Rachel - Senior Portrait

Melissa,

Rachel is a pretty girl. You have focused well on her eyes. She has good eye contact with the camera (viewer). Her skin tone is very nice - very natural looking. Her make-up looks very good. The lighting is a tad flat, but is soft and pretty looking on her. The background is nicely out of focus and Rachel is quite well separated from it. The contrast and color saturation looks good. The composition is very good.

I wish she had catchlights, but her eyes are very well lit. 

Her mouth is slightly parted and her teeth are showing on one side of her mouth. It looks a bit odd -- kind of snarly -- not really a very pleasant expression.

It appears your camera position is a bit above Rachel and you are pointing a wee bit down at her. It would look better if you were more at eye level with her.

The flowers around her are quite subdued in color and look very nice and feminine. The bright pink flowers on her top are distracting. My attention is drawn away from her face.  Avoid bright colors, stripes 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.

It would be nice to turn her at a bit of an angle to the camera. It is usually not a good idea to pose your subject facing straight on to, or away from, 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. Generally, it looks best to angle your subject somewhere around 45 degrees.

It is best not to put advertising, such as your studio name or DBA, on the front of your photograph. You don't want anything on your photograph that will draw the viewer's attention away from your subject. It is quite appropriate to place your name and the date the image was made, it you wish, on a mat surrounding your photograph. Advertising would be better placed on the back of your photograph. Photo.net is nice enough to place your name as the photographer right below your photograph.

Nice shot,

Mark

Excellent portrait shot with great dof and composed....well done

Nice fresh photograph intimating youth, beauty and untapped potential.

Regards,

JMacC