Whiter Shades of Paleby
secondglantzComment by SteveJ: Greetings from the Critique Club:
Whiter Shades of Pale was your entry for the Light On White II challenge and it fits perfectly.
Technical:
You have not added any information on the processing steps you used so I will have to try and work out what you did. This info is extremely useful for other photogs who want to try to replicate your technique, and it helps when doing a critique. Excellent use of the permitted maximum size, the square format works really well. Cropping is really tight, but very accurate, almost as if you have measured to make sure it is equal all round. I am guessing that you had natural sidelighting or perhaps a reflector and you either used fill flash or another reflector to achieve your facial lighting. The flash highlights in the eyes is a nice touch. It looks as if you have used USM, not too much though and either adjusted brightness or used curves to get the airy/dreamy look. By doing this you have given the shadows are grey look. This works better than having harsh dark shadows.
Composition:
The very tight crop has worked well as has the white wall as a background. It is a shame that Jess? found it just a bit bright and hence is squinting a bit. I like the angle of the hat and the shadow it casts on her face.
Overall:
I noted that some commentors thought the face was a bit on the bright side, I disagree, Jess? has such a wondeful complexion that the light works well. Her hair looks really natural, I am glad you resisted the temptation to make it neat and tidy. There are a couple of things I do not particularly like, the overbrightness on the hat has taken out some of the detail as it has on her dress, these would have caused me to mark slightly lower, but I think this image deserved more than 5.35 IMO. A very competent image, one to be proud of and a pleasure to critique, thanks!
Steve
Photographer found comment helpful.