School Photo

My wife teaches 2nd grade. They were asked to submit a photo for a little presentation for the parents and kids. This is what I came up with. I think, at 58 yrs old, she's aging pretty gracefully. Ok, enough background, what would you do differently whether composition or processing. After seeing the final result, I'm already seeing some things. So let me have it! It will only improve my skills.
thanks...

IMAGE LINK: http://willmeades.zenf​olio.com/p585422191/e6​7933703

the blown out flowers in the back,
The hand is front is out of focus and looks bad.
If you could get her to open her eyes more ..that would be good to.
I also don't like the edge of the bench running up one side of the image.
The shirt collar on the right of the image...her left, makes her hair look cut off as if she has two lengths.
To much of a straight on shot I think as well.

dang...sorry if I went over board..it's not a "bad" pic...but does have room for improvements.

picturepages wrote in post #16180496
the blown out flowers in the back,
The hand is front is out of focus and looks bad.
If you could get her to open her eyes more ..that would be good to.
I also don't like the edge of the bench running up one side of the image.
The shirt collar on the right of the image...her left, makes her hair look cut off as if she has two lengths.
To much of a straight on shot I think as well.

dang...sorry if I went over board..it's not a "bad" pic...but does have room for improvements.

Not at all...some of what you've mentioned I've already thought of. Thanks

picturepages wrote in post #16180496
the blown out flowers in the back,

By the way, how would you have shot this to have the flowers not blown out? Of course, we were in the shade of the gazebo, but the flowers were in the sun. thanks again

WillMeades wrote in post #16180634
By the way, how would you have shot this to have the flowers not blown out? Of course, we were in the shade of the gazebo, but the flowers were in the sun. thanks again

well heck...hummmm...If I had lights...which I don't, but if I did I would adjust for the flowers in the back, in camera...and then use lights to brighten her up in the front. adjust the two until you have a nice mix of them both without getting to heavy with the lights on her...and leaving detail in the flowers in back.

picturepages wrote in post #16181745
well heck...hummmm...If I had lights...which I don't, but if I did I would adjust for the flowers in the back, in camera...and then use lights to brighten her up in the front. adjust the two until you have a nice mix of them both without getting to heavy with the lights on her...and leaving detail in the flowers in back.

Thanks
I had one flash with me that I used. Seems the trick is to brighten her up without making it look so much like artificial light. Then I could meter for the sunlit flowers. This could be a case of just finding a better spot to shoot- bright sunlight in white flowers/shooting under shaded cover.

I'm guessing from the relaxed pose, that there was no 'significant' rush time in getting this image? If so, and I had my 580 and 5Dii, my approach would be:
1. Select Tv mode and set my X synch speed of 1/200
2. Meter for the background with no model to attain a suitable aperture @ 1/200
3. Set both 1/200 and the given aperture (from 2) in Manual
4. Use the 580 (in Manual - starting @ 1/8 output) and fine-tune the light to ensure the model is correctly lit.
May sound a bit confusing at first, but it's a quick and effective (for me) method.
The principle is 2 shots, one for a correctly metered background, and a combined pleasant light onto the model.
I prefer to use manual on the 580 where possible, and ETTL & FEC where movement is involved

It looks like there is some kind of smearing across the top from just above the leftmost flower to the right and upward.
You could just darken or even replace the background in post processing.

The biggest distraction for me is her hand.

Re-shoot that picture, your lovely wife deserves better...use a longer lens and heed your background. Did you not notice the blinkies when you chimped your image?

nice shot, nice lady, but I would say your last image you can tell you have under exposed the top part of the image.

Whelan Photography wrote in post #16184881
nice shot, nice lady, but I would say your last image you can tell you have under exposed the top part of the image.

I think that was just someone showing me what could be done to darken the background. I think I'm going to reshoot anyway.

If this was shot in raw the overexposed flowers should be a simple fix.
Also, pose your subject so that her limbs aren't pointed directly at the camera since this tends to cause distortion as evidenced by her left arm in this photo.

I agree with the recommendation for a reshoot and more neutral background. I don't think the blown flowers are a big issue as they are meant to be background/ not part of the shoot.....the wife's lighting is more important. You should also note comments about her arm. I would like to add that above shot is made worse by the square framing - it emphasizes her distorted and OOF left arm leading to the camera. If you must edit, I would crop it more towards the traditional portrait orientation.....not square.
ex

Here's my reshoot. I wanted to use the same location and background just to see if I could do better balancing the background (sunny) with the shaded gazebo.

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