Andrea (portrait)

[echoback]

So I'm still new at this whole portraiture concept. My friend wanted a new picture, but she is very self-concious, so I was trying to get her to relax by having her play around with some branches. Her best feature is her eyes, so I focused on those. I know this photo is a little out of the ordinary in terms of a portrait where you usually want to see the person's whole face, but she was really pleased with how this one turned out. Any suggestions?

[livin4lax09]

interesting idea, and definitely out of the box, but I'm not a big fan. The loss of the mouth is what does it. I think if you're going to block the lower features out, you have to go all out. you can't only see part of them. also looks like you're focused on the leaves, not the eyes. good color in the eyes though, but curves should bring that out even more.

[Frog]

I like the composition and the hair color and lips are complimentary to the leaf colors.
I find my eyes pulled to the partially blocked lips and then eyes and then following branches back to the lips
I prefer these more causal portraits but I'm not good at capturing them.

[echoback]

thanks for the comments!

[Alison]

It's a gorgeous picture. The colours and exposure are wonderful and I love the way you have gone for "out of the ordinary".

However, the eyes still seem a little soft to me and the composition needs a little something for it to speak to me a little more.
If her eyes are the main subject, maybe, move in a little closer and tilt the camera to make it a little more interesting. Also her blue top is competing with her eyes. A top of autumn colours would have been great or just drop the top off the shoulders. Bare shoulders and feet look so much nicer.
Maybe a portrait orientation would suit much better too.

I hope that wasn't too harsh.

Is this an SOOC or a crop?

[echoback]

hey allison, thanks for taking the time to comment! definitely not too harsh, I need all the help I can get haha. anyway, this is a crop, I just took a bit off on each side b/c it was just more foliage and not really adding to the picture. I wasn't sure whether to take it in portrait format or landscape like I did here because I wanted more of the foliage. But that might have worked better. I do agree, bare shoulders would have looked SO much better here, but I don't think I could get her to do that haha.

[Alison]

Like I said though, autumn coloured clothing would have worked well here too. Making the only blue thing in the picture her eyes.
If you are anything like me, I am always at fault for doing practise shots because I don't intend keeping them. So I don't plan my shots very much and then I end up loving them!
Not sure if you know anything about the rule of thirds either.
Since learning that simple rule I have done so much better.

[Coastal Flyer]

For me, when the composition and the subject are "out of the box" as we are calling it here, then other more typical essential elements of a perfect photo can be expanded as well. This portrait fits that mold. I like the image, do not mind the lips being partially hidden, the stunning eyes make up for it. Good suggestion to have bare shoulders but it works the way it is. Bare shoulders would really highlight the eyes and then they must be clearly in focus. If I can make any suggestion, it would be to include the top of her head. Just the tip is gone. I think you need the entire head.

Otherwise, nicely done and great creativity.

CF

[echoback]

thanks Allison and CF!

Allison-I am exactly like you in that respect lol! this was more of a warmup to get her comfortable and try to lessen the self-conciousness. But I ended up liking this one the best. yay for happy mistakes lol.

I am aware of the rule of thirds, but yeah... that kind of went out the window on this shot hahaha.

CF-thanks! i do agree the top of her head would have been nice. however, that was not a product of the crop, but just bad zoom-age.

[livin4lax09]

I like the idea of the angled crop. try getting closer to the eyes and tilting that camera next time, and see what you get.

[GB1]

Echo - Hmm... the eyes are definitely it in this photo. It seems a little overexposed on my monitor, could use a little PP. I think the idea of mostly hiding her behind the leaves is Ok, pretty good actually, but I think you either need to increase that effect or just not do it at all. Here, it seems a little halfway, almost like a wind caught the leaves just as you shot .. (not that it DID, but just looks like it could have).

I like the way her eyes are peering through like a tiger or lion would, spying a herd. See the attached crop.
GB

[echoback]

i really like that crop! really cool effect there. :thumbsup: