Now, Brendan, I will simply go through the pictures one by one, and comment on them as I see (or saw) them.
(When I comment on a picture, I usually refer to my own edited version of it.) lub1. As with most of the pictures, it needs heavy cropping. Chop, chop, away with the sky down to her skull. The surrounding background is still disturbing but at least now I see her, which I understand was the purpose. What I see is a young lady, confident in herself, looking into the lens - which gives me the impression she's looking at me. I like that. There is not much drama or expression in her face, but that's just fine. She may be thinking about something, or simply letting the photographer take a shot lke this. I like her features and she is showing a lot of skin along with her female attributes. I like that. (It looks like she's pierced with a ring in her belly button. This I don't like. If she'd do a shoot for me I'd ask if she could take it off.) She has unbuttoned the top (and only) button of her jeans. This is a signal of some sort. Whatever it means I like it. It is a pleasing image, although not spectacular. lub2. Again I crop away the sky, resize it for my computer screen and adjust some levels. Now what do we have? She looking away, leaning back and talking to me mostly by slightly pushing forward her waist and hips. Since she is leaning back on to a bar, this makes her thighs wider and fuller. Particularly as she's being shot from a low perspective. It makes me wonder if this is the way she likes to be shot. She's got a smile on her face, and Brendan said she was happy, why I assume she likes her body and enjoy having it photographed. This is the reptile in me responding. It's basic. I like it. lub3. Same procedure, chop away, fit onto screen, adjust. Let's see. Oh, she's smiling, kind of seductively, towards me. She is also resting her hands with her thumbs inside the trouser waistband, leading the attention of my eyes. Now what is this lady actually up to? Is she just following the photographer's directions, are they just having fun between themselves, or is she teasing me? Well I don't really know, but I like it. I like her eyes, I like her smile and I like her body. She looks perfectly confident and happy. In my adjusted version, this is a good picture. lub.4.What!? On a bench? By the previous picture I kind of expected another direction. Oh well, let's look at this one then. Stretched out on a bench in a natural pose she is looking at me. She is pretty and relaxed. She is beautiful. I like that part. However this is a difficult picture. She is stretched out on a bench in front of a brick wall which display horisontal lines emphazising the ones of the direction of the body. I look for verticals to balance the picture. To the vey left of the picture the wall ends and there are indeed some vertical bars, but in this case it makes it even worse. It distracts from her face and body. Although she looks fine as she is, it is very difficult to find any cropping that will improve it. (However I did find one version of tight cropping that i liked.) Almost good, as far as the genral pose goes, but the background spoils it, in my mind. lub5. Now, lying on her back, she is bending backwards lifting her chest. This does indeed not look very relaxed, although I must admit to a general tendency of appreciating ladies (or pictures thereof) pushing forward their chests, so to speak. The picture suffers from the same problems mentioned regarding the previous picture. I did one "close up" cropping that looks kind of interesting though, but I guess it would do so only to a man... lub6. This is photographically speaking, together with the previous one, the least successful of the bunch. Although she's got a nice smile and obviously is feeling fine, the picture is simply "too difficult to watch". She gets completely lost both by her own position as well as by the impossible surrounding. I gave completely up on this one. lub7. Similar problems like in the other bench pictures. The end of the brick wall and what comes with it is too distracting. Also, although she looks alright, the expression in her face is rather empty to me in this shot. Looks like she simply takes this pose just because the photographer asks for it, or just to fill out. Maybe she's getting tired here. lub8. Now back to previously shown positions. Crop down to her head, fit to screen, adjust. Only blue sky in the background here. Nice. Let's just see what there is to complain about here though... :) Well, she is taking a pose that somehow doesn't fit to the situation, or the angle that you are shooting, or simply to the clothes she's wearing. I'll expand on this. By putting her hands the way she does, she is drawing some attention to her hips, thighs and legs. For this reason only I would like to see more of them. The shot is cropped too far up her thighs. A full figure shot would have done more justice to her pose in this case. But again, this pose somehow doesn't seem right for her general appearance in everyday clothing, as it would if pictured for instance in a long tight (evening) dress or similar. She could probably successfully be turned into a completely different appearance than she is here (if she'd want to). However I do like her looks enough to enjoy watching this picture (cropped and adjusted). lub9. Crop, fit and adjust. Now, what's she up to again? :) Although I instinctively like whatever I see of her legs etc I would either have cropped further up to her hands, or wanted more of her legs. Other than that I like the picture for all previously mentioned reasons. She is attractive, and smiling. lub10. On this one I cropped and resized it to my 800x600 screen. Not only did I crop away the sky but also up to the button of her trousers. I got an almost good picture. The only thing lacking is that her smile is not completely convincing. There is a slight feeling of she may be holding this smile for you to get the shot. Almost very good. lub11. This one is very similar to previous pictures. It doesn't add anything new, really. Also, her expression on this one is more of hesitation or filling out. I like the shape of her hips though. (However, it's now getting to a point where I start to think in the lines of "If she's not showing more now, I will get bored...." :) ) lub12. Promises, promises.... (See now where you have got me, Brendan...:) ) Well (after usual cropping) there is beauty in this female body. Simply because of this I like this picture too (in my version). I thought her face in this shot didn't add very much, why I chopped the head off altogether and I think I got quite a pretty torso of it. (Her general body shape is beautiful to me. Pity there wasn't more of it. Next time?) lub13. After some cropping as well as moving her position in the picture (to the left), adjusting it to screen I actually ended up with a shot that I think is a great shot. Congratulations!.First I did the usual cropping etc and didn't spend much time with it. But the more I returned to it, the more it grew on me. Great, for more reasons than I have the energy to go into right now. Could do well as a - what do you call it, when using it instead of your regular screen - a wallpaper? lub14. This one I can't make up my mind on. Maybe it is that the expression of her face is too ambiguous and vague. I like the general approach though. (Jeez, had I had her modeling for me I would have spent a couple of rolls only on this general view and position...) Well that was it. Hope you enjoyed reading and that something was useful to you. If you get the chance, please tell Luba that I (or someone) think she's a natural. To me it is obvious that she is one that the camera loves. She can do a lot, and a lot can photography-wise be done with her. (Btw, you may suggest to her that putting slightly more dark on or around her eyes may be useful depending on lighting conditions. I noticed in some pictures that her eyes tended not to come as much to the fore as they should.) Next time, avoid the evil yellow (Kodak), burn film, don't hesitate - go from a very straight angle to one extreme, or another. Get close, follow the good guidlines mentioned by others. Just like others have said, one primary concern for you is to carefully watch the background and surrounding elements. While many shots weren't successful, some of the shots do show some promise. (And, as far as what has been pointed out by commentators here, I bet you have partly fallen victim to a very common thing when still learning (and it has often happened to me, and everyone else, too - you simply get blinded and lose the ability to distance yourself from whatever you engage in, to judge it properly. My guess is that you simply got so overwhelmed by the charms of this young lady that you simply didn't see much of what was around or behind her...:) ). Good luck, and keep us posted on the next shoot you do with her. Lasse - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
