Hello.

You’ve done a wonderful job with this assignment. There are a few big points worth mentioning.

For starters, in your “beast” image there isn’t any emotion in the image. This is because you have a picture of a sculpture but you can’t see the face or eyes of the image which help convey emotion. She is therefore just a shape in this image. That being said, the image isn’t all that poorly composed. It’s simple, well organized, it has great white balance control and it’s focused.

The main technical issue I see with the photograph is that you have a harsh shadow cast on the wall behind the main object due to the direction of lighting. This shadow creates an object in and of itself and I find this a little distracting.

Please watch the following video on lighting direction to help you better understand the consequence (both good and bad) of shadows:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6JFVHRwJwc

Your “beauty” image is fantastic. You’ve moved in closer to capture some of the emotion within the face of the character. Out of the two images, this is the stronger image. However, I do have some technical concerns.

1: The image isn’t white balanced properly. It is exaggerated towards the orange side of the spectrum. This has to do with the color of indoor light. To learn more about color temperature and white balance please watch the following tutorial. Although the tutorial is directed towards filmmakers, the ideas are exactly the same for photographers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwqNRqDx680

2: Your focus is slightly off. I’ve love how you’ve played with different layers (i.e. foreground, middle-ground and a background), but your focus is somewhere between the globe and the main objects eyes. As a general rule of thumb, your main characters eyes should always be where the focus is most precise.

Other than that, great first assignment!