"Forest Nymph" (d700 50/1.4) "Goodbye Summer" (d700 50/1.4 + sb-600 wireless flash on the right) More my work: http://www.flickr.com/photos/drakmin/
I agree with Lenny. The second one looks almost unreal. That's a wicked photo, could have been better with her eyes open though.
The second one works really well and, while first one is a nice picture, it doesn't work compositionally. You've centred the subject, which does work well for a square crop as any influence on balance inherited by the aspect ratio is gone, but unfortunately the other elements in the frame are conflicting rather than working together with her. I've turned the image upside down in Photoshop, which gives a better gauge of whether a composition works or not as it abstracts objects from reality and leaves you to focus on shape and form. Using this, an approximate 4x3 vertical crop (I ended up at 765x1000px from your original 1000x1000px image) seems to work better as it takes some of the front right tree out and ends on the edge of the left tree with the subject still in the centre of the frame, thus removing the distracting bokeh on the extreme left edge of the frame.
In addition to what Tim said, the actual pose in the first picture (shoulderes squared with the camera) creates a lot of problems for composition, and it's why the second picture works so well. You want the shoulders at an angle rather than front-on, and it helps immensely to have the body turned towards the center of the picture (again, why the second picture is a winner).
Rule of thirds might have been good for the first one too, have the subject off to the left a bit, other than that, they're both composed very well- especially the second one- I love that!
Thanks all, useful comments! I tried to break as many rules as conveniently possible in the first photo to achieve a mystic feeling. Shoot from the unflattering angle, subject in the center + out of focus foreground. Also, this first photo is "panorama" of 30 images shot from 100cm of the subject. See Benizer method from google for more.
The square shoulders don't really matter too much to me, but yes a slight angle would help... however, because the subject is centred (and framed by the two trees), it's quite difficult to get the balance right. Maybe a slight twist to bring the right shoulder forwards to follow the line of the trees, but on second thoughts maybe turning her the other way (drop the right shoulder back) would create some contrast in the image... right shoulder forwards might be too much visual harmony. Or maybe I'm just over-analysing this Also, I'd have possibly asked her to lower her chin slightly and have her look up towards the camera a bit more but that's a relatively minor criticism in my opinion. I'm a big believer in forgetting/ignoring the so-called 'rules' - instead, a focus on balance and contrast won't lead you too far astray... they're the fundamentals of any composition in my opinion. Sticking to rules just creates pictures that all look the same!
I agree Tim - breaking the rules is good! The thing with the so-called "rules" of posing is that I find them extremely helpful; the reason behind "tilt the shoulders, drop the head" etc is that front-facing portraits are rigid and boring, and properly (or thoughtfully) posed portraits are dynamic and intriguing. But there is one thing that will always transcend the rules: taste! Square shoulders are a pet peeve of mine... I just don't like 'em
I actually prefer 1, and not just slightly, but by a landslide, even though I find the composition to be off. If there was a bit more headroom I think it would be outstanding. I've always wanted to try the Benizer method as I love the look of MF/LF, just haven't gotten around to it yet. As for the second image, there is just too much happening that doesn't work for me. Lighting is very good however the models position, expression and clothing (mainly the shoes) just throws me off. Aside from that it's still good work.
No. I really like the 2nd one but kept switching my focus to those shoes. I think barefoot would have been better.
I think the second one works well with the eyes closed..... I'm blown away though... I love them both very much. Damn this is so much above the ******** snapshots that I take.
