[Prieni]

A winning smile indeed. What I am missing, though, is eye contact with the viewer. In #2 and #3 we can hardly see her eyes. Also the shadow from the nose and the cheeks are a bit too strong for my liking, some bouncer from the lower right would have been good, I think.
Overall the first is the best of the bunch, on viewing it big it looks a little soft, though. Would it be my shot I would be reasonably happy with the first but would try to talk my model into a re-shoot.

Prieni

[dcmsox2004]

something evocative about portraits with shadow play.... creatively composed.... dave m

[causey]

Thank you both for your comments. Dave, you're right: shadows are interesting. Taking these pics made me think of shadows in terms of portrait resources. Not only light, but shadows, too. But I agree with Prieni that shadows are a bit too strong here.
And, Prieni, thanks for the excellent pieces of advice. I'll keep them in mind for my next portrait attempt. I'm dabbling into portraiture, really, and I think it's much more demanding than other types of photography, especially if it involves artificial lights. I'm mainly a landscape/streets/travel shooter...
Not difficult to talk the model into a re-shoot: she's my wife Now, I took these three shots yesterday in a Abercrombie store. My wife was shopping with her friends; I was terribly bored, and I got inspired by the numerous light spots scattered through the store. I had only my Tak 35mm 3.5 with me--not an ideal portrait lens... In the dark, it was also very difficult to focus with my Takumar. Still, I asked my wife to give me 5 minutes of her precious shopping time, and I placed her under two lights... Given the impromptu set-up, I'm rather pleased--and I'm even happier if the results invite very helpful tips

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Last edited by causey; 09-22-2011 at 09:57 AM.