An afternoon with Julia

[bikerider]

Okay here are some shots from today with Julia, we were originally at the beach but the weather had turned and we ended up at a walkway tunnel. Stofen diffused flash, both direct and bounced.
Roger.
edit: cropped more of #1 and went the other way cassarilda, upped the saturation and contrast.

[cassarilda]

Hi Roger,

Hope you dont mind if I comment and critique :)

They are nice shots.. the colours seem a little too flat for me (best way to describe it), but then again I think my monitor is dying.. just maybe have a look at them and play a little bit...

First thing that I notice in both shots is the highlight spot on her nose.. for now, just touch it up, but next time, see if you can rid of it by directing the light from a different angle other than directly at her - bounce it off the ceiling or wall or something - and it shows in her teeth, eyes, lashes as well.. specular highlights like that arent the best for portraits.

The first one, people will tell you that you chopped off her head, and its not a good idea.. personally I do it all the time, and I think its fine if done correctly and when it works in the shot.. I think in this shot youve cut too little of her head off, and it would have been better to keep it all in.. just something to keep in mind next time..

Also with this shot, I actually quite like the framing the yellow/blue contrast line gives her face.

Second one.. I can see what you were trying to do with the painted background.. leading lines trailing your eye to her.. I think however, its not quite there.. perhaps getting in really close to the wall, have her gazing down the length of the wall to you, with the lines in the foreground may have worked.. or a different angle.. It does draw your eye to her, but I personally find it more of a distraction. Also, the flash thing is affected here as well.

Have you tried playing around with it in photoshop? I think very contrasty, desaturate the colours and vignette it would look great for the 2nd shot...

She's a photogenic girl, good choice of model. :)

[greg76]

No 1 for me. when photographing such a pretty girl for me it really only ever works when you fill your frame with her. Focusing on a background is distracting. Shes the subject matter and when keeps to that formula you cant go wrong.

[bikerider]

bump for the edit...

[Marty_Oz]

Hey Roger,
good to see you shooting some models again.
Nice exposures, and I like the colours in the background.
Post some more.
Marty

[PeaPicker]

First one is best.
Ditto on filling the frame with a pretty face.
Nice shot. :)

[mijbril]

Hey Roger. Would like to see more intensity around her eyes in the first one (but this one I like best), she's kind of lost in the background of the 2nd, ie, colourful background & she's quite (as my mother would say), "fawn" coloured along side it all.

Pretty girl though, so go spend another afternoon with her :D

[Johnny Thunder]

Nice shots, my only comment would be her eyes and teeth have a yellow cast to them, easy enough to fix, and often overlooked, but it can really impact the shot.

[Art Rodriguez]

Like the second one. Would like to see some more of her.

Art