The Bubble

This was a lot of work for me and a lot of fun for her. I learned that

bubbles never go where you want and they don't last nearly long enough.

Your thoughts on this are welcomed.

Mel,

She is a cutie. Your background is nicely neutral. It is perfect for trying to get the highlights on your bubble to show.

I wish I could tell you where to place your lights to get better highlights on the bubble. I guess I would just experiment to see what works best. It would be nice to have more of the bubble show.

Make sure you focus on her eye. She is a little out of focus.

Her skin tone is not bad, but I think I would try making her face just a little (very little) darker. Her face might look better darker and the shadows on the side of her face would show up better.

The hair light does help to separate her from the background, but it is a little hot. A less intense backlight might separate her hair and back better. Her hair is separated now, but I would like to see her back separated, also.

Avoid having the back of the hand towards the camera. The edge (side) of the hand towards the camera is thinning, feminine and graceful.

You should crop quite a bit off the left side. This photograph is very right heavy. 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. This will still allow her to have more room in front of her than behind so that she will be facing into the picture, not out of it.

Your name, date, etc. is not part of the photograph. It would be appropriate to place your name and the date (if you wish) on the mat.

Nice shot,

Mark

Mark - Thank you for your comments.

I agree that this version of the picture appears out of focus. I'm looking at a 13X19 print and the plane of focus is on the bubble and hand. Her hand, face and hair are clearly in focus on the print. I may need to reload this photo at a slightly higher rez. It was late when I posted this and I really didn't notice this.

As for the placement of the subject, I have several versions of this same shot including her more in the middle. Also several with the bubble in flight, multiple bubbles, etc, etc. This is the strongest composition of all because of it's simplicity. She is in the right third of the frame and the position of her arm and forearm creates a triangle of activity that leads us right to the focal point of the photograph which is that bubble. The air on the left side begs the questions: How large did the bubble get before it took flight? How far did it travel before it popped? This adds to the drama of the photograph.

In retrospect, I could have broadened that hair light just a tad to allow some of that light to hit the top of the bubble which would have defined its edges more clearly and in the process softened that hot spot.

Mel