Time to Wake.

A friend the morning after a little house party. I liked the light

in this picture. Not too happy with the cropping I needed to get

some distracting stuff out. Thoughts?

Since you're looking for cropping suggestions, here's my take on this image. I also added a gradient layer of black to even out the contrast and couldn't resist a bit of dodging/burning/blurring/sharpening to focus attention on her face.

Neat! I like that much more. Thanks.

The light IS beautiful! I like the crop that Jeffrey suggested. It has a very soft feel to it...the soft skin, the soft texture of the sweater, this one really appeals to me, and even though from your description it sounds as if it was just a "grab" shot ... I think it is very effective. It really FEELS like morning, as opposed to nap time, or just a lazy evening. I wouldn't change a thing. Nice job!

window light is fun to work with, but it's tricky if you actually include the window. You didn't see a large white area, right? Your camera will let you hand hold in low light, I guess, but it will read the sweater and skin tones as medium gray, not the darker tones in the crop. If you can't compensate for the exposure in the camera, you risk blowing out the details in her face.

 

Maybe none of this matters since we're using a digital camera and not shooting slides, but I'm still oriented towards getting the best shot with the camera.

Oh! I like the original better than the crop. The glowing white in the top captures so well the light and the feeling of the morning after. The crop is too dark, and loses the "glow" that makes this image so soft and peaceful and lovely. Great shot, makes me imagine what the party was like.

Ok, I am somewhere in between the original and the reworked crop. The only part of the bright white that takes away from the composition is the yellow line. The overall picture could be a little darker and still retain the arm, hip, and face highlights. I would not go as dark as the cropped version or blur the sweater and hip as much. Even though the body parts don't quite flow the curve of the hip adds to the "comfort" of the picture and the jeans and belt add to the character of the person.

The suggested crop is an improvement, but my feeling is that too much is lost, especially the elbow. It is also on the dark side. Here's my own, less radical crop.

OK I would like to see something midway between the two crops. I agree with losing the window and the yellow line.

 

I like the highlights on the face and arm. I also like the deatil in the sweater - it all adds to that early morning feel. But I would rather have the rest of the body, from the sweater down blurred, especially the belt which is too distracting.

Well... hmmm .... I think I like Jeffrey's crop and reworking of the lighting the best. It allows the eye to concentrate on the generlly oblique line created by the arm and face, a line echoed by the oblique line of the pilow. I find the bottom cushion of the sofa and the abrupt termination of the line at the elbow in both the original and in Phillipe's crop to be distracting. Carrying the line of the arm through the edge of the image retains focus on the human form to a higher degree IMHO.

I was revisiting this image, and decided that I really like the original (minus the yellow line) better than either of the two suggested crops.

the white above the couch is distracting to me. if you cropped it, i could concentrate more on that feeling of just watching someone sleep.

Personally, I think this works better without all the white at the top. I think it makes the light on her face stand out more.