Autumn

OK, so as far as portraits go, what do you think of this picture? Ittook about half hour photoshop to adjust the colour balance as best asI could since the backlight I have (500w incandescent) is a differentcolour than my main (sb600). Also tried to darken the overbright sideof her shirt somewhat.

I wonder how I can avoid the too-bright highlights on her shirt, whilekeeping the same light on her face? I might be able to save it in ps,but would rather have a way to accomplish it without all the pp.

Is this a good choice of aperture and dof blur? Tried to be consciousof what was going on there and think it's good.

For the purists, is the catchlight good? Too big? In the right spot?

Thanks for your suggestions and opinions.

A beautiful young lady and a very nice capture. I must warn you that portraits are not my strength so you should take what I say with a grain of salt. I like what i see here in terms of lighting and you have a background that is plain but I find that it is too close to what she is wearing - would a white, black or dark green background be more appealing? - perhaps. I know that you said that you spent some time getting the color balance correct. Recognizing that most monitors of folks here at PN viewing this image will be set a little differently and will see this image darker or lighter or with a slightly different color balance. On my monitor, it is coming out as a magenta (blue/Red) bias and that may have affected your ratings. Before trying to make color balance adjustments, I usually get the lightness/darkness to my taste first. After that I mess with color balance until it looks like what i saw when I took the image. For your consideration , I have attached my version of what looks good to me on my monitor (you may completely disagree). I won't rate this but I hope you found the comment useful.

Thank you so much, what a well thought out and informative comment!

I looked at this picture again last night and hated it! I played with it until my eyes went buggy and then again today. I couldn't figure out what the problem was, but after viewing your adjustments - it's quite obvious!

I have another similar picture, from the same 'shoot' of her sister. I am going to take into account what you have suggested in learning to be more effective with pp.

Thanks again!

Attached are my further efforts in making this picture into what I'd rather have captured in camera. Among other things I am trying to add/maintain some depth to the shadows in her face, though I think I've made them a little too dark. Ultimately I'd like to get this straight from camera, but until I get a lot more practice with lighting, this pp stuff is good learning.