This old house

I would love to have some feedback and ratings. Thanks, Tom

The smile is very appealing, but the lighting is rather harsh. People with more portrait experience could give you more specific suggestions for softening the shadows, but a reflector is one possibility. Choosing another time of day or different weather conditions would help, too. I know there's such a thing as too sharp focus on a portrait, but the depth of field is so short here that her mouth is noticeably less sharp than her eyes. For my taste, I'd rather have slightly more DOF (but not so much that the foreground bricks are sharp.)

 

I notice that there are several portraits in the same folder with softer light. A couple of them are really exquisite.

 

Regards, Tom

Tom,

 

Pretty girl with lovely blue eyes.

 

I have to agree with Tom Miller's critique.

 

It is better to have areas behind your subject out of focus rather than in front. I don't think her eyes are as sharp as they should be, either. I am not sure her mouth is out of focus or you blurred it somehow?

 

She needs more room in front of her than behind her. The compositional "rule" for left and right side balance is to position the tip of the nose in the vertical center of the photograph. Your lighting is really quite flat. It looks like your main light is the on-camera flash. This may have caused her pin-point catch lights. The line in the upper left corner is a bit annoying, also.

 

The leading lines of the brick wall are effective. Her make-up is applied well, but l little eyeliner under her eyes would make them stand out more.

 

Your logo is not part of the photograph. It belongs on the mat. You may personally sign and date a photographic work of art. You may also include the edition of a limited edition print. Advertising should not be on the photograph, itself.

 

Nice shot,

 

Mark

Looks too soft (as mentioned in DOF comment).

 

I think the crop is too tight.

 

And I agree that the lighting is too harsh. Which makes it appear softer as well.

 

But I think there is potential there.

Thansk for the fb. I am having trouble getting the light soft enough. :( it's starting to bug. I was using flash with umbrella but seem to be missing something. What would you suggest?

If you are using a standard slave flash and umbrella you may be getting too much light. You can try to bracket the shots. Take several at different f/stops or shutter speeds to lower the light.

 

Then you can shoot manual with better settings and fine tune the details to get what you want.

 

You can also do something with the umbrella reflector to lower the amount of light and perhaps aim it just for what you want. Pin some cloth over part of the reflector or cover some of the reflective panels.

 

Your camera is not going to know about an off camera slave flash and will over expose. So it takes some trial and error work.

 

I think you can do more with less light that too much light.

 

You can always go for the washed look and concentrate on the eyes.

 

Good luck... it is something every photographer faces.