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I was at a friends for Christmas in July dinner last night and took these two of one of the guests.

Comments gratefully accepted (good AND bad)

This first shot was taken with my current favourite combo - 50/1.4 lens and SB800 (1/60 sec F/4)



and this one was with the 24-120 VR (1/60 sec F/6.3)

Background is very busy on the first shot, especially given the very busy forground. Also her mask doesnt fit overly well, but that is not your fault.

Hi Peter,

Maybe a greater DOF to help foccus us on the subject fixing the busy background these is. I like bouncing the flash off the ceiling to give a softer light and shooting in manual mode when doing these on the run candid shots. I like the mask.

Mark

Peter,
It seems to me you have had lot of fun lately! was that "cold" at Christmas in July dinner ? and you were warmed up by these ladies
Did you take the heat home?

I prefer number 2 Peter.
With the lower angle, the lady's head is clear of the couch and makes for a better contrast.
The smile helps too.

Stubbsy, love the expression on the first but prefer the background of the second. Nice shots.

Hi Peter

subject and colour rendition is excellent
the pose in the first shot is much more elegant.
I would just suggest the background is too distracting, it has the same colours as the subject and has alot of definable patterns.
The contrasting harmony to orange is blue, but in this case even a dark red or purple background would have separated the subject from the background nicely.

You shot it with a f1.4 lens this lens has great shallow Depth of Field so next time get really close at f1.4 increase the shutter speed and you will get a fantastic portrait!

great work.

I think the SB800 and 50mm 1.4 on your camera is married to your style.

Thanks for comments guys. Had a real problem with choosing between these two. Like Glen says, I think the expression in the first is great, whereas the composition in the second is better. I might have a play with the background in the first in PS to darken and blur it to see if that works.

That first one reminds me of the early Batman TV series - the mask must make the eyes go a bit perculiar I think - with Adam West looking his wackiest under the Batman mask.

Not to say this lovely lady looks wacky I hasten to add.

Greg B wrote:That first one reminds me of the early Batman TV series - the mask must make the eyes go a bit perculiar I think - with Adam West looking his wackiest under the Batman mask.

Not to say this lovely lady looks wacky I hasten to add.

I was thinking the exact same.

Peter, like others before me, I like the expression of the first but the background is rather complicated.
But I do like the fact that in #2 she has forgotten she is wearing it and is acting all normally - it's when she goes to scratch her forehead when she remembers
"Bugger, I'm wearing a mask!"

Following a number of good criticisms about the busy background in the first shot I've reowrked it. The result appears here and I have to say it does work better (now why didn't I do that to start with