Miss World Fiji Contestant

[Stagecoach]

Something different today just for fun. I heard that Fiji's contestant for the Miss World pageant was appearing at a radio stations function on a down town street corner in support of re-branding advertising of Fiji Airways.

The day was reasonably bright but cloud covered so set up in auto ISO (min speed 1/250, base ISO400), aperture priority grabshot mode and waited.

Advertised as a 'parade' but I have omitted the other participants which were three policemen and one of their vehicles
1/250, f9, ISO450, 200mm




That special smile and wave was for me, and I'm sure not just because I was the only one on that side of the road
1/250, f9 ISO720, 170mm



Has she recognised me
1/500, f5.4, ISO400, 105mm



Yes she has because she's wondering when that other dudes going to move
1/2000, f4.8, ISO400, 62mm


You may think it difficult to get a bad shot of this lovely young lady but I managed it with one, the council rubbish bin right behind her head.

Comments, especially on how to make improvements to any of them welcome .............

Grahame

[Shadowman]

Get closer, although that may not have been an option. Very nice series.

[Stagecoach]

John,

I attempted to get some close ups where I took No 4 but every time I started concentrating on that my line of sight was blocked by someone passing or by a hand and a camera phone.

[Ken Curtis]

Hi Grahame. Suggest cropping much closer on the middle two shots, both of which I like. In fact I'm envious and wish someone would smile at me. On the 3rd image, there is a man appearing at the bottom and cropping will not remove him. Perhaps you can clone him out if you're willing to spend the time.

[Stagecoach]

Hi Ken,

I tried to crop No 2 closer but there is too much IQ loss as the posted image was already cropped.

No 3 I have removed the distracting head but not sure what I would gain by cropping closer.



I have certainly learnt something from this exercise in that although I was trying to capture the 'event' I should really have concentrated far more on using the rare opportunity to capture this excellent subject.

[Dave Humphries]

Is it just me, or does anyone else think her fixed 'show your teeth' smile looks a bit false?

For me this does indeed spoil all 3 close ups of her, despite her obvious beauty.
I am used to a more relaxed facial expression and smile, is it a cultural thing in Fiji perhaps?

Turning to the photographs; I think I would approach this kind of shooting with the aperture as wide as possible - to give narrower DoF and better separation of subject from the backgrounds.

In #3 and #4 it looks like a hazy sun has given you a little modelling, avoiding too flat, or too harsh, lighting

Good exposure on all, although perhaps the palm of her hand in #2 could benefit from a bit of a 'burn'?

HTH,

[Donald]

Is it just me, or does anyone else think her fixed 'show your teeth' smile looks a bit false?

Absolutely, Dave. Unfortunately I think that is part of the 'package' that comes with performing in this way. Some people might see it it a demeaning and doing nothing to promote sexual equality. But that's probably another discussion altogether.

[Daisy Mae]

They use vaseline on their gums for ease of smiling.......doesn't reach the eyes though and all real smiles start there.

[Donald]

I'm just worried that Bernard found that last post helpful!

[Benjy]

Donald,I misread Vaseline on their Gums......

[Ken Curtis]

No 3 I have removed the distracting head but not sure what I would gain by cropping closer

You did a great job of removing the head, Grahame. We may be getting into the realm of personal preference, but I would still crop off much of left side as that does not contribute to the image, and the lighter area is distracting. After cropping, I might try to darken the lightest part of the Fiji sign at the bottom of the image so it does not tug at my eye.

[Stagecoach]

Dave, Donald, Sharon, Bernard and Ken

Thanks for the comments.

Well you have certainly managed to deflate my ego because I thought that smile was especially for me but from undertaking a couple of minutes google search it's in just about every photo and I was not there Have you not heard of the famous Fijian 'Bula' smile in the outside world ?

Dave, shots 3 & 4 were taken at the widest aperture to achieve minimum DOF but the drawback with the 18-200 mm is that this is dependant upon focal length. Have I found a reason to consider a further lens ?

Interesting that you mentioned the exposure as I was very pleased with the SOOC results. All shots were taken using matrix metering and only required around -0.2 stop correction to remove clipping in areas that really would not have noticed. I also took these using the AF-ON rear button which is a new procedure for me now.

Ken, I would have tried a further crop on No 3 but it would now mean re-doing the cloning as I never saved the PSD file and working on the jpeg is only going to give me a lower IQ and to be honest I have no use or purpose for these 'snaps'.

Anyway, we are eagerly awaiting this years mishap with our Miss World contestant following the uproar of the past two years. Last year there was major upset throughout the country because many thought one of the outfits the contestant wore was not truly representative of Fiji and the year before it was found that the chosen contestant was below the age limit and had to be substituted

Grahame