Photo critique
 

I would appreciate any critiques on this photo for a 36 x 22" portrait.
Thank you!

Jan, I think you have something here. As is it can work fine.

Please accept my suggestions with a grain of salt. I personally would turn her head just a touch more towards the window to give the face a bit more light and less shadow. Also I would ask her for that far away, deep in thought look. Then again the executive look can work fine and better with more light. The right hand could be positioned nicely on her right leg and her left hand on her nice colorful shall. Or if it is a executive look a paper in the left hand.

Thank you for your thoughtful suggestions, Mischa. I took a gazillion photographs. Here are a couple more. :)

Jan, I like the position on the left with the head on the right.

Can you post the alternate photos at full size?

The first one seems a bit stiffly posed and I'm not sure what she's looking at just above our heads to the left. This gaze gives the subject an aloof distance from the viewer. Not sure if that's what you want.

Most portraits I see have a definite reason for the subject to be looking where they are: either at the viewer, or distinctly "off camera" in order to show a strong profile or thoughtful contemplative pose.

Done. :)

Maybe the first pose but with the second face (though she's not quite looking at the viewer in that pose either.)

I once did a portrait session with a boy during which his dad was present (my mistake). In every shot the boy was looking at his dad, over my shoulder, and not at the camera. I couldn't use the vast majority of poses because of that.

Thanks, Michele. I didn't even think about the gaze in that first pose. Obviously. :)

I agree with Alex on this one (photo two with head from photo three). I would lower the chin if you choose photo three in the pose as Alex suggested, adjust the head, so she is not looking up, rather ahead, as if the window is directly in front.

What does this lady want this portrait for? Is she an executive who will have it hang in the corporate office? If so have her look directly at the viewer which will emphasize her authority. For the family fireplace the direction of the gaze is less important.

The lighting is just lovely, as are the background and model. I love the simplicity and restraint in the distribution of the values. Because the face and hands are so dramatically light, the placement of the hands is really so important - I think they need to be either together or placed in a way that supports movement within the picture. In the top image, the hands are so far to the right, that there is a bit too much tension, at least for me to feel comfortable. In the lower image the hands read as isolated islands of white, and the splayed fingers are awkward.

I would recommend more photos, paying special attention to the hands. Backing up a bit will help the photo distortion. I think this will be beautiful paintng.

Thanks, Mischa and Richard.

And thank you, Chris, that's very helpful. Chris, I wonder if you might tell me what it is about the photo that looks distorted? I'm sure you are right that there is distortion, but my eye is not trained enough to see it.

The lens might be a problem, too. I have a Kodak EasyShare DX6490, and it does have a "Portrait" setting, but I didn't have enough light to use it--I used the "Night" setting so I could make use of the natural light.

Thank you for your help (by the way, I learned a lot from your book Painting Beautiful Skin Tones with Color and Light. :D )

Hi Jan,

In the first photo, the hands and head are on roughly the same plane- ie the same distance from the camera. Their relative sizes look convincing.

Look at the second picture, where the hand on our left looks extremely large compared to both the head and the hand on our right. This distortion is pretty dramatic, given that the hand on our left might be as little (or, in fact, as much) as 12" in front of the hand on our right; the distortion comes from being too close to the subject for the lens you are using.

The "portrait" setting refers to aperture, or how large the lens opening is when the shutter is triggered. Aperture controls the depth of field, so that the face can be in focus and the background fuzzy, but doesn't have an impact on the type of distortion in your photo.

Search the Forum for topics like "focal length", or "photo distortion", to try to maximize the quality of photos for the camera you have.

Thank you so very much, Chris. Yes. I get it. :)