AustralianPhotography

home » image doctor

image doctor

Rachel

Rachel

Photographer: Louise Bishop

Added: 02-Mar-11

Camera Type: Nikon D60

Lens: Nikkor 50mm lens

Shutter Speed: 1/60s

Aperture: f/7.1

Adjustments: On-camera flash. Healing tool, converted to b/w, autosharpen, contrast, brightness, adjust colour curves, crop using PS Elements

Photographer's Comments: Louise Bishop took this shot of her daughter when she was two-and-a-bit years old. She wrote: “I liked the composition and expression but her skin was overly ruddy and a little marked. She had stunning eyes and very blonde hair, both of which I wanted to make a feature of, so I used PS Elements 6 to attempt a high key portrait. I can’t remember exactly what I did as it was an experiment.”

Image doctor's advice

You have done fine to get those skin tones looking good, and the shot itself is nice and sharp. Where I have a problem is the use of flash which has produced a really hard-edged shadow under her chin. It looks like you shot indoors without any ambient light and very close to the subject.

Set the flash to -1 in this sort of situation. The whole effect of the shot is also that it is still a snap, with that open mouth and the hair hanging in front of the eye. Next time try leaning over and moving that hair from in front of her eye before shooting.

TIP: To avoid using flash for indoor portraits, try shooting the subject in natural lighting, say near a window, while turning on lamps nearby will help add a more attractive feel.

reader comments

There are no comments on this article yet.


Commenting

Hi, we welcome your comments.

You may comment as many times as you like. We approve and edit comments at our discretion. Do not send us comments that are:

  • abusive or malicious
  • off-topic or excessively long
  • blatantly spam.

By commenting you agree to our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy . If you wish to alert us about a comment, contact us

Thank you and happy commenting!

add a comment







Leave this field empty

* Required field

Recent image doctor critiques

  • Not Talking

    Not Talking

    by Greg Harris

    This  is  a  nice  landscape,  though  it  could  be  even  better  if  you  could  pull  a  bit  more  life  out  of  those  lacklustre  clouds.  You  could  try  adding  a  graduated  more

  • Let Me Run

    Let Me Run

    by Kip Hobson

    I  don't  doubt  that  the  dog  is  itching  to  get  going,  but  as  for  feeling  cold,  that  sounds  more  like  you  -  quite  understandable  judging  by  this  shot.  This  captures  more

  • Untitled

    Untitled

    by Bob Shaw

    Yes,  you  can  be  quite  happy  with  your  result,  but  is  that  because  it  was  a  test  of  your  skills  or  because  you  really  liked  the  gimmicky  aspect  of  the  more

  • The Gun

    The Gun

    by Stephen Deane

    The  fact  that  these  guys  are  travelling  in  excess  of  100kph  doesn't  really  come  across.  The  lines  of  that  boat  are  clean  and  sharp  and  except  for  the  fuzzy  white  more