Kathy 1

This was a test shot to check on lighting from a studio session about

2 years back.

I like the off-center composition. The brush of light on her hair at the lower left is pretty but distracting. I'd like to see better contrast between the rest of her hair and the background.

Hi Ellery,

Good to see some new (well, newly posted) material from you.

I agree with David, the off-center composition helps by avoiding to make the portrait too dead-on her face. Since it's already focused tightly on her head, centering it would probably have weighed it too much. Make up, hair and light are all good, and you managed to softly light her face without any obvious hint of where the light comes from. I'm still not sure about the highlights on the sides of her neck, though.

The only issue I have is that, pretty as it is, it doesn't tell me anything. It makes a good contrast against the less cosmetically perfect but more interesting Dressing Room #1. Then again, this is more like a glamour shot - it is supposed to make her look good, all other considerations pushed aside.

Yes i agree with Ricardo - but the hair light isn`t positioned very well since it highlights only part of the hair - the top of the head allmost disapears with the background.

Danny,

 

Hmmm may I suggest that you check your monitor for calibration drift. On both systems at work and home - there is more than adequate seperation.

Wonderful portrait

I think this is a very beautiful model well captured. There is adequate seperation from the bg, I do agree though, that the lighting behind her head is not high enough and the orange/brown highlight is distracting. I wonder if you could burn it in a little or remove it. The composition is very good , well done - Richard.