Lena (2 img)

Yuri Pautov

Yes, its not-so-hard (at least it seems so) to take a portrait of an attractive 'model', who knows she looks great.
But what about those who say 'I am not photogenic'. And, as you see, its true.
What?
Try and try. Try to find a proper pose, expression. Everyone of us, humans is a wonderful creature.
So...
This is Lena
1

She works at the school. Not ordinary school, but the one for 'children with some problems in development'. As you can imagine, this work is not easy.
Lena needs a portrait. And though she is very shy, she asked her friend to ask me to make a photo...
She wants to put it to the acquaintance site to try to find herself a friend (maybe even husband?)
So I tried...
2



Yuri

Scott_Quier

Well, all I can say is that she's wrong. Lena is quite attractive and you can tell her I said so.

For the stated purpose, the first photograph is not successful - there's not excitement. In fact, she looks either bored or annoyed with the whole photography session.

The second is much better - there's a bit more life in her eyes, maybe a little humor. But, I think it would have been much better (for the intended purpose) to have moved the hair near her right eye such that it didn't obstruct the viewer's view of her face.

As usual, you have a way of "finding" ladies with beautiful eyes and Lena is no exception. A little closer pose that allows her eyes to become a stronger element in the photo might be in order.

Travis

I second Scott's response. She is attractive and you did an excellent job as always in bringing it out. I will hazard a guess and say that the first photo was taken in the beginning of the session and the second taken in the latter part of the session, after she began to warm up to the camera. You can see it in her posture and expression. In the first she looks almost defiant while in the second she appears relaxed and happy. I'm sure that this was do to your inate ability to put people at ease.

EarthDog

I don't think she'll have any problem finding a husband, if she wants one. : And, she can't be THAT shy, or she wouldn't have bleached her hair to such an attention-grabbing shade. I don't think it suits her skin coloring, though. A rich brown would frame her face better, and make her alabaster skin glow, while the blonde makes her look a bit washed out.

The light in the first shot is a little flat, and she definitely looks uncomfortable, but it's not bad. The second shot is beautifully lit, and a more flattering pose/expression. Very nice :

Wineman

try using wine...
Yuri,

People are not shy, they are just not drunk enough... Just kidding. She is beautiful, but like mentioned, the first is quite boring, and she seems to be bored. On the second one that smile is good, but still looks uncomfortable. Her eyes are amazing, try to focus more on them.

Thanks for sharing.

Z.

LAB.rat

I am happy that you didn't (over)sharpen the hair this time
I'm now only bothered by some oversharpened pixels sticking out near the eyelashes, but that's just pixel peeping of course

I sympathize with photographing less easy subjects. I try those sometimes (cos I don't live in Russia ), and it can be much harder work to find a becoming crop.