I feel like I’m making progress, but I am a global thinker, plus it’s my girl, I see no flaw in her. Be brutal. What can I do better the next time I take her portrait. She’s working and in college now, so she is no longer available to model in a moment’s notice. I need to be ready to really kill it next time out.
Never would want to change your mind about a beautiful picture of your daughter. :) I like how the sunlight behind her gets some rim-light in her hair.
This is really dependent on what kind of picture you want, but when I see it I do think of Lindsay Adler's advice on posing (great resource, if you want to look her up) and how the arms close to the body make the person all of one visual mass.
Thank you! I admit I just let her pose herself. I definitely need to study up more on that. I only tend to think about it when I’m the one in the photo. LOL I will look into it more. I don’t mind this pose too much bc the color of her arms and color of her clothing contrast a lot. There is so much to learn until it becomes second nature. I’m slowly getting there! Thanks for your kind response.
The wonderful thing is today we have so many great teachers to learn from instantly available via YouTube and such.
I believe it's a beautiful photo to have, especially for a family member as a memory. I don't see something wrong about it. it did well it's purpose and direction. if you want to do something artistic or staged in the future - you would probably would take the next photo to a different place with different feel. but it's not needed here.
The light is great, but overall it just doesn't appear very sharp at all when it comes to the details of the face. Yes, you captured a nice moment, but you asked for brutal. If you really want to up your portrait game, you've got to improve the subject's wardrobe next time. Sure, this may be very representative of her style or whatever, but to be brutally honest, it is the last thing I would want a subject wearing if I were perhaps planning on delivering a portrait to a paying client. T-shirts are fine, but the black doesn't really match the beautiful fall colors, and the pattern is distracting and it really takes away from the quality of the portrait as a whole. I really think a change in wardrobe would do a lot to make this image appear like more of a portrait and less of a quick snapshot. Keep shooting, keep learning, and keep posting! Cheers!
Well, it's beautiful snapshot. :)
The outfit doesn't really go with the surroundings. I would have picked an urban area like a garage, factory, warehouse, junkyard, alleys, etc.
If you stick to wooded/nature type of surrounding, choose outfits that don't totally clash with it.
I'd work on the posing.
She has a really great look. Very model like. Here's just a couple of ideas I can see her in. One is more portrait and the other more on the editorial/fashion side.
both of these are great examples. Well said.
https://cdn.fstoppers.com/styles/xlarge/s3/photos/198421/11/10/7ddf526c4...
I like the grunge vibe of her clothing, and I dig the contrast of color between the clothing and the fall leaves.
The camera focus on her face feels a bit soft. I see what you were going for with the tree trunk in the background, though it seems to be competing with your daughter, rather than complimenting her. The human eye is easily distracted.
That said, don't let compositional rules of thumb affect the personality of your own photography. Lots of photographers fall prey to that, which is why so much portrait photography looks like it was taken by the same photographer.
You want a grungy background; here ya go! LOL
It's a nice photo (the original). If it were me, I'd change YOUR position slightly to your right to eliminate that out-of-focus tree to your daughter's left, then center the camera on her shoulders to make her absolutely the subject of the photo without distracting elements. I'd also bring the top down to get rid of the light through the leaves. I see that you shot at f3.2. Why not open it up to f2.8 to get a little more more bokeh? I note, too, that your ISO is at 2000. Try bringing that down to 400, or even 200 for better detail. I do like the way she self-posed, and her look of being completely comfortable and natural with you.