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© Copyright 2010, John Crosley/Crosley Trust, All Rights Reserved, No Reproduction Without Express Advance Written Permission From Copyright Holder

Dasha -- in B&W, a continuing retrospective


johncrosley

Exposure Time: 1/10.0 seconds Adobe Photoshop CS4 Windows;
slight left crop, no manipulation, hand held, 70-200 mm f 2.8 V.R. at full extension.

Copyright

© Copyright 2010, John Crosley/Crosley Trust, All Rights Reserved, No Reproduction Without Express Advance Written Permission From Copyright Holder

From the category:

Portrait

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This is Dasha, a friend, now out of touch, from a series a while ago, that

has fans and generates continuing interest (from an unprocessed

download that was in 'raw' format that previously was unviewed). Full

frame and unmanipulated (very, very small left crop). Your ratings and

critiques are invited and most welcome. If you rate harshly or very

critically or wish to make a remark, please submit a helpful and

constructive comment; please share your photographic knowledge to

help improve my phtography. Thanks! Enjoy! John

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Hi

I like your picture. The lighting is very nice an warm. The girl is really pretty and her expression adds to the scene.

The composition is good. The only thing that distracts me is the background. Although you have a shallow depth of field, it is still too distracting to me (I think it is a door or something).

I wonder what was the original picture? The composition? Have you cropped the picture in post?

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Oh man, check out the 'bokeh' on her! :)

 

Very good black-and-white portrait. Her pose looks somewhere between studied and casual, and I love the hair. My only suggestion would be to lighten the face a tiny bit, and burn down the arms a little.

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The answer is, as almost always with me, 'this is the original picture' as is the case' 99 times out of 100.

 

Although I will crop to avoid a hand or a nose sticking into a frame or other distracting objects such as an odd tree branch and occasionally if a capture really calls for it and my lens is too short, simply re-capture the capture by cropping, but that is so rare for me it is remarkable, and I think I can recall every instance for the latter out of the 1400+ photos I've posted here and 100 on another service in which that was done with significance.

 

There are 'insignificant crops'' about 1/4 inch was cropped to the left here, and I have some doubts now whether I had framed it better in the viewfinder, but that's a nit.

 

My friend, Dasha, came to visit and wanted some money and to model, so we had an impromptu modeling session, available light, but some very good north window light.

 

It worked out pretty good, with lens setting on my 17-55 f. 2.8 lens at 5.6 and shutter speed at iso 640 set to 1/10 sec. Really, and no vibration reduction feature on the lens (I wish those lenses really had one; they don't because they're large aperture, but really they should have thht feature just for such shooting.

 

I will choose a low shutter speed like that to preserve lower noise (here a D200) and still get some depth of field. That was necessary because her very large bust was pointed somewhat toward the camera and her nose and eyes had to be in focus along with the filagree of her underwear/bra. (This was NEVER a nude shoot/scene-- I never have seen Dasha nude.)

 

(that accords with a promise to her momma, which I kept, ruefully enough - I do try to keep my promises).

 

Frankly if you puruse photos of beautiful women and are looking for nits to pick, you'll find 'em, unless they're backed by seamless paper, in luxurious surroundings like a hotel or fancy restaurant, etc., or maybe a museum before/after hours, but this was John's temporary tourist apartment in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, where I was actually living for a few days (spent more days in a bigger apartment with as good or better light.

 

I am the original 'make do' guy. I thrive in natural settings, even at 1/1oth of a sec. hand held.

 

If you're looking to find nits, you'll find them aplenty in my photos, as I seldom Photoshop them . . . . tattoos are there if a model has tattoos, and same with most prusht (acne) as I am very sparing with the 'healng brush' and even 'skin smoothing' is not in my repertoire as i do not post for erotic/glamour web sites where men pay to drool after impossibly perfect women.

 

This actually IS the Dasha I have known for several years, a friend for many of them.

 

She has no makeup except for eye makeup. This is her real skin, and no Photoshopping to her skin. Each mole she walked into the room with that was visible to the lens, is there and if you have a microscope, you can count moles.

 

Frankly, I don't see such things at all.

 

I see a beautiful young woman in her flower, just returned from overstaying at the beach (on the river side) with a bit of a sunburn (not too obvious here in B&W) with beautiful skin, a beautiful face, (and not shown, a lovely, charming personality).

 

(and a huge bust that I was unaware of for the first two years I knew her, as it often was cold out, she often wore bulky tops and black sweaters, and I really wasn't looking for such things . . . . untiil one day she wore a skimpy to in summer, then i was forced to re-evaluate my observations of two or mroe years' standing.

 

So, if you want nits, have away.

 

If yo want youthful beauty, a year or so into college (she was then a dancer/actress, and later dabbbled into economics and philosophy), then this is Dasha, one of the greatest natural posers I have ever encountered -- a woman who required NO instruction in posing at all - just completely naturally knew how to move and stop for the camera more than almost any 'cover girl' I have ever shot (and I've shot mroe than a few -- as recreation during their 'off hours).

 

I am not even sure she brought more than eye makeup to this session, though she may have sneaked in some face powder, but she really didn't need it.

 

Sorry if you're distracted; I was too, but only by her abundant beauty, something a little unexpected from an old friend.

 

John (Crosley)

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We were just 'friends', nothing more, but really good friends, and one day she wanted to pose - she needed money for this or that (probably tuition at university)

 

I paid a lot of very small university tuitions for a lot of very poor models, and didn't ask much more of them than this state of undress; and often much less. I just was practicing my lighting and camera skills, and paid some money,which often was good enough for a young women with no other earning possibilities to fill out her unpaid and very small local university tuition in Dnepropetrovsk.

 

In general, I think I was very highly regarded by my models there . . . . as more than 95% said they'd love to do it again.

 

I've graduated from that, but intend to return; it was just 'fun' and I met a lot of wonderful people.

 

Before in Odessa, I shot agency models, often 'cover girls' or runway models who weren't then traveling for work and there was little local work but many beautiful girls/models. Just going to Odessa's finest modeling agency with my puny work which paid about $50 a 6-hour day,, and I'd be greeted by maybe 30-50 beautiful models -- good practice by them, and I continue to be welcome by that agency . . . I am sure. Sometimes in Istanbul to Paris they would make $100s an hour, but such work was scarce . .. and not steady and my work filled in gaps and kept them 'working' and 'fresh'.

 

I developed many skills with monolights and hot lights working with such models and those translated into working on the 'street' (or vice versa) as I am incredibly fast in studio work. I just ask a model to move, I move, maybe try out a lens, move forward or back for framing, frame in the viewfinder, often see things I hadn't expected, and even when I start out with 'nothing' I often end up with some pretty wonderful captures (and I was a complete neophyte when I was doing that, self-tutoring and sharing the process with the modes, which made me quite popular, as over 90% of photographers treated them as beautiful but dumb and many were far from dumb (most were in University, a few were younger and headed for university) and of course the rules were 'no nude photography' when using agency models . . . . . and otherwise, no models not in university at all, unless mom was with her or mom's surrogate and approval.

 

Dasha's mom really like me (and my female assistant) as did poppa when we met (though she is an adult here and had been for quite some time).

 

We're out of touch lately; I hope she'll see this and send me an e-mail (or same phone).

 

Thanks for the kind comment.

 

And the hints.

 

Here's a reply to your gracious hints.

 

I first worked this up as 'high key 'and it was wonderful.

 

Then a contrast/darkness slider slipped, it suddenly got more contrast, and I liked it just a little more, so I kept the changes, after tinkering some more.

 

In other words, it 'works' with just about any way the 'lighting/contrast' is treated --- really.

 

In that way, it's a remarkable photo, in part because this is 'even' 'north' 'window' lighting -- I always have been extremely partial to 'sidelighting'; it's my favorite for just about everything from street to portraits.

 

john

 

John (Crosley)

 

 

 

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Hi again

Of course you are right. The picture is wonderful as I said. I did not want to offend you or Dasha. I was saying what came to my mind when looking at the picture.

But of course it is a small detail.

Regards,

Daniel

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Of course it is wonderful.

 

No worry about offending Dasha; I haven't seen her in a year and a half or two, but unless something has interfered we'll remain friends for a long time when we reconnect.

 

She went from a girl in an isolated major city to supping at the table of the Vice Mayor of Kyiv during the time I met and knew her; she did not lack in ambition.

 

Or Charm.

 

Or Beauty.

 

Or Ability to put her best foot forward, with brains.

 

I hope she is well, and hope that someday soon she will be in touch; in Ukraine where people do not abandon their mobile phone numbers on pain of death almost, hers has been disconnected a long time, and there are no phone directories. She is at an age where she has been highly mobile (upwardly when last I saw her, from a girl in really cheap shoes and poor clothes who shared a sweater with momma, to a woman who didn't have to worry about any of those things . . . . (shared clothing articles have been pretty common in Ukraine among those without substantial wealth, especially among women, as every woman (like neighboring Russia) has one really attractive garment she can wear almost anywhere, no matter how poor; wealth for young women is often in their looks (viz above) and when brains and charm are attached substantial upward mobility is possible.

 

Ukrainians generally look very much up to the United States, and especially the women to US men, feeling their own men do not treat them so well (in general, with major exceptions, but the men, almost to a one, do appreciate the beauty of their countrywomen . . . . as just stopping a stranger on the street and and asking will tell.

 

Daniel, I think in looking back at what you wrote (as opposed to what you may have been thinking) you emphasized that background and the possibility that this photo was somehow 'listed' out of a background, and thus it displeased you . . . . which was entirely possible, but if that were the case, my answer was 'well, it takes all kinds'.

 

I'm glad you have reflected and reaffirm the 'nits' were really 'nits' and the overall impression is quite pleasing.

 

(But don't worry about 'pleasing' me; if I take a crappy photo, of a decent photo that has crappy parts, I am quite often the first to know and to acknowledge. You can review recent comment replies and find one or two that say just that, I think.

 

So, don't stay away just because I sounded harsh, but re-read what you write before hitting 'enter' to ensure the words reflect your thinking.

 

(I find in Google.com Dasha has her own listing just of photos I've taken of her, and some of the men I've met are her own 'personal' fan club . . . .based on the three or four other photos posted (one re-posted from color to B&W for a good reception and a whole new look . . . as this one too.)

 

(also since she went out over noontime and suntanned (and burned her breasts at her swimsuit line (viz above) in color the transition from reddish to alabaster skin is quite noticeable; here it is something you probably cannot tell from a 'tan line' which many men find highly attractive.

 

Best to you, and wish me luck in reconnecting with Dasha, and hope she's OK. I seldom lose touch with significant people I left on good terms with, and she's a rare exception.

 

John (Crosley)

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It is a beautiful picture of a beautiful woman, I like the light and the gray lines in the composition together with her expression gives a mood to the shoot.

 

Great work

 

Best regards Tore

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Thank you so much.

 

You have devoted much (if not all) of your career here to photographing beutiful women, so I know you know your stuff, and take the compliment as coming from a place of special knowledge.

 

Thanks again.

 

John (Crosley)

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I was rummaging through old files and came across a file (all accurately numbered in perfect order on my disks I was transferring seemingly for the 50th time), and stopped to open this download, found it was in NEF only, not my usual NEF and jpeg, and thus hadn't really 'seen' it because then I had no good viewer for NEF only shoots (I had made a mistake for review in not shooting simultaneously raw and jpegs -- NEF being Nikon's proprietary 'raw' formulation).

 

I happened to like this among many shot at 1/10th of a second which were blurry or out of focus because of very low lighting or poses which I didn't much care for.

 

Thus, this was a standout.

 

I don't shoot many women, especially lately and hope that will change almost immediately -- I'm ready.

 

So, this for me was 'state-of-the-art' three years ago, shooting a 'friend' who stopped by.

 

John (Crosley)

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