Cheryl

[jimsuy]

Shot with natural lights


cheryl banzon by jamesbryantyu, on Flickr

[Sahil]

Hi James,

At the outset, you have a very pretty model.
But the image looks a bit flat to me. Also, the tiny strap visible near her left arm is also a bit distracting.
Otherwise a well composed shot

[Colin Southern]

Hi James,

I think you have the makings of a very nice image, but I'd like to suggest a few things that might improve it ...

- It appears to have a bit of a purple colour-cast ... you might like to grab a gray card to help white-balance your shots in future.

- Possibly the levels a bit low?

- I think you copyright message "yanks" the eye away from the natural flow through the image

- Possibly the extra space on the left is unneccesary?

- It looks a little soft

- I think a vignette may help draw the eye to the face in the centre of the image

Hope you don't mind, but I've retouched a copy of the image for you, to give you an idea of how I think it could look ...

[jimsuy]

Thank you for the nudge and time. Points well taken..

[Colin Southern]

Thank you for the nudge and time. Points well taken..

You're very welcome James - when do we get to see the next one?

[rob marshall]

James

I think one of the difficulties with formal portrait shots is that everyone expects you to get it absolutely right as you have control over lighting, body position etc. To a large extent that is a reasonable expectation. The problem that I have with this shot is her hand which looks quite prominent in the shot due to its awkward angle - it almost doesn't look like a hand. Perhaps the answer is to shoot a few and review the lighting, body position, and check for intrusive detail such as straps, then shoot a lot more and pick the best?