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Selected Excellence: Portrait by Mitch Alland

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(Courtesy and copyright of Mitch Alland. Taken with GRDII)
As a follow-up to first and second posts on compacts for portriats, this intriguing portrait neatly illustrates that a serious compact can do portraits as well as a DSLR/ SLR. This picture of a lovely lady was taken by Mitch Alland with a GRDII on a 40mm tele-converter at f/2.4 and 1/73 sec., ISO 400. It was done in a RAW format file which was post-processed in Lightzone. Mitch is located in Thailand and has proven his skills in doing portraits with a compact in his Flickr portrait set.
Check out this portrait again. The soft light befitting the charming lady came probably from a natural light source through a nearby window. Was it a window facing north? The rule of thumb is that north facing windows give light of a stable amount and quality in the daytime throughout the year, while the light quality through windows facing other orientations changes constantly as the sun moves. The north facing windows serve best as a natural light source in terms of the controllable light quality. The similar soft light in Mitch’s work here helps to avoid sharp contrasts in the portrait and gives a comfortable tone to compliment the lady’s sweet smile and tender posture. If you wonder whether more shadow details should be given in this portrait. The answer is yes if it is in a controlled lighting situation, or if you can afford an assistant to hold a reflector for the model, and no for the taste of some (or, well, yes for the others; prejudice is personal). Given the natural light source, this is undoubtedly a very handsome shot. Besides that, look closely in the model’s eyes and you will find that she was sitting at a reflective surface which smoothed out the darker areas, giving a better tone and details in the shadow. (Personal experience: A big pillow in a light-coloured pillowcase can serve as a wonder free-form reflector for indoor portraits) And think again: Mitch achieved a great portrait with a compact! If you have done portraits only with a DSLR or SLR, give your serious compact a try this weekend. (PS: [prank intended]Dear readers, don’t write to ask for the name or contact number of the lady. I will keep them confidential and won’t leak them to you. Er, well, Mitch, may I have the name and contact number of the lady so that I can keep them confidential?)

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