[davey]

At this point, I think you are a fauxtog, but you can always get better! You asked about the original image you posted, which you said is your fave that you have ever taken, so I’ll offer CC on that one:

1) Lighting – it appears you really need to practice a lot more with working with natural light. Your subject is out in the middle of overhead sun, as evidenced by the harsh shadows under the brim of the hat, and under the chin across her neck and upper chest. Her face is totally flat tonally and the highlights are blown out as a result of this bad lighting. If you absolutely must shoot during a time of day when the sun is directly overhead, try finding some open shade to get softer, more flattering light.  You also might try shooting early in the day, or later in the evening when you get nice directional light. I would suggest either buying a checking out from your local library the book “The Luminous Portrait” by Elizabeth Messina. This is a fantastic book for learning how to better use natural light in portraits and it can really help you grow!

2) The editing appears to be pretty heavy-handed because you were trying to compensate for the overall bad lighting of the picture. I totally agree with previous comments that the picture is very yellow. It does not look vintage to me, which may have been what you were trying to achive. Instead, it just looks like you applied some actions to it that only intensified the existing lighting problems.

3) Composition – this is very subjective, but for me personally, I don’t think the composition is bad, but I don’t think it’s great either. The square image can be appealing sometimes, but I don’t think it’s working with this shot. I am not a prop person at all, but many people are and I totally get that.

4) Image selection – I don’t think this was a particularly good image to submit to your client. There is nothing really emotional or compelling or sweet about this particular image.

Hope this was helpful! I think if you work on mastering your use of light, really develop your editing skills, and work on creating more thoughtful compositions you will be on your way to being a non-fauxtog 🙂

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