Streets Loc: Euless, TX.

My wife, who is 78, was standing near a glass door. I asked her to "turn this way". My camera was in "mid-soft mode". No flash. I doubt that I would ever be able to duplicate this shot.

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Treepusher Loc: Kingston, Massachusetts

Beautiful lady and an excellent shot! Nice one!

Tikva Loc: Waukesha, WI

You did good. She doesn't look her age.

CO

Right now, the areas on the lower left and lower right sides of her face are equally bright. I think I would have tried to get her to turn away from the glass door a little more to create short lighting. The camera would need to move to the right as well.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

From a standpoint of EXPRESSION, your instincts were spot-on. In candid or causal portraiture, when you see the "look" and the expression you want to capture you shoot and ask questions later. Once you have that expression under you belt, there MAY be time to refine the lighting, pose or whatever else you want to improve upon. Some folks are camera shy or do not easily relax in front of a camera so too much fussing and re-adjusting may never replace a totally natural and lovely expression- like the one you have captured.

It is entirely possible to create classic and extremely elegant portrait with simple light sources- North skylight from a window is one of my favorites. Since we can't move the light source around the subject, we need to move the subject into the desired lighting pattern and create the lighting style that we want. This may entail moving the subject closer or further from the source- closer is softer and further will bring on more contrast. You may have to seat the subject or get them standing in order to control the vertical orientation, that is, like in a studio situation you would be able to move you main light up or does tho control the direction of the shadows. There of course, the lateral potion and the angle at which the light strikes the subject is controlled by turning the subject toward or away form the light source. When you make theses changes, however, the camera position has to be shifted to accommodate the view of the face that you wish photograph- full face,2/3 or profile. You must also coordinate all of this with the background.

Tutorial is being prepared.

Streets Loc: Euless, TX.

Thanks for your comments, Mr. Shapiro. It's really helpful to be married to a woman who is so darned photogenic. I have 57 years worth of photos of her and all are similar. She has a countenance that rarely comes along.