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Portrait

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Aleksandar,

I assume the scent of roses is coming from her pretty flowered dress.

She is a beautiful girl with lovely long hair. Her skin tone is excellent -- as is the contrast. There is very good detail in the blacks and whites. I find the color saturation just right for this soft diffuse light (even though the yellow flowers look a little over saturated). There are still enough shadows to add interest to the image and create a feeling of depth within your photograph. You could have moved in a little close to tighten up the top and bottom, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with your choice of top and bottom compositional balance.

You have focused quite well on her eyes, but I wouldn't say they are in critical focus. Make sure her eyes are sharp as possible.

I would crop quite a bit off the left side. I find in portraiture the rule of thirds works very well if there is a reason to invoke it. I don't find the green bush in the lower left enough of a reason to position her head in that location. 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 doesn't work all the time, but it is very useful to keep in mind for planning your portrait composition.

That is a very pretty spring dress, but avoid bright colors and bold patterns in clothing. In a portrait the subject’s face is what is most important and nothing should draw the viewer’s attention away from the face.

This setting contains many shapes, lines and a patch of yellow flowers. It is very busy. If you wanted to keep the stone wall, which is very nice, I would move her away from it so you could throw it out of focus. I would also lose the yellow flowers. You don't want anything in your photograph that will draw the viewer's attention away from her face. One reason to include a background in a portrait is to establish a relationship between the subject and the background. The idea is to take the likeness of the subject to a more meaningful pictorial expression of the subject. It adds completeness to the picture -- it tells a story. Everything in the picture should coordinate with everything else. Everything that is in the portrait is there for a reason and should help tell the story of the subject. You should ask yourself if the background goes well with the subject and her outfit. Another reason to do this is that I think people look more relaxed and comfortable in a location that has some kind of meaning for them. They just seem less posed and out of place. The different things in the scene sort of look like they were just placed there for no apparent reason. There are many textures that just don't go together. A word that comes to my mind is hodgepodge or maybe discordance. The first "rule" of composition is to simplify. 

I think I will go on a bit about her pose. There are many points that I think should be made. You have done a very good job at directing her line of sight. If not making eye contact with the camera (viewer), the eyes should follow the line of the nose. In other words, you want her to look where her head is pointing. You have her doing this which looks very good and natural. 

Do not pose your subject straight on to the camera. This is not a very feminine pose. Showing your subject’s widest areas (shoulder to shoulder or hip to hip) makes those areas appear wide. Your subject will appear thinner and more feminine, graceful and elegant if turned at an angle to the camera. The lines you see from an angle have more apparent motion, interest and grace. You usually do not want to have your subject turned 90 degrees to the camera. This can make the head look unsupported. It usually looks best to angle your subject somewhere around 45 degrees. The way you have her right hip out to her side does create a very nice feminine "S" curve to her body. You have also positioned her feet very well.

You have posed her hands where the sides (edges) are towards the camera. Just like turning her body at an angle to the camera, this makes her hands appear thin, feminine and graceful -- good job. I would have her straighten some of her fingers out -- perhaps in a cascade where some fingers are pointed out more than others. They look more feminine that way. Gripping her fingers in a "fist" is masculine. Having her hold onto the side of her dress is a very good idea. It causes the dress to come up on that side. Not only does is show more of her leg, it moves the line of the hem of her dress from a horizontal line to a diagonal line. This creates a feeling of movement and interest. Of course, it also adds an air of innocent sensuality. 

Notice the angle of her left elbow. A 90 degree angle is a masculine angle. You should think sharp and hard for guys and curved and soft for girls. There is something not very appealing about having a girl's armpit pushed up against the rough bark of a tree. I hope no ants crawl on her.

I must say that her expression is not very exciting. She looks rather bored. It might be nice to have her show some kind of interest in whatever she is looking at. She really needs some catch lights. You need to give her eyes some life. Her make-up looks good, but I would retouch the dark circles under her eyes.

Nice shot,

Mark

 

 

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