Help choosing a crop

[fsendel]

Hello everyone,

I'd love to get everyone's comment on this portrait in general. Also, as you can probably tell I replaced the sky using Photoshop. It's the first time I've done this and I am not sure if it looks too fake. The sky was totally blown out and I wanted to have some detail. What would you have done?

Thanks a lot!

[mbrager]

I far prefer the first crop, because it gives you more perspective and the sense of the high framed window to outdoors. And we can see the finials on the fascia of the roof, which are interesting. (not sure I have the names of the parts right.)
Mike

[fsendel]

Thank you mbrager, excellent point...

[Iguanasan]

If you are working on a portrait then I would focus more on the individual than the location. To that end I would recommend the following crop:

[Marko]

I like both these crops so far. This is certainly not a bad shot, and you had me fooled on the sky - I did not notice your PP, so good on you fsendel!
My main comment here is up the contrast overall via some levels play.
In terms of portraits, although portraiture is hard, most successful portraits don't focus on the back of the person. You are not revealing much about this person by the way this was shot.

Marko

[fsendel]

Thanks a lot Marko. I greatly appreciate that you and all the others take the time to critique. I'll try your contrast suggestion. You are right about the portrait from the back. The thing is it wasn't really planned, she was standing there and I took the shot. In the end I kind of liked the mood of thoughtfulness/nostalgia I think it conveys

[fsendel]

Thank you for your comments chrisrich. I think I will be using that sky replacing trick more often now!

[Pharaoh]

Just me own thoughts on it, but I think the snag with a discussion of this type of photo is how those receiving it define or interpret the term "portrait". I think it is much more common, and thus anticipated that a portrait will have heavy or just about overwhelming emphasis on the intended subject.

As I believe was already pointed out, the photo is such that it could just as easily be selling the landmark or background. That said, I'm guessing this same photo could be judged differently if say the subject was a well known celebrity or person of interest and the image was part of a known expose or article on the said subject.

Anyway, regardless of technical definitions or perceptions, I think it's a nice shot that has a certain mood and temperature to it. It also offers a certain mystery of "Who is that".

jmho