Hi Peter, Frank ... I'd not noticed the softness in the eyes as the dark strip grabbed my attention, but you're right Frank ... the eyes are a bit of a problem here. Just a thought - and it'll work - sharpen each eye individually until they're both equally sharp to a satisfactory degree. I played with it a bit in PS, gave it a little crop, and voila - the true genius of the portrait becomes perfectly obvious.
Lose the autofocus, Peter ... not needed at all on such a subject, and that 43mm focuses manually quite nicely. Shel > [Original Message] > From: frank theriault <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 12:13:33 -0500, Peter J. Alling > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > http://www.mindspring.com/~pjalling/PESO_--_tglitasr.html > > > > In case anyone cares: > > > > Pentax *ist-D 1/30 sec (ISO -- 400) > > SMC Pentax FA 43ltd f1.9 @ f2.8 > > Autofocus (Autofocus sucks no matter how good the camera IMHO). > > > > I gotta agree with Shel; that dark stripe down the right side is a > needless distraction. I was going to wonder aloud (or however one > wonders on a keyboard) if maybe you focused on the wrong eye - her > left eye (the one on the right of the frame) seems just a tad soft, > but I think that's the one which should be sharpest (since it's > closest to the camera, no?). Then, I noticed that you autofocused, so > that's (likely) that. > > Well, here I am, starting off with negative stuff, when really, it's a > lovely portrait. I like that she looks very relaxed and comfortable. > There's something about the placement of her hand on the vertical > thing (is it a frame of some sort?) that I like - it seems rather > "unposed" and natural looking. > > Overall a very nice photo. Can't do anything about the softness, but > you can crop. I think it would be a better photo if you did.
