My step-daughter, we had some fun with her mom doing the makeup. I have NO lighting equipment so we went where the lighting was best for what i wanted which is in the entryway (we have an oversized entry with lights way up high)
USM,kodak airbrush,b/g erase on the eyes save for web
i am pretty excited about maybe finally breaking a 6 with this, i think any complaints will be the eyes and the shadow under the nose
*post challenge*
Man I am excited, a personal best for me and one of my bestest buddies gets her first ribbon! WAY TO GO ROZ!
My favorite little model comes thru for me again, thanks Sofia!
Statistics
Place: 14 out of 137 Avg (all users): 6.2560 Avg (commenters): 7.5556 Avg (participants): 6.2308 Avg (non-participants): 6.2740 Views since voting: 3427 Views during voting: 307 Votes: 125 Comments: 23 Favorites: 2 (view)
Oh This is BEAUTIFUL!!! The dof and colors just make this, well that and THE EYES..... I think I see a pattern starting here.. LOL Well since I skipped around and all over your shots, maybe I should explain, I keep going OHHH AHHH over your capture in the eyes~
Dude for no lighting equipment...AWESOME, A small, windshield shiny dashboard protector thingy whatever they're called!! make a pretty nice reflector to soften shadows! I have two!! lol. GREAT SHOT, Congrats on the score as well!!!
First, this is a great shot, and it deserves every ounce of its score. The expression on her face perfectly captures teen bordeom. Congrats on the your personal best!
Looking at your score, you got a lot of 6s and 7s, which shows the high technical quality. I'm actually surprised you didn't get more votes above that given the spot-on DOF and wonderful facial expression. And her eyes - there's a subject you need to explore more! :)
Now, the rest of my comment is in full knowledge that changing this shot in any way is a matter of personal preference. Scores higher than yours just mean you tweaked it in ways that matched more people's expectations, not necessarily that there's some arbitrary concept of "better" that you need to meet.
I'm guessing it was the lighting that kept you from an even higher score. Even with less-than-perfect lighting, though, you can do some amazing things with reflectors when shooting (just a piece of posterboard works great) and during editing.
I recommend playing around with soft light layers if you use Photoshop just to see how they work and see whether you'd be any happier with it different. Create a blank layer on top of the original, set the blending mode to soft light, and paint pure white over areas you want to lighten using a large-radius, very soft brush. Change the opacity to something low enough that it brightens without looking weird. You can read idnic's great tutorial for more tips.
Then do it again, and paint pure black over areas you want to darken. You'd be astounded at what you can do. See my highest scoring portrait as an example - I link to the original from there.
Even if you don't get anything you like better, it's a great technique to have in your toolkit. Again, congrats!
Jason, congratulations on your personal best and top 15 finish! It's really evident here that you've learned from your previous entries, and will continue to improve in the future.
The fact that you only have 4 votes under five clearly shows that your image has universal appeal. Your focus is bang-on in exactly the right place, and despite not having any lighting equipment you were able to light the scene well and create appealing catch lights in the eyes. As was already said, you've captured an expression that could evoke any of a thousand emotions.
For the most part, the shadows are good in this image. There was a second light acting partially as a fill light, which creates a distracting secondary "moustache" shadow under the nose. As well, the eyes (especially her right eye) appear a bit over processed. These are both fairly trivial complaints, as you have created an excellent image with few flaws.
Many many congratulations on breaking that 6 barrier with a fantastic portrait of your step-daughter.
Strangely enough it was my daughters 11th birthday during the challenge and for a present she got her ears pierced. I had been thinking about posting a picture of this using a similar title, but I have to say that I am glad I did not because this would have blown it out of the water
I love the dof and the softness of the colours (great job on creating pastel skin tones whilst keeping the eyes sharp). The centred composition works very well and the border just enhances the image
Way to go, Jason!!! Looks like the expert dodging/burning on the eyes did quite the trick for you, eh?? :) CONGRATULATIONS on a personal best and a top 20! This is awesome!!!
well man .. we kicked arse on this challenge eh ..
congratulations on an absolutely brilliant photograph .. I LOVE IT .. and congratulations on a great score in the challenge .. 14 out'v 136 aint bad .. this looks wonderful on your profile page .. :):):)
OMG .. this is fantastic .. its an absolutely wonderful portrait and a great take on the challenge .. those eyes are amazing .. the hair hanging down a great touch .. the lighting perfect .. love the way she's connecting with me .. the naked shoulders give the message of a future woman .. JUST PLAIN BRILLIANT ... !!=10
Add photograph to your favorites
Add photographer to your favorites
Photographer found comment helpful.
