair style makes it appear as if she's going bald. It's not flatttering at all. Finally, her clothes look disheveled and ill-fitting.

[blansky]

The lighting you used is called a short light because it is coming from the far side of the model. It's a good lighting for portraits but you may want to experiment with using it as more of a loop light or rembrandt light whereas the main light falls more of a pattern on the shadow side of the face. You can google this.

I'm not sure what you used here but you may want to try the one main light and one reflector on the shadow side (fomecore works fine).

You also could use more ambient room light or a brighter modeling light ( if you have one) so that the pupils aren't so dilated. The iris of the eye has the color and the bigger the iris probably the better the portrait.

The posing could be improved by having her body turned away from the main light and her face turned into the main light. This creates better and less light on the chest as well a more 3 dimension.

The clothes are not ideal and pretty distracting and don't seem to lay very well. Solid colors are generally better. Sometimes it's a good idea to turn a picture upside down or squint your eyes and look at a portrait. If the face isn't what you see first, then you may need to make some changes. Obviously the lace is the most predominant thing in the picture so not a great choice.

A hairlight could help this picture or a silver reflector back in by camera right to kick a bit of light back on the shadow side of the hair may help as well.

The background is what it is. It sort of matches the clothes but doesn't do much for the picture over all.

In portraits it is often more flattering to soften them a bit. This isn't forensic photography.

Some other points: not sure if this is your daughter or whatever but with her high forehead, her hairstyle need to change. She needs bangs and a shorter different style.

Work on it and report back.


Hope this helps.


Michael

[Adam L]

These comments sure helped me, thanks!   I get so caught up when shooting that I can't see these issues until its too late.   I would never have thought that the dome shaped head could be caused by the wrong light settings.

I wish I could give back to this community as it seems that I will forever remain on the receiving end of advice.   This isn't my picture but the comments could easily apply to my work.

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