portraits Paula (1)

Andi,

Paula is a beautiful girl who looks in need of attention. She appears to be calling out for help. She looks lonely. Of course, I may be the one in need of attention -- of some sort. Where is Lucy's psychiatry booth when I need it? At any rate, Andi has great eye contact with the camera (viewer). Her expression is one of loneliness for me? It draws me to her.

You have very good focus on her eyes. She has done a nice job with her make-up, but I would like to see a little eyeliner under her eyes (just a little). Her complexion is very nice. You have chosen a good neutral background so that the viewer's attention will go to Paula and stay there.

I think the lighting is too flat. It looks like the camera's flash is the main light. For a portrait, I prefer some shadows on the face. With judicious use of shadows and fill you can create the illusion of depth within your photograph.

The tones look a little muddy. Your blacks are more of a charcoal and even the whites of her eyes look a little grey. Upping the contrast my fix the problem. You may have to mess around with the brightness a little, too.

I would move her to her left just a wee bit. You want to compositionally balance the left and right sides of the photograph. The compositional "rule" for this suggests that you position the tip of the subject's nose in the vertical center of the photograph.

I wish she had more dominant catch lights in her eyes. The tiny catch lights look like they were made with the camera's flash. I really doesn't bother me that she is looking through her hair. You might have used a vertical format, but the horizontal format works for this extreme close-up.

Nice shot,

Mark

Yes, I like this shot. Beautiful composition, but not so beautiful lighting (Mark Chartrand explained it very well). But the one, major flaw in this wonderful photo is the damned catch-lights. They scream at me, saying "On-camera flash!". But let me repeat: it's a wonderful composition. It's just the lighting that needs revising.