Critique on Portrait, Please...

I was recently invited to a local dance studio to take some headshots
for the dancer's portfolios. Two of the walls of the studio are glass,
and face into the local forest. The other walls are cluttered, white,
and uninteresting...so I shot most of them near the glass.

For this portrait, I used a AB800 with white umbrella behind/above
camera left, and a bare bulb behind the dancer just above/off
camera left. With a little work I was able to avoid any reflections in
the windows.

Any / all comments and criticism welcome - I'm trying to improve as
a portrait photographer and appreciate the input from those with
more experience!

Thank you in advance,

Brian
http://www.pbase.com/brianowski

Canon 10D, 85mm, F/8.0 @ 1/180 sec

I like the lighting. I'd take out the extra catchlight in her eyes.
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Nice lighting of background. If you try short lighting you might get less light on the shoulder and have more flattering shadows on the face; it might be worth trying next time with similar pose.

Chris

brianowski said:

I was recently invited to a local dance studio to take some headshots
for the dancer's portfolios. Two of the walls of the studio are glass,
and face into the local forest. The other walls are cluttered, white,
and uninteresting...so I shot most of them near the glass.

For this portrait, I used a AB800 with white umbrella behind/above
camera left, and a bare bulb behind the dancer just above/off
camera left. With a little work I was able to avoid any reflections in
the windows.

Any / all comments and criticism welcome - I'm trying to improve as
a portrait photographer and appreciate the input from those with
more experience!

Thank you in advance,

Brian
http://www.pbase.com/brianowski

Canon 10D, 85mm, F/8.0 @ 1/180 sec

Click to expand...

Brian,

Nice photography. Next time, might I suggest having the dancer do a dance position. Very strange to me, seeing a dancer with rolled shoulders. I'm sure her instructor would say "Shoulders back!"

You did a nice job
--
-bill

The whole face seems soft. You did some photoshopping to soften the face, correct? Just make sure when you do this not to touch the eyes. The eyes are the most important part of the headshot in my opinion.

It's fuzzy and the background is awful.

And as someone noted, the shoulders might be a professional problem.

BAK

Very nice; about the only thing I would have done differently is to lower the intensity of the bare bulb behind the dancer; it seems a little too intense on top of her hair and on her left forearm. I wouldn't recommend increasing the intensity of the AB800 because that would result in making the background forest darker, and I like it the way it is. I love the dancer's expression. Beautiful capture overall. Good work.

Victor

brianowski said:

I was recently invited to a local dance studio to take some headshots
for the dancer's portfolios. Two of the walls of the studio are glass,
and face into the local forest. The other walls are cluttered, white,
and uninteresting...so I shot most of them near the glass.

For this portrait, I used a AB800 with white umbrella behind/above
camera left, and a bare bulb behind the dancer just above/off
camera left. With a little work I was able to avoid any reflections in
the windows.

Any / all comments and criticism welcome - I'm trying to improve as
a portrait photographer and appreciate the input from those with
more experience!

Thank you in advance,

Brian
http://www.pbase.com/brianowski

Canon 10D, 85mm, F/8.0 @ 1/180 sec

Click to expand...

Brian,

Beautiful image of a lovely girl. Background is busy and distracting. A different background (whether natural or backdrop) would take this image to the next level.

Did they really only want headshots?

-- Rob

Nice picture and lovely girl.

I think the softening is overdone. The skin looks artificial.

Maybe you should have decreased the DOF to block out the stuff in the background.
It's something about the shoulders that I cannot put my finger on...

Dan

--

Dan,

I agree about the skin softening. Of, course this is a matter of personal taste. I would fade this back a notch of two.

-- Rob

Dan Goldman said:

Nice picture and lovely girl.

I think the softening is overdone. The skin looks artificial.
Maybe you should have decreased the DOF to block out the stuff in
the background.
It's something about the shoulders that I cannot put my finger on...

Dan

--

Click to expand...

Thank you for your input - appreciate it all. Your insight and observations are great. To answer a couple of the questions...and a few comments...

Yes, the image was softened a bit in post-process - thanks for the input on it perhaps being over-done.

About the shoot: I was asked to take a few snaps for the dancers to
include on a simple resume' for the students (this was a college course in
dance). The instructor wanted mostly headshots for the girls, though
other shots were taken in more dance-appropriate position (with a
backdrop, others without).

The dancer was holding onto the barre, which accounted for the
posturing that several of you found a bit off...great catch. I was
mostly in tune with the eyes/smile, which in this photo simply
'popped', in comparison to the other photos.

I was particularly interested in comments on the lighting which was
chosen for the dancer here. The comment about the intensity of the
bare bulb behind was right on- it was too hot but I didn't catch it until
after the shoot. Great comment about the short lighting as well -
appreciate it.

Any other feedback/comments always welcome,

Thanks again,
Brian

You're right - now that you've brought the rolled shoulders to my
attention; it drives me nuts to look at them in this photo...funny how
simple posturing can be overlooked when you're focusing on some other
aspects of the image. Thank you,

Brian