long candid

[SmartWombat]

Grab shot with the Panasonic 100-300 mft lens on the GH-1.
Not what I planned at all, heck just getting it in the frame was a bonus considering I grabbed the camera, swapped the 14-140 for the 100-300 and shot all while walking along ...
Unfortunately someone walked into shot on the left, so I've had to crop them out.

As a result, the sitter is surrounded top & right by negative space, and the head is on the 3rd.

I like it, but I don't quite know why it works.
Is it the line of her body lean matching the shadow angle?
Is it the space, and the tree shadow encroaching?

What are your opinions ?

[gahspidy]

Paul, i like the simple bg and soft color to go along with the subjects relaxed pose on the bench. The shadows are a great added element, and the light and exposure look good.
I just wish that the neg space were on the left. Since she is looking off to the left, thats where the neg space would work best. since its such a plain simple bg and floor, you should be able to extend canvas on the left and add that neg space that is on right, then crop to desired frame.

It was a nice catch

[LeeIs]

What works in this is the simplicity. Very euro. Great colour wall, purple/pink in her shirt ties together well with it. Even her blue jeans aren't that far off. The hues to the entire shot are very appealing. Her pose is nice. And I love the harsh shadows.

My only gripe with this is how tight the bench is to the edge on the left side, but you said you had to crop someone out. The fix to this isn't very hard. Take the right side and copy it on to a new layer. flip it horizantally and add it to the left. Just a tiny bit. Then you can blend the two.

Wonderful shot.

Reading Gary's comment now and I pretty much agree with him also.

[SmartWombat]

Ah it's not simple.
The background is textured, and flipping it just looks totally wrong.
The image is vignetted by shooting fairly wide open.
This is going to be a really tough editing challenge for me.
I'll learn a lot !

Here's the full frame.

[gahspidy]

Paul, its def not an "easy' task but I just had a go a did a fairly convincing job in literally 5 minutes.

[LeeIs]

Yeah not easy but not too difficult. I tried it also and it was p retty straight forward. The only challenge will be the shadow of the bench on the left side if you wish to continue it. But the good thing about that, it's pretty solid colour that you can mimick and get as sharp as the rest of the shadow.

Best of luck!

Edit: the fact that it's textured makes it easier to blend. don't worry about the vignetting. the wall can go light and vignette the other way also, as in get a little darker to the left.

[Greg McCary]

I think you should try to clone the arm if you can and then crop the left side up to the edge of the wall. I like the shadows.

[SmartWombat]

I just had a go a did a fairly convincing job in literally 5 minutes.

That's why I know I have a lot to learn, for example took me 15 minutes to find the circular gradient tool that would help remove the vignette.
This will be a long running learning exercise for me.