Outdoor portrait

Good shot... just needs a slight bump in contrast to give it some pop.

Lighting looks great. What is that in the top right corner? It's just a little distracting. Easy to clone it out though.

HQP wrote in post #8402772
Lighting looks great. What is that in the top right corner? It's just a little distracting. Easy to clone it out though.

Thanks!

Ooops. That would be part of my umbrella for my fill light. Have to clone that for sure.

She has a halo around the top of her head, is that from Post, or just an unfortunate background artifact?

I like the 45° turn of her torso, her expression, the white balance, exposure and focus are also excellent but you have lots of other problems here.

She slumped over. No one looks good with poor posture and it can't be "fixed" in Photoshop.

She is broad lit. Broad lighting adds width to her face. Width usually translates as weight. Few women want to look heavier than what they actually are. I would have moved your off camera flash to the opposite side and short lit her. That also would have taken care of the hot spot on the big tree behind her.

Hair is everywhere. If it is windy when you are shooting wait a minute or two and the wind will subside for a few seconds. Shoot then.

Her left arm really looks bad, and her hand looks like a claw. Her other arm is just hanging there doing nothing.

Isn't it amazing what it takes to shoot a really nice image? Not only must it be properly exposed, it must have good white balance, the focus must be perfect, a good background, good posture, good posing, good expression, no "hair everywhere", no big wrinkles or distracting folds in the clothing, proper head tilt, appropriate clothing, and it must be well lit. Whew!

Ben

gonzogolf wrote in post #8403052
She has a halo around the top of her head, is that from Post, or just an unfortunate background artifact?

Yes, it is an unfortunate artifact, not from post.

Benji wrote in post #8403096
I like the 45° turn of her torso, her expression, the white balance, exposure and focus are also excellent but you have lots of other problems here.

She slumped over. No one looks good with poor posture and it can't be "fixed" in Photoshop.

She is broad lit. Broad lighting adds width to her face. Width usually translates as weight. Few women want to look heavier than what they actually are. I would have moved your off camera flash to the opposite side and short lit her. That also would have taken care of the hot spot on the big tree behind her.

Hair is everywhere. If it is windy when you are shooting wait a minute or two and the wind will subside for a few seconds. Shoot then.

Her left arm really looks bad, and her hand looks like a claw. Her other arm is just hanging there doing nothing.

Isn't it amazing what it takes to shoot a really nice image? Not only must it be properly exposed, it must have good white balance, the focus must be perfect, a good background, good posture, good posing, good expression, no "hair everywhere", no big wrinkles or distracting folds in the clothing, proper head tilt, appropriate clothing, and it must be well lit. Whew!

Ben

I don't see her as much slumped over as she is just casually leaning toward the tree and giving a head tilt. But I see how the loose hoody helps add to the slumped look.

I completely understand about broad and narrow lighting. And for most people narrow lighting is the ideal way to light. But remember that just because narrow lighting is the answer to flattering your subject 95% of the time there are times when you get a subject with a narrow face, such as this one, where broad lighting is the complimentary way to light them. I do not feel the broad lighting on her makes her look heavy at all and actually helps balance her face nicely. I also do not see that there is a hot spot on the tree, her face is lit more more than the tree and there are no hot spots on her face?

I agree about the left hand/claw, but don't mind the left arm position. This portrait was all about conveying casualness, thus the hoody, relaxed pose, etc. The arm lean on the tree helps with this, but agree the claw hand is a distraction.

The one piece of hair across the forehead bothers me but the rest of it I rather like, again trying to create a casual look, not a corporate portrait.

Thanks for your comments Ben, they are much appreciated. All good points and I can see everything you are getting at. You have an eye for detail. For some of these things they don't bother me for this shot. Other things I totally agree.

Some history about the shot, I was teaching my cousin about lighting. This was not a planned/client shoot. I simply had my daughter jump in so we could test a lighting setup. I was mainly showing my cousin how to overpower daylight with speedlights and this one shot of my daughter I rather liked. So, no, we were not paying much attention to subjects/poses/hair/cl​othing, etc. It was simply a lesson on off camera lighting outdoors.