Keshia Bill D’Arcy
Nikon D300, 24-70mm, 1/125sec at f/11, ISO 200
I
have been doing a lot of portraits recently and appreciate how hard it
can be to get a decent picture of even good-looking people, such as
Keshia here. Bill has made a great job of creating an interesting
composition, with that curving shoulder, while keeping a close crop and
ensuring we have nothing to distract us.
The eye contact is very
powerful and the overhead lighting works well to demonstrate the shape
of the girl’s face, her elegant nose, full eyes and the moderate gloss
of her hair. It all looks very good indeed, and Bill’s choice of a
darker exposure adds atmosphere and gravity.
He says he used a
beauty dish to light his model, and while it is a relatively soft light
source it is still quite direct. We all – yes, even me – have tiny
pimples and skin imperfections, and the dish and its angle have worked
to show Keshia’s a little more prominently than is desirable.
I used
the Healing tool (although a Cloning tool would be fine, too) and took
away the more three-dimensional marks to create a smoother skin surface.
She is a beautiful girl and deserves the extra five minutes it takes to
pay attention to those tiny details. Even so, Bill has taken a great
picture, and he wins my picture of the week award.
