I took this one last year but rediscovered again with the help of Lightroom tonight.
C&C is welcome please. I like blown out skies, but do you guys think this is too much or distracting? Maybe it was why I may have passed on it before.

Nice picture and the sky does not disturb me one bit. Here are a few point I would mention:
- Her face is too dark compared to the rest and I was drawn first to the contrast between her skin and black top.(try a reflector or off camera flash).
- some of the flowers seem to be growing out of her head (this is easy to clean with photoshop).

Those are great suggestions Niall...but since Shane can't go back and redo the shoot with flash or a reflector, how would you suggest working on that area of her shirt/skin -- a little bit of burning in Photoshop maybe?

And Shane I love those flowers she is in -- I'm seeing those pop up around here and keeping a mental note of the time of year they appear because I'd love to photograph someone in them as well!

Good point. That was for next time. If you have a RAW file try exposing it a bit more and then burn her lower body (digitally of course). It might even be worth trying this in B/W.

select the skin in photoshop and add a levels layer. Brighten it to taste



adjusted levels
brightness/contrast
minor sat boost

I am going to assume you aren't requesting photoshopping ideas, but rather if we think the shot itself is worth spending time editing.

I like it, I see a lot of people shooting high key stuff and blowing out the sky lately. The composition itself is nice, I like that the flowers in the foreground keep her dark shirt from melting into the background. I'd probably blow out the sky completely, rather than leaving that one cloud there which draws attention to it. Oops, now I'm giving PS ideas.

Nevermind what I said before. It's the Friday before a long weekend and I don't feel like doing actual work, so instead, here's my version:



Yay, boss just said we can close up and leave early. I'm outta here!

Hey thanks everyone. All of that helps. When doing this last year, I think i was trying to capture something more moody. Other shots had more clouds. They kind of got split here. Lynn, I do like blown out shy too. Just didn't know with it being a half & half. I did do some D&B on a grey layer here but didn't want to make it too obvious as what seems to happen in portraits. Those flowers are Mustard Grass and it pops up in the spring here. Going to try again this year before it gets cut down. I actually de-sat those blooms a little because they were a little over powering when competing with her.

OK back ing the lab for this one.

Very nice Lynn. I like it. Have a nice weekend!!!