Untitled

Taken 4 yrs. back , when she was 16 . Her first " grownup " outfit .

Your thoughts invited . Critism welcomed . Bill

William,

She is a pretty girl with a lovely smile. The lighting looks good. Her skin tone, the color saturation and contrast are excellent. The background is nicely neutral and she is well separated from it. Her make-up looks very natural.

If you move her farther away from the background you can get rid of her shadow on the background.

I would have her stand a little straighter with her shoulders back and her chest out. Her shoulders look a bit slumped forward.

If you have her turn a bit more towards the camera you could hid the little bulge above her dress on her back -- just behind her arm.

The composition is quite right heavy. You should position her more in the center of the frame. Your subject should have more room in front of her than behind which allows her to be facing into the picture, not out of it, but not quite this much. 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.

Nice shot,

Mark

You made some trick here William, something like I do, didn't you?

Best regards my friend!

PDE

Mark makes a number of suggestions that seem to me (as a non-portrait photographer) would benefit the photo.  I just wanted to add that I like the look on her face, a smile of someone who is really stepping out for the first time in such formal attire, a mixture of anticipation, self-confidence, but self-consciousness as well.

A beautiful portrait, William!

This is a lovely image of your gorgeous model!!! When you attract Mark to comment on your image, it is a winner, beause he gives us a valuable lesson every time!  Warm regards my friend.

Thank you all for the feed back . originally it was taken against a black background , but she appeared to be floating . I changed the background and added the shadow. I think Pierre noticed !

Jorge , I like the photo of your daughter , she makes an excellent model .The coloured brolly looks great too ! Bill

Ahhh, she looks lovely, this will be a photo to remember for all time Bill. She sure is maturing rapidly and getting more beautiful each time you post a photo of her. Hope all is well,Gail

She is lovely model and the color combination works great.

Best regards Tore

Thanks Tore . Gail , she was 16 when this was taken , she's 20 now . She treasures this outfit and won't part with it ( it set me back £600 ) . She has just got a Flat of her own , so my bankbalance will probably take another hammering . Re: Wendy and  " things " , the best I can say is that they are no worse . Bill