Innocenceby
JudiComment by skief: Greetings from the Critique Club
This is a good portrait. In every portrait, the eyes are the most important aspect. Here her eyes draw us into the photo as we ask ourselves what thoughts and emotions lie behind them. I think the strength of her eyes alone make this photo rise above the 6 mark in the voting.
Possible (stress on possible) suggestions for improvement:
1. Hot Spots/Highlights: This was an advanced challenge, so you could easily clone out the 2 hot spots on the tip of her nose (kind of like a second set of nostrils). I would also at the same time remove/fix the highlights in her right eye (only want one). At the same time, you might see if you could fix what seems to be the beginnings of a spit bubble at the corner of her mouth.
2. Crop: This also deals with the use of the scarf to frame the person. There is a certain formulaic use of the scarf (especially recently on DPC) which works. In this instance, I think you didn't realize the full potential of it because of the tightness of the crop. The scarf needs a little more room around it to really effectively frame the face. As it is, especially on the left side, it is just some red cloth.
3. Lighting: I do think a little more in the way of diffuse lighting would help, maybe a reflector to reflect some white light back up into her face would help as well. This would really help the right side of her face where the shadows have a reddish tint to them from the cloth.
Overall Impression: I do agree with the voters, this would have been a 6 for me had I voted, with the catchlights/highlights fixed may have bumped up to a 7. I really think you did an excellent job on this portrait, and with a few quick fixes would be even better.
If you have any questions on this critique, feel free to PM me.
Photographer found comment helpful.
