Young and Lovely

This is the delectable Georgianna. Her pretty friend talked her into

posing, for which I am grateful.

Les,

 

Georgianna is a pretty girl. I'm not sure it would be appropriate to call her delectable? Yummy, yes, but delectable? Pretty young girl + nice shape + cute smile = delectable. OK, you win -- she is delectable.

 

Even though the background is quite out of focus it is very busy. The bright yellow and red on the right is especially annoying. I would like to see more pronounced catch lights to give her eyes more life. The skin tone on her body is excellent, but her face is a little red. I think I would have given her more head room and a little more room on her left. The color saturation and contrast is very good.

 

I know its the style, but I still think its tacky to have bra straps showing. You have turned her at a bit of an angle to the camera -- very good. This is not only slimming, feminine and graceful looking, but it shows her shape better than straight on. The pendant on her necklace is nicely positioned.

 

With her purple top and pink bra she reminds me of an Easter basket that is ready to open. Maybe that is another reason for delectable?

 

Nice shot,

 

Mark

I corrected the skin tone on the original. Thank you, you were right.

 

My wife wore a slightly more age-appropriate version of this outfit to a party. Our friend Laurel (a painter) came to me and said, "My God, Paula looks SO sexy with that strap showing." I agreed. :)

Les,

 

I didn't know this was your wife. Gulp! I hope she or you didn't take offense at anything I said. You are very lucky to have such a pretty and young wife. You must have really robbed the cradle. You will have a ready made model for years to come. Good for you.

 

Mark

No. This is NOT my wife. That would be a dream.

lovely shot! Mark is spot on as usual, though id like to add that the strong diagonal line of the car on the left is also iffy.. more importantly the pendant is very softly focused - along with the skin around it - and i dont see why it should be less sharp than the details on her hairband.. if anything it is more integral to the shot so it should be sharper and brought out a little. The last tiny thing would be the removal of the line of the strap on the right shoulder, but thats just a slight preference. Lots of character, really nice.

Well, I do not want to confuse (!) the comments but I loved the busy, colorful background.

It just seems to add to the mood...

Wonderful candid portrait.

Les, This is your wife?? You are a lucky man. What a wonderful smile directed towards you. Indeed delectable too. Nicely done. David

No. Not my wife. Not even my mistress. :( But if I were a little younger...

Les, 

Beautiful portrait. Composed, exposed perfectly. I was really struck by it and saved it to favorites.  I think yes, the background is busy-- not just the right, but the cars and blown sky on the left. But such is life. This is why it's better at such a moment to have a IIIf and TMX or Delta and a 50mm Summitar. Soften everything out. But what I admire is that you did the best with it you could have. She is beautifully positioned, the focus is perfect, you've managed at f/1.4 to have her front shoulder and nose and eyes all looking sharp (I dislike OOF stuff in the front most of the time so took notice of this... I'm writing all this out to teach myself, I hope you know, by looking at it all). There seems to be a hint of blue fringing along her two shoulders but particularly the back (left) one. 

Two immediate reactions I had: I too noticed the pink bra straps and thought, I wonder if one could clone them out in PS; and I was very struck by the gorgeous skin tone and wondered if you'd done something with it in post -- which I then saw that you said you had done. I'd love to know what. I don't know how to do that. (I'm completely self taught on PS so what I don't know could float a battleship.) 

Finally I wondered which 50/1.4 you were using. I am suspecting from the OOF qualities it was the Nikon AF-D.  Nikon makes such amazing tele lenses and a couple of very great wides but they have never made a great 50mm lens. This girl lined up in front of the 105/2.5, that would be something else. 

Anyway despite the cavils it's a great portrait, she absolutely leaps out. The framing is perfect, bottom and top. Unfortunately leap as she does, she didn't quite make it out of my monitor and into my office, but one can dream. 

Vince P