windy

Saturday drive ... looking for a sunset ... it did not happen

but I think light and scenery worked fine for this portrait of my wife

http://armando-m.smugmug.com/Portrai...DSC7094900.jpg

shot with 24mm f/2.8 Afd lens at F/5.6, cropped to 8x10
b&w conversion with capture nx2

This really shows off the detail of that d800. I think this may have worked a bit better if you opened up to 2.8 as the detail of the rocks behind her I find to be a bit distracting. Judging by the motion blur in her hair, you were stopped down a bit to allow for that slower shutter speed the 2.8 might have killed. I think the NX2 software also includes the control points like what's in Nik's other plug-ins, so doing a little dodging on her neck/shoulder area should be easy. This area looks a bit hot and is detracting from her face.

Great job! Executed really well. I enjoy this photo. It's a great portrait. great expression. To me it looks more like she is looking at the person taking the picture not the camera. This would make a great print.

Since you did post in the critique, it's time to nitpick. There is a bit of a blur on her left shoulder. Did you try to remove something? Possibly getting rid of the rock right above her right shoulder would add to this photo a bit. These aren't things that immediately catch my attention and distract me but if you give this photo a good look and begin to analyze, those areas catch your attention.

Thanks for the comments, good eyes guys ! the comment did help me make this better !!

Here is an edit: dodge the chest, cloned the rock above her shoulder, and cloned the blurry area in her shoulder
http://armando-m.smugmug.com/Portrai.../DSC7094v2.jpg

Cloning the rock was good doing the dodging on the shirt not so much. I think it looks better on the first one. It pops more. Great pic btw!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SkipT

Cloning the rock was good doing the dodging on the shirt not so much. I think it looks better on the first one. It pops more. Great pic btw!

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Thanks

You are right, there is a slight difference in the shirt between both images, not sure what I missed in the second edit, I think it has nothing to do with the cloning, more like part of the general flow ... hmmm :confused:

Depending on how you "dodged" the neck and the shirt had some similar tones, and both got altered. A simple masking should help that.

Armando,

I like the pose and expression of your model (wife). The smile of approval but yet with her arms folded gives a feeling of tension. It works for me.

Your cropping of the photo is good in that the rule of thirds seems to have been followed.

However, for some reason, I find that the leading lines are not really leading my eyes to your subject's face. Instead, the leading lines are bringing me to the back of the photo to the mountains.

Also, the horizon line is cutting through the head of the subject which I didn't like. But in a way, that line does lead my eyes to the subject's face. :-p

Respectfully,

iyuphoto

Armando - Nice shot. She seems to be happy posing for you (she better be :)). I like the scene and think the DOF works pretty well. My only criticism is that the light oh her neck and face seems too bright, and probably unnatural. I thought you used a remote flash here on the left side, but reading the thread I see you did it mostly with dodging and burning. Careful that you don't take it too far here, as I really like the tonality on her arms and don't think you should go any brighter than that.

Sounds like the D800's working out for you...
G

I love this! Great conversion and a wonderfully genuine expression.

The only thing I'd point out is the halo around her head. Draws attention to itself immediately, in both edits.