Sunday, February 1, 2009

Ann 21/100 - Raisa

I loved Raisa, she had the most beautiful face but was very shy about having her photo taken. She didn't want a close up but then modelled one of her hats. Unfortunatley I was concentrating on her face and didn't see the pole growing out of her head. Not sure I could have done a lot about it, it was quite a confined space and its in all the shots. I'm not yet confident enough to move people around a lot and I think she would have been uncomfortable if I'd tried. I think this is the best shot but its a little washed out, I think the flash fired. I also didn't realise I'd focussed on the hat rather than her face, though I'm sure she'd be quite happy with that as she was really tossing her head around showing it off.

Option not taken:

5 comments:

Julie said...

Oh, this is gorgeous. What a find! My daughter would kill for a piece like that to wear to the races. And the face makes such a statement. I am sooo envious ...

Firstly, the pole doesn't impact on my enjoyment at all: it looks more like it is just behind her rather than growing out of her. The face isn't as washed out as my babooshka was - but maybe the creases could be deepened to approach what you saw with your eyes. Peter? If Raisa was happier with the focus on the hat then that makes all the difference. Did you take this on Av rather than Portrait? I guess so otherwise the very small change in focus would not have registered. Is that right? I am learning here ...

Julie said...

And another thing ... the thrown back angle of her head to her body is just right. It shows that she is self conscious and adds a very appealing aspect to the image.

bitingmidge said...

I like this too, it's a very good reflection of the character I think.

The pole is OK too as it's nicely out of focus, there's no doubt it's in the background. Sure it would have been better without it, but I find the railing more distracting, so nothing to beat yourself up about!

A good one!

Your flash did fire, in red-eye reduction mode. You might look into turning that off, as it causes a delay as well, while the camera waits for it to fire twice, or shine a beam of light before it fires.

You'd have to be happy with that one!

Ann said...

Definitely not Av, haven't played with that yet. As the flash fired (this was even more washed out, I fixed it a little in Picasa) I would have taken it in Portrait.

Julie, if your daughter is interested she sells at the Opera House market on the weekend and I have her card with phone number.

Joan Elizabeth said...

A wonderful shot, full of verve and character.