Newer to the studio

Hi Everyone ... I've only posted a couple times thus far and mostly in the Sports forum. I'm fairly new to shooting in the studio; I bought some AlienBees a couple months ago and just got my first ever roll of black seamless last week. Luckily I found a friend at work who was willing to take a couple minutes and be my photo guinea pig! Any critique you could throw my way would be greatly appreciated.

Adam

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...a/IMG_6164.jpg

Adam, Technically the framing, colors, focus and everything looks good. Maybe the lighting on the right side (her left) is a little hot. I think the critique would be with the subject and her facial expression, specifically the raised eyebrow and the wide open eyes. The raised eyebrow makes wrinkles in the forehead. Now I realize every portrait doesn’t have to be a smile and the raised eyebrow may work if you were trying to show emotion but the wide open eyes don’t tell that story. So Im a little confused as to what she is thinking. My point is that as a photographer you are in charge of getting the subject to lighten up or do whatever it is you’re looking for, at least when your doing studio portraits.

By the way, I'm not a studio photographer so someone else may disagree, but I do deal with models and photo shoots for many projects.

There's a lack of formality that I like about this and consequently the wrinkles etc are perhaps acceptable and natural. In a more formal portrait the would be a fault I suppose. The hot spot on the lower hair on the right to me is the only little problem. Unusual and I do like it.
Tom

yeah, tone down the light on her left side. How did you light this? Looks to me like light panel on photo's left, with direct light coming from behind the subject on the photo right. Reflector on photo right as well?

Thanks for the feedback, guys! This was a pretty informal shoot but I see what you're saying about the wrinkles. Working with models is something I have very little experience with, so I appreciate the pointers with that.

The lighting is nearly as Brent described: Softbox to my left and direct light from behind the model's left shoulder. There was, however, no reflector on photo right. I'll have to reshoot after the holidays with a bit of a gentler edge light and see what sort of results I am getting.

Thanks again for your critique. I'll be sure to return the favor to others here in the critique thread.

Adam