Casual Lacoste girl.

All critiques welcome.

nice shot

This portrait has a very casual air to it. The pose is very natural and relaxed.

 

A few suggestions if I may:

 

1) The image is very left heavy. There is way too much positive space to her left, it makes the image look rather unbalanced. And the few specular highlights on the far right are distracting, as is that big yellow blob next to her head.

 

2) The jacket does not fit her very well. The sleeves are too long and it is too tight around the button, producing some distracting wrinkles in the jacket.

 

3) At first I thought her jeans were just turned over at the button, but it appears that her blue panties are showing above her jeans.

 

4) Lastly, the skin tones have a cyanish cast to them and her chest is lighter than her face.

 

I appreciate it, Ernest.

Thanks for your time and thought, Scott.

1. I may have gone overboard trying to show the leaves and fall atmosphere.
2. You're right. I'm usually incredibly obtuse when it comes to subtle but important detail.
3. Yeah, this one I did notice. But I had no idea what to do about it other than lament that the color of her panties didn't even match the outfit. Heh. Thanks for the removal in your version.
4. I only used natural lighting, and overall I am not skilful enough to meet your standards.

I guess the main charm of this image, as you mentioned early, is the comfortable and easy reaction of the model to the camera. Clearly there is an array of technical problems.

I appreciate your comment enormously.

Beautiful, I love the colors and blur background.Nice smile.

 

Cheers.

 

Alberto

In protest to the ennumerated negative critique I had to respond:

 

I am a huge fan of your photography. Myself? Not even good enough to be called an amateur, but definitely a huge fan of photography. I am consistantly pleased with your natural eye and the comfort of your model. She is lovely, but doesn't force perfection. She is comfortable in front of the camera and you do an excellent job in positioning, lighting, and capturing. The only negative I can agree with is the panties showing above the jeans. Everything else on this picture is brilliant: the muted fall colors, the brightness of the sunlight, and the "creased clothing" simply looks casual.

 

Far too many photographers on this site aim for "perfection"; in reality they are detracting from the natural beauty of the model and the background. Sorry for the length of my post. I don't post often on this site and wanted to let you know what a fan I am.

very good...congrats

The blown out spot above her head left is unfortunately taking a lot of attention IMO. otherwise nice background, but somehow I have a feeling she is not really part of the surroundings because her skin has no golden light on her, it is rather sterile. cheers Jana

Thanks so much, Alberto.

Josh, are you sure you have the right photo.net page? Heh. No, really, I'm not worthy!

 

Much of the natural look of my photos has to do with my lack of Photoshop ability. And perhaps I do sometimes shoot for perfection but just miss it by such a wide berth that it appears I never make the attempt. Hahah. Anyway I'm glad you like the breezy girl-next-door look of the model.

 

It's awesome that you recently posted your first photo and hopefully you'll post more soon.

Much obliged, Mehmet.

Jana, I believe your comment is a subset of Scott's, so I would reply in the same way.

Calvin, You know I'm one of your biggest fans. This is a beautiful shot. I like her casual very natural and comfortable look here. I love her smile and especially her hands in this shot. Shylee's pose as a model here is first rate. On the technical side, if you were selling coats, the wrinkles would be an issue, although I understand that the trend setters in Vancouver have longer sleeves. I was not troubled by the cropping even though a 4x5 that shaves off part of the right side would be nice. The saturation in the background, especially in the trees behind her, tend to overpower the image, and the lighting on the upper left is a distraction. Here is where some of those PS skills would come in handy. If you get the program, I'll come to Vancouver to give you a primer (somewhere around the time of the winter Olympics).

 

Jana, Are you sure that you were looking at the original image when you posted your comment? On my screen, there is a very nice golden hue to her skin tones. It looks like the cropped version that Scott posted had desaturated her skin tones (don't know if that was intentional).

 

Sweet shot. David

No way. I'm the fan and you're the rockstar, David.

 

Thanks for your spot-on analysis of the technical issues, as well as your wardrobe leniency in light of the noncommercial nature of this photo. Heh. And of course I'd love to get post training from a Photoshop Olympian like yourself.

A very beautiful young lady ! You have done her proud ! Very nice relaxed portrait , although I have to agree with Scot's adjustments . Bill

very beautiful light in background, DOF, pose and expression of her. Well done,,!

 

Ricardo

I appreciate it, Bill.

Thanks, Ricardo.

Lovely as always. I really like her pose, attire and expression. Beautiful colors and very good DOF. Excellent shot, Calvin. Kind regards

 

PS.- I would crop a little bit of the right side.

Thanks for your thoughts, David. Yep, I've definitely left in too much background.