Winter, Plate 1

[gahspidy]

Really beautiful portrait. Love the shalow DOF and the soft icy colors go well with the wintry mood.

I am not too distracted by the dark areas in the bg, but I do also feel like reducing the contrast or intensity of them would help bring an even greater softness and focus on the subject.

The blue of the sky fading into the hat immediately has me thinking its a post processing oversight, but really its nothing at all to worry about. Just caught my attention, but does not make me feel any less impressed with the portrait.

I agree with Liban and Greg about it being tight at the bottom, which is probably my only real concern with the entire image. Feels a little uncomfortable the way her neck is cropped and chin low to the frame. Cropping from the top would not improve that for me as its not a matter of balance imo.
It certainly is not any deal breaker though, and what you have is a wonderful portrait.

Glad it finally worked out with the all elusive one

[draymorton]

Thanks, guys.

WIll see what I can do to fix the blue. It was bothering me, as well. Couldn't figure out if it mattered that much.

Lightening the dark areas shouldn't be a problem.

The crop should be an easy fix. But I found that when I cropped too far down, it looked too ordinary or something.

Gary - thanks... me too!