Soft Elegance
by Neuferland

Comment by whagerbaumer:
Very nice. I believe I would prefer this in color.

Samantha's Challenge
by Neuferland

Comment by David.C:
Lighting: The natural light is nice, but the heavy shadows, especially across the eyes detracts greatly from the photo. The shadows and the lack of a catchlight hide the expressiveness of the eyes.
Pose: The rider and horse are both posed well, but the image needed to be rotated clockwise a bit. As it is they look as if they are about to pitch forward.
Background: The background does not appear to have been planned for a studio portrait, ranging from too dark to decern detail and very hot bright areas.

Samantha's Challenge
by Neuferland

Comment by cbeller:
I'm sure you've heard this already, but IMHO, this doesn't meet the challenge. Sorry. Nice photo, but the bottom right looks a bit blown out.

Samantha's Challenge
by Neuferland

Comment by pitsaman:
Nice horse

Samantha's Challenge
by Neuferland

Comment by aznym:
It's not really a studio portrait, is it?

Samantha's Challenge
by Neuferland

Comment by soccerdad:
This is a good outdoor portrait, and captures a bit of your subject very well. Only thing I can think to recomend is that you use a little less DOF to reduce emphasis on the background.

Samantha's Challenge
by Neuferland

Comment by L1:
This really isn't what comes to mind when considering a "studio portrait" IMHO. It is a good picture of the young lady and the horse, however some of the highlights are a bit blown out. The shadow cast on her face from the hat is a bit distracting as well. :o)

Soft Elegance
by Neuferland

Comment by Phileine:
too bad about the B&W, I think this would have been better in color.

Soft Elegance
by Neuferland

Comment by moodville:
The black and white seems a little wishy-washy and could probably do with more contrast to really darken the blacks that seem fairly grey to me. The close, full-frame shot is good, but the background still seems to be a major part of the image. The petals also lack a little texture and I'm guessing it was likely slightly overexposed. The soft focus helps make it look more delicate but I think having the middle bits (stamen?) be in focus could help balance it out more.

Soft Elegance
by Neuferland

Comment by khkai:
Might be nice to keep the colors in a flower, I think that's one of the main attraction.