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#1
#1
ralph


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Best of 2008 (Advanced Editing VII*)
Camera: Nikon D3
Lens: Nikon AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF
Date: Apr 11, 2008
Aperture: 5
ISO: 400-2/3ev
Shutter: 1/160
Date Uploaded: Jan 10, 2009

Daughter #1
post: not going to comment on the score..

taken in a diner so the funky bench seat
i thought added atmosphere ...

Statistics
Place: 442 out of 531
Avg (all users): 4.9713
Avg (commenters): 6.3000
Avg (participants): 4.9813
Avg (non-participants): 4.9388
Views since voting: 819
Views during voting: 377
Votes: 209
Comments: 16
Favorites: 1 (view)


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AuthorThread
01/24/2009 09:50:07 AM
Love the expression, sharpness, and general composition, and agree with others that avoiding overprocessing is a big plus here. You have a lovely daughter and captured the moment well. I think the background does pull the eye away from the girl. Not the upper part of the wall, which is indistinct enough to add interest without being distracting (and the color tone there is a nice echo of her shirt). The booth seat has an interesting pattern that does not need to be blurred, but the yellow-green fights with the blue shirt and her eyes, and the magenta/orange elements are too similar to elements in her face. Please don't exaggerate these thoughts into negative comments, as the image is excellent.

If you are using Photoshop, consider as an experiment using a hue-saturation layer for desaturating the greens and yellows about 1/2, then desaturate all colors a bit more, with a broadly feathered mask to protect her eyes, face, and shirt from the desaturations. Then it is easy to adjust the layer opacity so just enough background color remains to be interesting without being distracting. (I took the liberty of trying that and concluded that complete black and white conversion of background looks too contrived, but toning it down keeps a natural feel while allowing the eye to more comfortably study her face). I am no expert at this, and tastes vary, but wanted to pass along the thought. Thanks for allowing us to appreciate the image.
01/23/2009 12:17:39 PM
Lovely portrait!!! Definitely deserves higher in my opinion...'

01/23/2009 04:31:38 AM
Beautiful portrait!!! She's got the prettiest eyes.
01/23/2009 03:14:22 AM
What is this doing down here? It was in my top 15, beautiful portrait.
01/23/2009 02:51:14 AM
This was in my top 3 of the challenge - I just can't understand why others can't see in this photograph what I do.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
01/22/2009 05:48:49 PM
Can't articulate why, but I really, really like this.
01/22/2009 03:39:07 PM
I like the lighting and good DOF, but the couch or wall is a very distracting pattern and takes away from this beautiful girl.
01/22/2009 03:13:09 PM
Best portrait in the challenge, easily the best. I give some credit to the model; her face is a lovely balance of prettiness and gravity. But the sympathetic composition; the simple, subtle lighting; and especially the restrained and natural processing (Oh, THANK YOU for that mercy) make this a really striking portrait, and you can have the credit for that. 10.

I hope all those who think that portraits have to be brutally sharpened and absurdly saturated and photoshopped into a parody of human beauty will take a few moments to reflect on the lessons of this lovely photograph. Maybe if they do they'll never say "Pop" again!
01/21/2009 07:40:23 PM
Cool landscape portrait. Love the background!
01/21/2009 12:18:27 PM
Very piercing look. Nice composition and style with lovely muted pastel colors.
01/18/2009 09:29:02 AM
the lighting and details on the face are outstanding - but i don't like how the background cuts across her head
01/17/2009 02:47:21 PM
pretty girl, nice shot
01/17/2009 10:56:02 AM
nice crisp, clean sharp details with your eye drawn straight to what you want to look at even though I get the sad feeling from this shot. Nicely captured, but I would straighten the sofa. Well done
01/16/2009 09:48:42 AM
Too flat for me.
01/16/2009 07:17:47 AM
This is a lovely portrait :)
01/16/2009 04:34:51 AM
nice portrait very clear and crisp but I find the background to be a bit distracting.


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