Photographer's Comment: I shot Jordans HS Senior portraits this morning. I do not have off camera flash and when I shoot outdoors I usually use just my camera(of course) and a reflector and sometimes a diffuser. This morning at 7:30 it was extremely bright and sunny, I was having a hard time avaoiding the harsh shadows so I pulled out my 430EX and a flash bounce device I have called a flip-it. Any comments? do you think this portrait looks too flashy? honest opinions are welcome : )

Tags: pink purple girl country Wildflowers portrait

Viewer Comments:

By dawnschubert (2008-04-22 15:04:11 ): Thanks Carl! I do recall learning about rembrant lighting from a tutorial I watched. Thanks for pointing that out.

By smokeydawg (2008-04-22 14:35:03 ): Hi Dawn, I think on the smaller version it's because you cant see the catch light in her right eye, but it is in the larger version. On the larger version the white on the right side of her right eye is not really there, but think it is a combination of what you talked about (drooping eyelid) and the way she has her eyes moved toward the camera making less "white" area available on that side. Unless you are going to enter this in competition I wouldn't worry about it, to me it's a non issue, most likely she will never notice it. Don't think the lighting had anything to do with it, in fact you have a bit of "rembrandt" lighting on her face going on which is not easy to do outdoors in this kind of light. Rembrandt lighting is essentially when you have a light triangle under the eye on the darker side of the face. :) Once again nice use of the fill flash.

By dawnschubert (2008-04-22 13:43:40 ): Thanks for your comment carl. Like I said my eyes aren't trained enough to notice the light thing in the eyes that Todd mentioned. Will you explain to me what you see? Is it the fact that one of the eyes is lighter in color than the other or is it that you can see more of the white in her left eye? If it's the latter it's because her left eyelid droops slightly. Thanks for taking the time to comment-Dawn

By smokeydawg (2008-04-22 13:16:25 ): I think this looks pretty good myself, good balance between the flash and naturaly light. I see what Todd talked about in the eye, but the larger version looks much better. Love the bg in this as well as the pose and tilt. Overall this is really well done Dawn! I'm sure she is going to like it.

By dawnschubert (2008-04-22 03:28:30 ): good eyes Todd...My eyes aren't trained enough to notice that stuff, I be sure to notice it from now on.

By dawnschubert (2008-04-22 03:26:59 ): Thanks for your comment Robert. I have about 50 to 60 shots of her smiling and this is the only serious one that I liked. To me she looks prettier when she smiles. Thanks again-Dawn.

By EggyEvolt510 (2008-04-22 01:53:27 ): Not too flashy at all. The diagonals from Jordan's posture and the soft focus background make for an interesting composition. I think the photo could have been bade slightly better if Jordan's elbow wasn't cropped out, if her head were tilted more upright (photo's left, her right), and if she were smiling. These are nits though, it is still a beautiful photograph.

By twadams (2008-04-22 00:41:05 ): Other than the light being just slightly uneven in the eyes, I think this looks great.

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