Her real name is not Rachel but Rakel Ýr, Rachel is the english version of her name and I decided to "translate" it so that Icelandic people wouldn´t realize this was an Icelandic shot.
As usual Henny took care of the makeup but she couldn´t come along, we couldn´t get a babysitter so I could only light this with a single reflector. It´s shot frome above at almost a 75 degree downward angle, I actually climbed up a tree, am lying on a branch with the camera in my right hand and the reflector in the left hand. It was also freezing cold, we took this around noon and it was probably -12/13 degrees celcius. Should have set the camera at iso 200 and f2.8 as the eye on the left (her right eye) is noticeably out of focus but I still like this image other than that so I hope it doesn´t do too badly.
Unusual amount of processing for basic editing her hairbands were not of the same color (had the same problem with the hairbands on my "Headwear" entry, these are in fact the same hairbands) so I had to use the replace color tool to make the purple one on the right pastel green. That affected her eyes a little so I used the selective color tool to get the color of the eyes back to their original form. Other than that it´s just Curves adjustments and basic Raw conversion stuff and of course sharpened after resizing.
I think the score on this shot is ridiculous but I can understand it. Can´t say that I thought it would do to well but I thought it worth a 6.0-6.2 or something in that region. I just wonder for those who thought it didn´t meet the challenge, how many ladies have no necks and have a head bigger than their shoulders where you come from? Those characteristics of the photo make it very obvious to me that the shot is taken from a very high perspective, way up above her with a small telephoto lens. Guess I am just too used to "reading" photos that I put too much faith in the voters this time...
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Place: 210 out of 319 Avg (all users): 5.2556 Avg (commenters): 4.0769 Avg (participants): 5.1013 Avg (non-participants): 5.3762 Views since voting: 2556 Views during voting: 338 Votes: 180 Comments: 20 Favorites: 2 (view)
Beautiful picture Lárus. The make up is truly well done and the colors in the pic are great. The votes simply say that sometimes people look to much in their own minds when judging pictures instead of trying to understand what effects the photographer is after :o) Looking forward to your next picture on the front page (sure I don´t have to wait for long ;o)...
dont complain, it's still an above average photo according to the voters. I dont think some people thought it fit the challenge. Maybe if you didn't use the telephoto lens, it would of worked, she is way too close.
You make good points about the necessary high perspective to achieve the proper DOF and bokeh. Especially in basic editing. You have had better portraits though, to be honest. But at the very least, perhaps you will reinvigorate viewers to study images just a few seconds longer to appreciate the photographers who do try to stretch the mind.
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