David,
Everytime I do a shot with this pose - looking over the shoulder- I
get grief from A.D.'s or the subjects about the lines on the
throat. Never mind that even young children have these lines when
turning their heads, always they are on about hiding or retouching
them out.
So almost a knee-jerk reflex on my part, I usually try to sculpt
the hair so it follows the nape of the neck to hide these. I hope
you don't mind, but I hastily retouched your shot just to
illustrate what I mean by this and to allow you to compare the
effect w/the original.
Now having said this, I must tell you I'm not proud of this
Pavlovian response on my part, and I don't think it is universally
applicable. For your shot I would say the subject's obvious youth
would cancel the need for this. But if you shoot woman of a certain
age, you will want to keep this in mind... because believe me, if
you don't they'll let you know about it
As for the hairlight, it's perfect. Anymore intense and you'd be
into Sears Portrait Studio territory. I'm not fussy about using a
hair light, but if you do, I say be real subtle with it. Nothing
worse than a blown out hair light. Total distraction.
My 1/50th of a Loonie.
Doug B
Torontowide.com
