Maïsha's von Dutch. (best viewed large).

Bounced and direct flash.

Is it to sweet?

This is a nice photo, a nice portrait, a very lovely face, and you must be a very proud father.

Without further explanations from you, the photographer, as to what you are trying to accomplish I would say the following about the photo:

The focus is great, that is a great classic lens for this type of photos. (Nice to see it works well with a D70 and the 1.5x crop factor.)

It is overall a bit too dark, except for the highlights. Especially the right side (as viewed) of the face is almost completely in shadow. The eyes are empty black holes, except for the single catch light. But perhaps this is what you were after?

I would have preferred a more direct flash and a bit of light from the right to bring out the face more.

Also, I think that the label on the shirt is a not needed distraction.

But, I'm not much a photographer so you can feel free to ignore all these comments.

Proost.

Dear Tachion Feynman,

Let me start to say I appreciate very much your comment. Let me also try to say why I posted the photo as it is .. and not one of the others which are not so dark.

The 105mm f2.5 is a remarkable good portrait lens .. even I have to stepback a bit now to get the same framing. And for me it works so much better as the autofocuslenses of today.

To dark .. I really think it's a matter of taste .. on my monitor the black parts are even not really black. "The eyes are empty black holes, except for the single catch light. But perhaps this is what you were after?" I think the eyes are magnificent .. have you looked at the large version? .. or maybe your display is set to dark. well the eyes of this lady are very dark .. mysterious ..

You prefer a direct flash .. well of course you can .. but is very subjective .. I dislike direct flash, it makes all shadows far to hard .. only the backlight can be direct flash i.m.o.

the label on the shirt is telling a story too, she took this shirt, for her it's important to see the "von Dutch". when you say "is a not needed distraction" ... distraction from what? the face?, the eyes? .. the earrings?? It's part of the photo and it brings balance in this lowkey situation .. I really like it and it was done very intentionally. As you see I do not ignore all these comments, but it is nice to tell you why I made it as it is right now.

I don't post often here .. but when I post it will be a picture which I really like myself, made with great care and to show what i'm busy with at that moment.

thank you for the time, hope to see you back again, I do like comments!

:-)

Hello Nils,

Thank you for the detailed explanation of what you were after. My excuses for not coming back earlier and read your reply, I've been a little busy.

After I read your comments I can tell what it was you were trying to do, and that adds significantly to my understanding of your choices. In this internet medium, not knowing what the photographer had in mind and not much context, it is difficult to know why certain choices were made and if they were even made consiously. So you made this very deliberately, you got the effect you wanted, and I can certainly appreciate that, even if my choices would be different. Congrats!