Dasha II

This is Russian-born Dasha, second photograph. From the same series

as the other in my portfolio. More to come, by request. She has

announced an end to her modeling 'career', as she's taken

a 'political' job, so these are the first and last ever. Your

ratings and critiques are invited and most welcome. If you rate

harshly or very critically, please submit a helpful and constructive

comment/Please share your superior knowledge to help improve my

photography. Thanks! Enjoy! John

I like the composition. The sunburn is distracting. It is also slightly out of focus which I think would actually help portray a soft feeling to this if it weren't for the necklace. With Respect, Anthony

What you take for 'out of focus' means 'selectively' in focus, and unsharpened, as Nikon's native sharpening is very weak. This is a very sharp lens, but Nikons algorithms for sharpening were not enhanced, something that is almost absolutely necessary, except for a shot like this where I chose to eschew sharpening, in favor of 'soft' focus.

 

At times, photographers shot from behind gause, to achieve such an effect, and now you just don't have to 'sharpen' at least with Nikons.

 

However, there was some subject movement, as this was her first time modeling, and though she was a terrific model, with perfect placement, she didn't know how to 'pause' and wait for the shutter click. Her ONLY deficit, so far as I could tell.

 

(and so far as I can guess, it'll be her last time modeling too, having just spoken with her -- modeling is incompatible with her future plans).

 

John (Crosley)

Some subject movement makes sense. Looking at her face, I thought "Soft" focus but then the necklace led to me think out of focus. I tried shooting from behind gause back in highschool. I was amazed at how well it worked! -Anthony

Much, much nicer lines in this shot compared to the other. Much more flattering light, as well. The more naked light in the other gave her a jaundiced appearance. The crop is also much more pleasing in this one - the cut-off hand in the other was distracting.

 

As for "soft", I think it's actually out-of-focus. Kind of distracting. Maybe applying a touch of blur will make it seem more intentional.

It was early evening, light was north, though the only window in a studio apartment (behind her) and the shutter speed was very low, so anything posited is possible.

 

I may actually have moved the camera, as a photographer (and may use 'smart sharpen' in Photoshop CS) to see if I can minimize that (if I can locate that capture from hundreds again, since it's a NEF and I don't have the original in a special folder, and my ordinary 'browser' won't browse NEFs, and Photoshop's browser sucks. Yes, it actually sucks. It just doesn't work properly in CS2 and that's an improvement. Normally I use Photoshop Elements 4.0, but it doesn't identify the files or identify the folders well enough. For that I prefer Picasa, but it shows NEFs as green and no updates are available (or were a few days ago).

 

That's why I have posted such a blurry photo, when I have literally hundreds of choices.

 

But 'soft' is a choice, and if you're not a photographer, it may not be distracting at all. After all, this is a critique column, but most people who look at photos do NOT critique or find fault with photos -- they either enjoy or don't - or just ignore the capture entirely.

 

Thanks for your helpful remarks.

 

John (Crosley)

I agree that the pose is far more agreeable and the cut-off hand was more of a problem, but then she 'suddenly' became available and who was to resist when she took off her top and wanted to pose. I thought her beautiful and never realized she was also so 'ahem' well-endowed, though I don't usually find such so attractive, preferring the skinnier types generally, but then again, there's chocolate and there's vanilla . . . and sometimes when I'm a vanilla lover, I also crave chocolate.

 

Anyway, I'm rather an amateur at indoor posing, but with the light and the model, (and no tripod and wanting to move about too much) and never having studied studio posing, she took matters in her hands and moved wonderfully, but failed to 'stop' each time so I could snap the shutter. As an (now former, I think, based on today's conversation) acting student, she has moves down and has a studied presence. Little credit is given to wonderful models and how they make good photographers into wonderful photographers.

 

I'd be the first to give good models credit. I've worked now with maybe 15 models and some are good and some are hard to work with. Some, like Dasha are excellent to work with when you 'get the kinks out' All models I've worked with speak Russian and little or no English. Dasha speaks very little English, though we can converse at a very high level given how little we really understand of each other. (We now can speak over the phone, just barely, but she can't understand how to 'spell' my name so she can google my images on an internet cafe. She wants to spell my first name DJON, I think, though she may prove me wrong, after today/a friend once wrote me an e-mail for her over her name but it obviously was from a friend, addressed to DJON.

 

Your comment(s) are well made and I agree and take them humbly.

 

I'll try to improve; I promise.

 

I promise to go back to Ukraine, find all their most beautiful girls/women and try and try and try and try.

 

Keep an eye out for other 'private' photos I've taken - one or two each of other young women her age, including third runner-up 'Miss Bikini' before she placed third in the contest -- I wouldn't have given her any chance of even making the finals in the contest based on the woman I saw, but when I posed her, and showed her how to pose, she learned fast. Two days later, she was Miss Bikini, third place, in Odessa, apparently for all Ukraine.

 

Life's short, then you die, but sometimes you get surprised.

 

You'll see that woman and her friend who referred her to me (and who was soooo angry when she saw her friend Miss Bikini runnerup's wonderful photos -- well comparatively wonderful -- if you had seen the young woman in person who was not so appealling to my eye -- but with my posing tricks, she learned to look more stunning and apparently put them to good use in the contest -- smart girl!!!

 

There's another one or two caught up in my hard drive. It needs a good dose of metamucil. I'm backed up three or four months with photos I haven't seen since the day I've taken them.

 

Usually I pick a photo or two when I unload the photos and don't look at them again, but sometimes I forget to do that when I unload my captures, so I never even get to look at them (or think to post them, if I'm not awaiting a wonderful, heart-stopping capture).

 

Here's to Dasha; Miss Bikini runnerup; her friend -- the angry one; beautiful young Anya who works in a casino; and others who visited me (and don't forget young Katya who's at the bottom of my portfolio who has 'grown up' and is soon to turn 18 -- four days left, I think.

 

Katya and I have some plans for future photos, as she is so expressive.

 

Life's good; then you die.

 

;-))

 

John (Crosley)

Beautiful model, lovely skin tone, love the slight red from sunburn contrasting with white skin. Very well done with the soft focus.

Thanks,

 

This was an impromptu shoot in a flat I was renting; the light was perfect, late afternoon and Dasha was up for it, and it was perfect, so we just decided to shoot and this is the result.

 

I have a hundred or so more photos that never truly have been examined for the 'best' - these just are 'representative -- maybe even as many as 300 photos, sitting on my hard drive, and as many as ten thousand of beautiful women or even 20,000 that have never been culled -- enough for a gallery opening or a magazine to keep its pages filled for years.

 

And I do mean beautiful!

 

I'm not just a street shooter; that's just what I post.

 

John (Crosley)

In fact, two days ago, I shot the best I have ever shot -- about 700 photos -- some comparable to what Playboy and Penthouse would print, just in my living room, with one, then two models (the stylist decided to join in). Absolutely stunning work, but I'm not sure if I'm going to exhibit this work on PN; it's magazine quality and could be sold easily -- it easily could be cover art.

 

John (Crosley)