Outdoor Portrait

[cadcamslave]

Thanks in Advance.

[tirediron]

C&C per req:

Firstly, I wouldn't classify this as a portrait. It is a nice outdoor shot with a person in it. Technically the image is good; I think some minor tweaks with levels/curves to darken the foreground would help. I would also consider leveling the image (the river's running onto my desk right now).

Minor niggles include the blown highlights and deep shadow on the dog. The use of a reflector or other fill light would have helped avoid this. As well, consider a polarizing filter to enhance colours, deepen the sky and remove some of the reflection from the water's surface.

To make this a portrait I would suggest a much tighter composition on the lady and dog, against a soft, homogenous background. That said, it is a nice image.

[Mad Aussie]

I like the composition again here. Lovely spot!!

I agree with TI and will add ...

As a portrait I'd have been in closer though. A portrait should feature the person/animal and have the scenery secondary. In this case the scenery steals the show first then we look closer at the person and dog.

Learning to use a dodge tool in photoshop, Gimp or whatever editing program you use will be helpful in lightening the features on the dogs face here. I'd have used a flash, set low enough to just fill in and no more.

[Tefnut 7]

There are lots of techie things here that one could remark upon, but I won't.
The techie stuff is easy to fix really.....it's the art that's a wee bit more challenging....

What I see here is a nice snapshot of a lady and her dog enjoying the great outdoors. Beyond that it says nothing about the mood, character, likes/dislikes, or even ,at this moment , is she even happy. She might be. She might just be wishing she was back home in front of the fire!!

So as a portrait it says....perhaps....that she is a lady who likes being outdoors near nature with a big fuzzy dog. OK, so that narrows her down to about one 5th of the population! See where we're going here?

Portraiture is about insight, intimacy, emotion, mood, etc, etc, etc,.....

So....maybe show us who this person really is........A really nice light snapshot though. Respects, Robert

[cadcamslave]

C&C per req:

Firstly, I wouldn't classify this as a portrait. It is a nice outdoor shot with a person in it. Technically the image is good; I think some minor tweaks with levels/curves to darken the foreground would help. I would also consider leveling the image (the river's running onto my desk right now).

Minor niggles include the blown highlights and deep shadow on the dog. The use of a reflector or other fill light would have helped avoid this. As well, consider a polarizing filter to enhance colours, deepen the sky and remove some of the reflection from the water's surface.

To make this a portrait I would suggest a much tighter composition on the lady and dog, against a soft, homogenous background. That said, it is a nice image.

I like the composition again here. Lovely spot!!

I agree with TI and will add ...

As a portrait I'd have been in closer though. A portrait should feature the person/animal and have the scenery secondary. In this case the scenery steals the show first then we look closer at the person and dog.

Learning to use a dodge tool in photoshop, Gimp or whatever editing program you use will be helpful in lightening the features on the dogs face here. I'd have used a flash, set low enough to just fill in and no more.

There are lots of techie things here that one could remark upon, but I won't.
The techie stuff is easy to fix really.....it's the art that's a wee bit more challenging....

What I see here is a nice snapshot of a lady and her dog enjoying the great outdoors. Beyond that it says nothing about the mood, character, likes/dislikes, or even ,at this moment , is she even happy. She might be. She might just be wishing she was back home in front of the fire!!

So as a portrait it says....perhaps....that she is a lady who likes being outdoors near nature with a big fuzzy dog. OK, so that narrows her down to about one 5th of the population! See where we're going here?

Portraiture is about insight, intimacy, emotion, mood, etc, etc, etc,.....

So....maybe show us who this person really is........A really nice light snapshot though. Respects, Robert

This is exactly the input I am starving for and I see the points. I often see the area and terrain as a character, but this also tells no story.

The picture was taken here;

duckabush river, wa - Google Maps


That's Mt. Anderson in the background.