Marleen

[ancient_mariner]

Marleen is a friend with whom we were out last weekend. We dropped into a pub for lunch and the light from the window plus her happy expression made me want to take a few informal protrait shots.

Marleen-9161 by Toni Ertl, on Flickr

Marleen-9162 by Toni Ertl, on Flickr

Marleen-9163 by Toni Ertl, on Flickr

Critique welcomed.

 

[juggler]

Lovely, esp #2.

For my taste she's a tiny bit low in the frame in all 3 - maybe try taking a smidge off the top?

 

[ancient_mariner]

Lovely, esp #2.

For my taste she's a tiny bit low in the frame in all 3 - maybe try taking a smidge off the top?

Thanks Simon. It never occurred to me, but it would perhaps neatly lose some of the useless negative space above.

 

[Nick Owen]

It's good to see a positive take on negative space... Fun pics!

 

[ancient_mariner]

Good call Simon - I think I prefer these - changed to 4:5 format and trimmed mostly at the top.

Marleens-9161 by Toni Ertl, on Flickr

Marleens-9162 by Toni Ertl, on Flickr

Marleens-9163 by Toni Ertl, on Flickr

It's good to see a positive take on negative space... Fun pics!

Marleen & her husband Mike are Zimbabwean and have been having a really tough time of it, but despite that she is always happy and keeps a strong, positive outlook. The skin of her hand & forearm in the second image tells of the hard work she's had to do to support them over many years while work has been difficult, both here and there.

 

[blakester]

Lovely set of portraits Toni.
Marleen looks a great character, such a friendly face. Good work.

 

[ancient_mariner]

Thanks Iain, that's high praise considering the quality of your work.

 

[Livin The Dream]

I love shooting with window light too, really like the first. And much better with the crop. The first would look great in mono too, but I do like to do that myself with similar lighting.

 

[ancient_mariner]

Thanks Kris, that's a good suggestion & I might give mono a go.

 

[PaulButler]

They feel just a tad cool for me, maybe try them a smidge warmer? Love the crop btw, much better. Engaging images

 

[ancient_mariner]

They feel just a tad cool for me, maybe try them a smidge warmer? Love the crop btw, much better. Engaging images

Thanks for the comment Paul. I did look at warming them a little, but it did slightly odd things with skin colour & I quite liked the slight coolness. Might re-visit that though.