Dusk lakeside beauty

I really like the shot Steven, nice work
 
A really beautiful shot! The lighting is really good - would you mind sharing how you lit the scene?
 
The ad160 to front camera left was in a double diffused 3ft Octabox about shoulder height. The ad160 was behind and to the right, up high and with just the small reflector that comes with it for rim/hair light. Exposure was set for the background and adjusted lights to light the subject.
 
wilt said:
The ad160 to front camera left was in a double diffused 3ft Octabox about shoulder height. The ad160 was behind and to the right, up high and with just the small reflector that comes with it for rim/hair light. Exposure was set for the background and adjusted lights to light the subject.
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Thanks! I actually missed the text above the photo where you gave some details. I’ll eventually learn to move beyond my pop up flash and take a shot with nice lighting!
 
I like it a lot!

There are a couple of small things I hope I'd have spotted at the time.

I think.. the rim light is too strong. I wonder whether the scene would have looked more natural if you'd used it as a fill rather than rim?
I'd have tried to keep the light off the ground a bit more, or if that wasn't possible shot from a lower angle so that ground was less prominent. Or maybe calmed the grass down in post.

It's not how I'd pose someone but for me expression usually trumps pose, i.e. if this is the shot with the best expression I'd probably use it regardless of pose.
I don't want to comment in detail in case she is a professional model and the posing was all her own work.
 
juggler said:
I like it a lot!

There are a couple of small things I hope I'd have spotted at the time.

I think.. the rim light is too strong. I wonder whether the scene would have looked more natural if you'd used it as a fill rather than rim?
I'd have tried to keep the light off the ground a bit more, or if that wasn't possible shot from a lower angle so that ground was less prominent. Or maybe calmed the grass down in post.

It's not how I'd pose someone but for me expression usually trumps pose, i.e. if this is the shot with the best expression I'd probably use it regardless of pose.
I don't want to comment in detail in case she is a professional model and the posing was all her own work.
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When I see you have commented, I look forward to reading your critique as I love your work. I agree with all that you have pointed out. The model is a relative beginner and I posed her so you can say whatever you think.
 
wilt said:
When I see you have commented, I look forward to reading your critique as I love your work. I agree with all that you have pointed out. The model is a relative beginner and I posed her so you can say whatever you think.
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You'll make me blush :)

Posing is tricky – it depends so much on what you’re going for.

In this case she’s dressed in elegant willowy fashion so the pose should reflect that. She’s really not far off but..
  • It looks like her weight is somewhat on the front foot; back foot generally leads to nicer lines & longer legs.
  • Elbows or knees pointed directly at the camera can look odd –foreshortened, truncated or just strange.
  • It’d be nice to have some space between her right arm and her side, or to bring the elbow further across.
  • It’d be nice if the shoulders weren’t square on to camera; ditto the hips. Some models can twist their hips one way and shoulders the other without it looking unnatural.
  • The hands look a little ‘placed’. Sometimes you’ll get more natural results by asking someone to put their hand somewhere else – e.g. further down the leg – and then sliding it up to the thigh. Similarly, the hand on the hair might be better if it had arrived there by stroking her own hair rather than being placed.

.. and then having done all that you still have to make something which looks fairly unforced and fits with the mood you’re trying to create. It took me a disappointingly long time to realise that modelling is a real skill ..
 
juggler said:
You'll make me blush :)

Posing is tricky – it depends so much on what you’re going for.

In this case she’s dressed in elegant willowy fashion so the pose should reflect that. She’s really not far off but..
  • It looks like her weight is somewhat on the front foot; back foot generally leads to nicer lines & longer legs.
  • Elbows or knees pointed directly at the camera can look odd –foreshortened, truncated or just strange.
  • It’d be nice to have some space between her right arm and her side, or to bring the elbow further across.
  • It’d be nice if the shoulders weren’t square on to camera; ditto the hips. Some models can twist their hips one way and shoulders the other without it looking unnatural.
  • The hands look a little ‘placed’. Sometimes you’ll get more natural results by asking someone to put their hand somewhere else – e.g. further down the leg – and then sliding it up to the thigh. Similarly, the hand on the hair might be better if it had arrived there by stroking her own hair rather than being placed.

.. and then having done all that you still have to make something which looks fairly unforced and fits with the mood you’re trying to create. It took me a disappointingly long time to realise that modelling is a real skill ..
Click to expand...

All taken on board, i had others with space between her arms and sides but for some reason they didn't work as well (nothing to do with the space between limbs, it was the rest of the image)
In all honesty i find posing to be the hardest thing (not that I've mastered any other area of photography lol) The benefit of using professional models is their posing ability, unfortunately it's a rare occasion i can afford one.
I struggle to get the type of images i crave for due to financial restraints, Model/Hair/MUA/Props .etc. Buying the gear is only the start lol
 
wilt said:
All taken on board, i had others with space between her arms and sides but for some reason they didn't work as well (nothing to do with the space between limbs, it was the rest of the image)
In all honesty i find posing to be the hardest thing (not that I've mastered any other area of photography lol) The benefit of using professional models is their posing ability, unfortunately it's a rare occasion i can afford one.
I struggle to get the type of images i crave for due to financial restraints, Model/Hair/MUA/Props .etc. Buying the gear is only the start lol
Click to expand...

I've been lucky in that I've had interesting folk to hone my skills on. I'm still far from expert at posing, though - and with non-models it's more about provoking the kind of reaction & feeling you want rather than the exact shapes.

Trad landscape photographers have similar issues: if you want to take pictures of amazing Vietnamese sunsets then it's going to cost!
 
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