[juacali]

First attempt at portrait work. Observations and comments on improving the picture are welcome.

Attached Images

 

[robgski]

Pretty good, I think you need to try to get some more light on the left side of her face. The backlighting is very good, and appears strong enough to use reflectors instead of harsh flash. I'd try a reflector below face level angled up, and another above head height angled down to the forehead.

[tim60]

The tonal range seems to make it look a bit flat. Try increasing contrast or adjusting the tonal range. Currently it goes from full white to a mid or dark mid tone rather than any point which seems black. Try reprocessing it to see if you can improve that. I would be curious as to your opinion of that.

[juacali]

Thanks for the comments. @tim60, to improve on the tonality will give it another go.

[BATMON]

Thanks for the comments. @tim60, to improve on the tonality will give it another go.

I tried to lighten up the shadows on the face to get more balance and soften the skin a bit.
Cropped the top negative space to center her a bit more.
Medium Contrast curve added. And tried to remove white blemish on cheek.

[tim60]

I tried to lighten up the shadows on the face to get more balance and soften the skin a bit.
Cropped the top negative space to center her a bit more.
Medium Contrast curve added. And tried to remove white blemish on cheek.

To my eye that is much better.


The idea came to me from a memory of an old school friend, who later became a Rhodes scholar, when he looked at some B&W prints I had made. He said a B&W print should have some black and some white and a spread in between. (Like all of these kinds of rules, can be broken for effect. [my take on it]).

[juacali]

@BATMON...a huge difference with the changes applied. have to keep practicing on black and white conversions - keeping in mind the advice from @ tim60 friend.." a B&W print should have some black and some white and a spread in between"

Read more at: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/41-photo-critique/269698-people-attempt-p...#ixzz39hu7chpn

[TaoMaas]

Unless there is some over-riding composition that breaks the rule, 99% of the time, the element that makes us connect to a portrait (or not) is the eyes. Here, I like pretty much everything except two things. The first is minor...that little bit of the curtain pattern intruding on the right. The second is more serious. You can't really see her eyes. When you can't see the subject's eyes in a portrait, it's like talking to a stranger who has sunglasses on. Just by way of how humans interact with each other, it makes it very hard to gauge how you feel about them.