what would the background have looked like if you had moved abut 60 degrees camera right? you might have had a nicer perspective of your GF. she could have quarter-turned from her waist to face you which might have still given the hair highlights but have put more light on her face. also you would have shown her attractive legs to much better advantage.
you don't need an expensive flash. you don't need a flash at all. how about a reflector - cheap esp if you DIY. how about a folding diffuser, DIY? a friend of mine uses bed sheeting w/ racks made from lumber seconds.
hey, i mentioned how pretty she is - no credit given from evex
google helmut newton. see what the master of tough portrait lighting does!
Great advice mike! well it was downtown at a local park so mostly everything would have been building in the background. I really liked that one place since the water in the background.
franklin, question for you: do you see any difference in the lighting quality among these three shots? just the light. not talking composition or anything else. yes, this is a quiz
The on with the circle where she is sitting seems a little underexposed, the top one I really like because everything is even and no shadows, the last one has too many shadows on the face because of the sun... so yes in light, yes.
well done, franklin. yes, #1 shows good use of light. the others much less, just for the reasons you mention.
now, if you added a reflector in her line of sight, perpendicular to the wall, you'd have a bit more magic. and if you decided to follow one of the standard portrait composition rules - keep the subject's eyes in the upper third of the image (ejm's advice above), it'd be even more stunning. crop it and see if you agree.
Woah, that does look much better, it does make it a stronger picture. I wish I would have gotten more of the wood behind her to make it look a little like a story telling composition rather than just stopping at her.
one with more background... maybe/maybe not as good as I though..?
the proportions of the first crop are better imho, franklin. the "story" is her eyes, face, hair, skin. everything else is ... background, at least here, as i see it.
check out arnold newman and others who practice environmental portraiture for insight into using backgrounds to add depth and signification.
Thanks so much mike for keeping up with my questions and replies! you guys here on FM are the best and actually help! I greatly appreciate it! I sure will check out Arnold Newman on Google and see what I can find... Thanks again!
Hmm, he has some interesting shots on the first portfolio that came up on Google.Those are some old pictures from the late 40's.
