la belle sophie

Beautiful in every way.

Cool, but I like the other one more because it's a more unique facial expression to Sophie, if you see what I mean?

;-D

Very pretty. Well captured too! :)

Thank you for rating and posting in the 100 Points group.

Rating #1:

A beautiful portrait that captures not only the apparent smile, but gives us a brief and direct look to her soul and feelings... Very good work of art!

Rated 9 out of 10 in the 100 Points group.

Looking to the pic, i'm not sure where the focus is. But somehow i like the dof, kinda blury, makes it softer. Well composed.

Rating #2:

Rated 7 out of 10 in the 100 Points group.

You've really overdone the photoshop here. Looking at the large size it appears that you have lasso-selected the face, then lasso-deselected the eyes, chosen feather selection and then run it through a gaussian blur. The effect is disconcerting, unnatural and looks poor.

Rating #3:

Rated 1 out of 10 in the 100 Points group.

I'm interested to hear what you did do then...

Focus is a tad soft for me, though I really like the tones in this photograph. You might think about cropping a little closer on her face - perhaps a square crop?

Rating #4:

Rated 6 out of 10 in the 100 Points group.

nice portrait,
i like how one side is black and the other is more bright...
and also the expression of the girl
Rating #4:

Rated 7 out of 10 in the 100 Points group.

The softness, tones and expression are all lovely. I also really like the other two protraits. You should consider doing a triptych.

Rating #6:

Rated 8 out of 10 in the 100 Points group.

A nice smile.

A small crop on the left and a bit larger crop on the right would help the in my opinion.

The Photoshop work on her face is obvious.

Rating #7:

Rated 5 out of 10 in the 100 Points group.

This critique is coming from viewing the Large Size (as I tend to do with all my writing).

Beautiful expression captured in this shot. The contrasting whiteness of the teeth really draw you in to her beautful smile. Good use of b&w.

Whilst unorthodox, the lack of eye contact in this image works really well with her expression and offers an almost coyness to her happiness. Reading your description, it seems this was really the case, and you've done well to capture that emotion.

Unfortunately, the second biggest thing that I get from this picture is the huge lump of black on the right. Whilst you've done well capturing this portrait, your positioning of the model could have been better. Viewing the two other images, they are the same, and I can see it's some kind of red curtain. I think in your b&w images this distraction is worse as you appear to have converted to monochrome on the green channel which has just made the red black. Even if you want this area like it is, I would clone out the highlight from the centre of it. It is distracting.

With the expanse of grey on the opposite side of the face, it looks as though the black has been created by lighting, but the actual lighting on the face contradicts that and proves it isn't so, so it just becomes more confusing and distracting for me.

Mentioning that grey area, this is a little flat. Whilst I appreciate you were probably working with a minimalist setup and available light, a light source behind the model to offer some gradient on her backdrop would be much more pleasing to the eye. Considering the area's size, something should be done to enhance it whether at shoot or in PP.
That's not to say I think this area is too big. I like the position of the model in the frame and the balance you've created.

Small point to mention; whilst this is an intimate framing, I'd maybe like to see the top of her head not clipped.

Going back to the model, I think (from what I can tell - more later) you've done a great job with the DOF getting just the face in focus. The hair behind her head is clearly outside the focal plane.

Unfortunately, the effect of the DOF is reduced because the whole image is slightly blurred. It looks, and is in fact confirmed by you, as motion blur. This is a grave shame as it does nothing to help the image. I would love for it to be sharper.
As mentioned earlier, I'm guessing your working with available light so shutter speeds weren't that fast (no EXIF available so don't know for sure) which would have prevented this unfortunate problem.

Despite what I've said, I do like this image. You've done very well capturing such emotion, just some more thought in the positioning of your model and being aware of possible distractions should be considered.

Rating #8:

Rated 7 out of 10 in the 100 Points group.

I think you captured a great expression here, and I really like the lighting. I think it might have been better if the top of her head wasn't cut off (but then again, maybe not). I know people like portraits to be a bit on the soft side, but this seems to soft to me.

Rating #9:

Rated 7 out of 10 in the 100 Points group.

Wonderful capture -- I like the expression and her line of sight. Focus is a bit too soft, actually blurred in places which shouldn't be, and the uneven background tone (black on the right, grey on the left) distracts from the foreground.

Rating #10:

Rated 7 out of 10 in the 100 Points group.

Final rating in the 100 Points group is 64 Points.

Please publish this photograph in the 60-69 Points Group and thank you very much for participating in the 100 points Group.

I love this expression too!

this is beautiful and powerful and emotional