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michaelmonnComment by Louis: Nicely done. This is a really good example of this kind of portrait. More interesting might have been a deliberate setup on the backdrop. Your rim light, as in the other examples, is very pleasing. Catchlight is nice though soft. I like your composition.
One thing I've noticed in every portrait in your portfolio is the "safe" frame or composition you've chosen. Each portrait is dead on, front-facing, eye-view, very straight. When you look at your portraits collectively, you start to predict what you're going to see next, because you're certain that the composition will be identical. Pulling out for a 3/4 body shot, or tightening the framing for a close portrait doesn't count. :) Some variety by way of angled shots (one step up on a stepladder), or a 3/4 portrait, or a low angle, all would assist in showing off your obvious talent with lighting your subjects. It would also engage you more with your subjects, I think, because they might be interested in the process and what your doing, and, as you talk to them, it would show on their face. That's really another issue -- engaging with your subjects to tell some kind of story about them. It's my opinion that a portrait photographer who shows work to people other than the subject needs to tell a story, or engage in some way that makes the viewer think about the photograph. In this, your expression is pretty nuanced, and I think I get something out of that. I don't really get much out of the other portraits, as nicely lit as they may be. They seem to be mostly just shots of faces that aren't really letting us know what's going in their heads, or what's surrounding their lives. (That is, of course, unless the purpose of your photos is to advertise the face, as in actors' headshots, but even then, some engagement and some hint as to what they're all about is important.)
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