My Get Pushed Partner Vincent @Vincent24 challenged me to do some portrait shots. Specifically "take a portrait of a man or woman (not children), with the subject looking straight into the camera. As an additional challenge (optional), the subject should not be a relative. At best, he/she should a stranger, but a neighbor or colleague would be fine."
This is Hannah - a family friend who was kind enough to sit for a few shots. I've tried to make it an interesting and genuine portrait which reflects some of her personality. And the positive side of it is that I also got some shots of her parents which I can use for the challenge, and we rounded the very nice evening off with an Indian meal (yum!). Thank you, Vincent!
@peadar Peter, great portrait and response to the "get-pushed" challenge. I like the candid look, the position of the hands and the side-light. Difficult to find any points for improvement, but as it seems that this is the rule in the get-pushed challenge, here are a few suggestions (I am my self not a specialist of portait at all).
One of the point that is a small minus in this portrait is that her left hear attract too much the attention instead of her left eye. This is probably due to the fact that the light is quite strong on that hear.
Maybe by using a more shallow depth of field (around 2,.8 instead of 5.6) and focusing on her eye would have help. The other "solution" would be to have a more diffuse light (but this need material, such as reflector) and to light Hannah from a more forward-diagonal position (not side). Although this might have created noisy reflection on her glasses....
Anyway. This is a great portait and answer to the challenge, And I am happy to have contributed to a nice Indian meal! Cheers!
What a beautiful lady! I bet she loves the photo, it's very complimentary. I find myself wanting a little more or a lot less light on her right side as, like Vincent, I am drawn to her left ear. He's got some great tips there!
@vincent24 Thanks, Vincent. You're right. I was struggling with the light and this is very much a "make it up as you go" type lighting arrangement. Note to self...
One of the point that is a small minus in this portrait is that her left hear attract too much the attention instead of her left eye. This is probably due to the fact that the light is quite strong on that hear.
Maybe by using a more shallow depth of field (around 2,.8 instead of 5.6) and focusing on her eye would have help. The other "solution" would be to have a more diffuse light (but this need material, such as reflector) and to light Hannah from a more forward-diagonal position (not side). Although this might have created noisy reflection on her glasses....
Anyway. This is a great portait and answer to the challenge, And I am happy to have contributed to a nice Indian meal! Cheers!