Dish of the Day

I'm new here, and would really like to hear your thoughts on this one.

Thanks :)

nice composition and tone in this shoot, I like it, my only nitpick is that I think a tad more highlight in her face would balance the highlight on her shoulder.

(the eye seeks the brightest / highest contrast aria)

Its a great shoot.

Best regards Tore

Beautiful portrait and elegance, charming retro atmosphere. Congratulations.

Marcin,

 I have not seen a glamour drape used in many many years.  In the 50s-60s every photographer who did senior portraits had a slew of them and every senior girl in the local high school would be photographed in one.  I like very much the way your lighting causes her clavicle to show under the skin - very pretty.  It looks like a body scape.

 I would say though, that your main light needs to be thought through again. Where it hits the face it is a bit dark and you are casting a shadow of the bridge of the nose across the further cheek.  That shadow also is cast on the far eye, which is obscured by it.

 Many books and web articles on portrait lighting would offer you good ideas.  I always start my own portrait lighting with the main light only and pay attention to where the shadow falls.  The experts have named various lighting patterns, starting with the location of that shadow and the position of the light(s) to cause it.  Think, main light to cast shadows; fill light to lighten shadows and create the lighting ratio you want (often about 3:1 for young women)  Then add accent lights or hair lights to separate hair from background and create a sense of texture.  Finally a background light provides a sense of separation of the model from the background.  When you are learning these steps it is very useful to have an incident light meter so you know how bright each light is at the subject position.  

The highlights in the eyes of your portrait seem a bit dim also - they can easily be touched up in the computer with a touch of white. It makes them sparkle.  I can remember in black and white print days using a tiny brush with chemical reducer to bleach the highlights into the eye, and then after refixing and washing and drying the print, filling in any extra highlights with spotting dye to darken them.  It is much easier in the computer today.

 While your main light is dim, your hair light is quite strong, making the brightest area in the image.  It could profitably be made less bright and perhaps be brought down a little toward the back.

  If you can get an old mannequin head with a wig, you can practice without the real model being there.  I have had one for years and her name is Essie May.  The head is supported by an old light stand and a white, black and grey test chart hangs under the head.  When a model is coming for a shoot, I alway do test shots with Essie May to make sure my lighting is setup correctly.

 Sometimes I get models to giggle by introducing them to Essie May and commenting that she has a beautiful face but her figure is pretty bad.  Then I get another laugh by telling them that Essie May is my girl friend and that she has lost her head over me.  This helps an inexperienced model to laugh and feel happy and comfortable as well as giving me the chance to pretest lighting.

Regards,

Jerry Matchett

Very nice retro image, nice lighting, I think you have achieved what you set out to! and it is a soft, pleasing image, showing a pretty model that has a meek and shy look. Well done, Kind Regards from Kyn , New Zealand.

I totally agree that you have remarkably achieved what you been aiming for both beauty and technical wise with this superbly lit portrait, nothing here is wrong with your lighting at all, it is so well balanced, I can see and feel the slight grain and thats whats add a lot of beauty and creative touch to this image also, the model, indeed a very pretty one and sounded here very competent in front of the camera and pose with confidence which reflect the powerful personality this young lady is having, one more element here which attracted me is the back light effect and how it managed to isolate the model from the background, thats amazing work of yours also, at the same time the model eyes are so well connecting with the viewers.

Thank you for sharing it and wishing you all of the best.

Best regards Marcin!

PDE

Very cute.

Marcin,

She is a cutie.

Your lighting is quite good, but I have to agree that you don't want the shadow from her nose to cut across her far eye. Even though she is nicely thin, using broad lighting makes her face look quite round and perhaps wider than it really is. She has very good eye contact with the camera (viewer). That is an interesting expression. She appears to be questioning something (or at least in doubt about something). 

The backlighting helps to separate her from the nicely neutral background, but her hair light seems a tad hot. You have lost detail in her hair. It would look better toned down somewhat. More noticeable specular highlights on her lips would add some snap to this portrait.

One catchlight per eye is preferred. As a general rule, you don't want catchlights below the center of her pupils. It is usually best to have your main light appear to be coming from above your subject.

Your composition is very right heavy. Your subject should have more room in front of her than behind. This allows her to be facing into the picture, not out of it. 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. By positioning the tip of her nose in the vertical center of the photograph you not only have her facing into the picture, but you also have good left and right compositional balance. The tip of her nose doesn't have to be exactly centered, but this gives you a good starting point from which to subtly adjust your composition to make it visually balanced. This little rule almost always works well.

I am assuming you have darkened the edges of your photo this much so that they go with the somewhat dated wrap look to her top. If it wasn't on purpose, I would suggest you darken the edges more subtly. You don't want to draw attention to the process. You only want to help hold the viewer's eyes within the photograph. Subtle gradation of tone to the edges usually looks best. 

Nice shot,

Mark

Thankyou for all the comments, I really appreciate it.

While many of the points you raised are valid and interesting, I feel I need to explain some of the decisions I took with this snapshot:

The hairlight is deliberately blown out. This is something I remember fondly from the classic shots by Hurrell and all of his followers. It's not necessarily a good thing, I'll be the first to admit, but it's a part of the style :) And, somehow, it works... for Hurrell at least.

The sides are not really that much darkened - I use a very directional light pointed straight at the model's face, which enhances any vignette effects I'll throw at the photo during the postprocess. Again, part of the style I'm trying to recreate here.

Composition - I don't like too much of a negative space in portrait. A personal preference again - not always a good thing... I chose to make the shoulders and the V of the collar to be the base of this shot. Square format almost always calls for center-heavy composition, at least for me.

Again, thankyou. I'll try and heed your advice for my next shots :)