Red hat and a smile

[Mike Buckley]

I was photographing the local Heart Walk put on by the American Heart Association when I came upon this woman. There were about 8000 attendees and I'd put my money on this woman being the best looking of all of them.

EDIT: Thanks to the suggestions made in the thread, I made changes and replaced the original version with the revised version.

[bnnrcn]

This is a beautiful and colorful Lady Mike and I like the image a lot I'm not very comfortable with the amount of the darkness at the bottom , IMO It makes the pinks look a kind of dirty. But this is just my poor opinion about portrait shots I also like the light beams on her hair very much.

[deetheturk]

Very nice Mike, and she is a lovely looking woman!

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured.

[Rebel]

This is a nice shot, she is indeed beautiful.

[John 2]

Very nice Mike. Love the pose and the smile. Particularly like the eye line and eye contact. IMHO it might be worth subduing the highlights on the shoulder, the hat and in the BG plus adding a bit more light on her face.

[dubaiphil]

A beautiful natural smile and great capture. A little more fill light may help

[FrankMi]

Well captured glow in her eyes.

[flashback]

Very good capture, charming smile. Were you not able to get her entire hat in the image or did you crop?

[dje]

Mike the lady has a lovely smile and complexion and looks like she has a great sense of style. You've portayed that exceedingly well.

Dave

[FootLoose]

I agree with Binnur, I find the shading in the lower left a bit too heavy. It seems as if you have tried to conceal something there.

Otherwise, a nice portrait of happy face. Did you think to include any of the context in the shot -- the other walkers?

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you, everyone! I'll try all of the suggestions before settling on a final version.

Jack asked whether the top of the hat is excluded by a crop or the original capture. The image wasn't cropped.

Greg wondered if I considered providing context by including other walkers. Though this woman was an event participant, she decided not to go on the walk itself. The walk was in progress when I captured the image. There were relatively few people in the area at the time, so I made this composition. I have lots of other photos showing the event in context and will post a few of them later.

[Mike Buckley]

I made changes to the image using everyone's suggestions (thank you, all!) and I attended to an issue that irritated me that nobody mentioned. The revised version is now displayed in the first post of the thread.

Thanks again!

[mknittle]

The smile and look in her eyes is priceless. she looks like a genuine person. she is not only beautiful but cute too. not a combination often seen. Nice shot mike.

[Mike Buckley]

As a reminder, the woman in the photo at the top of the thread was one of about 8000 participants at a non-profit Heart Walk event that took place on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. I just learned today that she works about 30 feet (9 meters) away from a great friend of mine at their day job. It's a small world.

[Dave Humphries]

I just learned today that she works about 30 feet (9 meters) away from a great friend of mine at their day job. It's a small world.

Perhaps the chance of some more shooting Mike?

[Shadowman]

Situations like that, a friend noticing one of their friends in a photograph I've taken happens so rarely. Nice to see a connection made.

[pnodrog]

The bright area on that hat is competing for to much attention compared with the face. Being on a edge of the photograph I think it should be toned down considerably. The highlight on the brim is less distracting partly as it leads into the hair highlights rather than the edge of the photo.

Lovely face and expression.