[sawtooth235]

I took this informal portrait of my niece on Thanksgiving Day in my backyard. All the family thinks that it is wonderful, but something is just not right about it to me. Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated.



Ray

[res3567]

What kind of lens did you use? What was the focal lenght?

[Syb]

Could it be the "rabbit look"? (No pun intended) We only see her upper teeth. My experience is that pictures with either less visible teeth or more (e.g. the lower teeth, too) will both look better.

My $0.02

[Class A]

I think the framing is a bit too tight. She has no space to "breathe". Also the light seems to be too flat. There aren't enough shadow areas to model the facial features. Not sure about the highlights in the background. A bit distracting, AFAIC.

Still a nice picture. I'm just trying to help how it may be improved.

[sawtooth235]

What kind of lens did you use? What was the focal lenght?

This was taken with a Takumar-A 28-80mm f3.5-4.5 at 70mm.

Ray

[res3567]

Ok. Good. You used a good telephoto lens at the telephoto setting which is good for portraits. You have the background blurred which is also good to eliminate distractions. You also did an excellent job of framing her. The lighting in her face is the culprit. It looks life her face was blasted by a harsh strobe. There are no shadows to sculpt the face. Now this was an informal portrait, so you used the equipment at hand. Did you use natural light or on camera flash? Lighting can almost always make or break a photo. Her face looks pale compared to the rest of her body. You could try warming it up with a good image editer such as Photoshop. In the future, try to use fill flash if the natural light is to harsh. If th natural light is coming in from the side, at a 45 degree angle, that is the best lighting which mimics professional studios. The most impotant thing if given the same circumstanses is to shoot portraits when lighting is at its best. Mid morning or late evening. This mimics studio lighting that creates shadows that sculpt the face. You can also use a flash diffuser to soften the strobe on or of off your camera if you must use the flash.

[Buddha Jones]

Res3567 hitit right on the nose. Wether it is the lighting or her application of makup, the color of her face does not match the rest of her.

[sawtooth235]

res3567,

She was backlit by a setting sun in the fairly late afternoon, but she was also in the shadow of a big oak tree so I used the on-camera flash to fill-in the shot.

Your'e right though that her face does have a different color than the rest of her exposed skin. I just couldn't put my finger on it.

Thanks guys and gals,

Ray

[res3567]

You got it!