No, not really....

Thank you for another COURTEOUS and constructive comment! I appreciate it. And you're right... beauty is in the eye of the beholder, etc. I think she's very attractive.

Well you may call whtever it is you post "honesty." I call it being classless and rude. Perhaps you fashion yourself as Simon Cowell? Do you really think the way you diss folks is a way to get more of us to post photos here for "honest" criticism? Or is your intent to attempt to intimidate us? It's sad you have to resort to slamming folks and personal attacks for your ego gratification. What a loser. I don't mind CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. What you post isn't being honest... it's merely being petty and cruel.

Thank you so much for your "courteous" reply, unlike most of the others here. Boy this site sure has a lot of egomaniacs who get off on being rude to others, huh? Honesty is one thing. Rudeness and a total lack of class is quite something else....

Unfortunately neither she nor I have the money for either a pro photoshoot for her or more lighting equipment for me, and I realize that's the way to go to really get her into modeling. I'll discuss it with her, thanks.... She may have to put her aspirations on hold until she can afford to do it right....

Thank you for the advice. Very helpful!!!

Excellent critique, THANKS!!! Much appreciated....

Okay, thanks for your comments....

Cool, thanks!

A friend wanted some photos she might be able to use in a portfolio to try to get into modeling, so I took several of her the other night. They can all be seen here on my Smugmug page, if interested, some of which were just throw away fun shots:

http://bobdumon.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Suzanne-Clark/29600248_88hgfc#!i=2532327958&k=xgnC6s7

These were taken on the deck of the New Bern, NC, Doubletree Hotel with their marina as the background. Sony NEX-6, Sony HVL-F43AM flash on ADP-MAA adapter, Sony EX 55mm-210mm tele zoom lens, Hoya UV filter, camera mounted on a Slik PRO340DX AMT tripod. On Suzanne2 and S3 I shot in S mode, 1/40 sec., f/5.6, ISO 200, 119mm focal length (178mm 35mm equivalent). Same for S39 with the only change being a focal length of 104mm (136mm 35mm equivalent).... All were edited/cropped in Photoshop Elements 10, with the Suzanne2 shot edited using Topaz Labs B&W 2 software.

P.S. If anyone has any advice for her on how to best proceed to break into modeling I know she'd be happy to receive it, thanks....

Enhanced with Topaz Labs B&W2 in PSE10


Flawless skin!


No need for blemish remover tool here!

Thanks!!!

I think the first flash I tried on it fried the hotshoe as when I first fired it there was this BIG "pop" flash. The picture was so overexposed I could barely make out any pixels on the LCD, and after that neither that flash or any others would fire from the hotshoe. I returned it to Amazon for a full refund and as you know, am now using the Sony ADP-MAA adapter, which I just leave on the camera at all times. Sigh.... Works great, however, so no complaints. I now have a truly excellent photography system consisting all Sony equipment, the NEX6 camera, 16mm f/2.8 pancake lens, wide angle adapter (Sony), 16mm-50mm power zoom lens, 55mm-210mm telephoto zoom, Hoya UV and Polarizing filters for all, and the ADP-MAA adapter, and HVL-43AM flash. Also use a SLIK AMT "travel" tripod. My next purchase will be an external mic since the internal mics pick up way too much crowd noise when shooting video....

After two unsatisfactory photoshoots with the Sony HVL-F20AM I returned it to Amazon.com and dug down and ordered the larger $348 Sony HVL-F43AM flash. It arrived yesterday, and WOW what a terrific flash!!! The ADP-MAA adapter is necessary to use this flash on the NEX6, as it was for the little F20AM. Also, just as with the F20AM, to remove it from the camera it is necessary to push and hold in the lock release button, so I can't imagine it will ever get knocked off the camera unless the entire flash/adapter somehow gets knocked off. As tightly as the adapter is secured to the camera I don't see that ever happening. The light coverage from it is sensational, particularly in bounce mode, and I love that when I shoot in portrait/vertical mode I can swivel the entire flash body so the flash HEAD remains horizontal for greater coverage. The head even tilts BACKWARD so I can bounce off the wall behind me as well as the ceiling, which I tried and it worked great! It is a very HEAVY flash, and almost as large as the NEX6 itself, but hey, it provides superb light coverage so the extra size and weight is the trade-off one makes in order to get excellent results. I now feel like I have a truly professional flash, and I'm VERY satisfied with the system I have now.

P.S. At first I wasn't waiting long enough between shots, but realized it and then waited until the "ready" indicator stopped blinking before taking the next shot, so the flash was fully charged and still produced inconsistent coverage. I had to "fix" almost every image in PSE10, a time-consuming pain in the butt. Hopefully the new flash will fix that. We'll see.... I'll test it against the little flash before I return it....

My camera was still within the time period to return it to Amazon, which I did, and I ordered a replacement NEX6 from them. The first flash I tried in the hotshoe on the camera was a Yongnuo. The flash fired once, produced an extremely overexposed, barely viewable picture on the LCD and then never fired again.

I finally bit the bullet and ordered the Sony ADP-MAA adapter and their small HVLF20AM flash. I've had it a week or so, and am returning it. The flash coverage seems to be very iffy, producing a properly exposed image followed by one right next to it (for stitching images into panorama later), which is generally way too dark or too light. I've shot in bounce, direct, tele, and normal and there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to how it's going to light the images. So... I am returning it to Amazon and have ordered the Sony $348 HVL-F43AM flash. I did NOT want to have to spend that kind of money for a freakin' flash, but after trying five or six other brands, none of which worked (probably because the very first one fried the hotshoe electronics), I am sticking strictly to Sony products from now on.

On another subject, I recorded a bunch of jazz videos in a lounge the other night, and the noise from BEHIND the camera was as loud, or louder, than the musicians I was trying to record. So my next purchase will be an external mic. Of course I'll be using only an expensive Sony mic (I've learned my lesson), so need to save some money before buying the mic. I'm hoping Sony will announce a version of their ECM-HGZ1 Shotgun Microphone or maybe the ECMSST1 Compact Stereo Mic for the NEX6. Seems like they'd have these products ready when the announce a new model, but they don't. C'est la vie. I can't afford to buy a mic any time soon anyway, but it is REALLY needed if you want to record anything in a noisy environment, unless you don't want to hear what you're trying to record and you LIKE lots of loud background noise. Geesh.