Strength and splendor are her clothing, and she laughs at a future day
by smardaz

Comment by Ann:
Beautiful. You've made her beautiful without making her young.

Strength and splendor are her clothing, and she laughs at a future day
by smardaz

Comment by IreneM:
Lovely portrait of a lovely lady but I definitely wouldn't call her elderly.

Strength and splendor are her clothing, and she laughs at a future day
by smardaz

Comment by JerseyGenie:
Well done. 9

Strength and splendor are her clothing, and she laughs at a future day
by smardaz

Comment by familydobes:
I think I would have framed the subject a little more to the left where the subject is looking left out of the frame, but I do like the BW and the lighting. I like the genune happiness of the subject as well

Strength and splendor are her clothing, and she laughs at a future day
by smardaz

Comment by SandyP:
Not voting on this one, but I had to comment. I think this portrait is a standout in this challenge. She is absolutely radiant, and the technical aspects on this are flawless! Good Luck! It should most definitely be in the very top few -- in my opinion.

Strength and splendor are her clothing, and she laughs at a future day
by smardaz

Comment by gattamarta:
Very nice portrait and model! I also like very much the lighting and sharpness. If there's anything, I am not enthusistic of the composition. Maybe having the subject a bit more on the right, so that you could have some more blank space on the left, would have given some space for her look to go through. Or maybe cropping out the right side of the image, cutting away the earring, would have better drawn the attention on her face. Just my thought. Anyway one of my favourite images of the challenge.

Strength and splendor are her clothing, and she laughs at a future day
by smardaz

Comment by njsabs:
I have met this wonderful lady before. What a beautiful smile and expression she has. Great image Jason.

it makes me feel all sparkly inside
by smardaz

Comment by Melethia:
Love the sparklies!! Might try brightening it up just a bit. I suspect the score on this one had more to do with the challenge than the shot itself.

Monsieur Yeux Bleus
by smardaz

Comment by Melethia:
By the way, you got a 9 from me on this one. I keep coming back to it. Really an excellent portrait.

Addicted to Love
by smardaz

Comment by lynnesite:
One would have always have to try very hard in order to ribbon on a free study, but people freely give good scores in them in comparison to one of the themed challenges. scarbrd's photo has more eye appeal because of both the angle at which it was taken (eliminating uninteresting background) and the visual "pop" of his post-processing. Wonderful concept and awwww-factor!