Portraiture

It wasn't easy task to pick winning shots from over 2900 pictures submitted. They are all beautiful in a different way . I went through the gallery of all images many times and one shot always drew my attention. There are a lot of winning elements in this image for me .It's a very well balanced shot, with great skin tones, a combination of tonal and colour contrast, good shadows, piercing blue eyes, a great expression and, of course, the freckles. It is perfectly sharpened and a tight crop works very well with this image, it brings the viewers attention to her amazing blue eyes. I can't fault this shot, it ticks all the boxes for me. Very well done and congratulation on the first place .

This shot had me perplexed. On the first viewing it didn’t grab me but each time I looked at it, it drew me in a little bit more and steadily found its way higher & higher in the ranking. I think what is drawing me in is the contrast. Not only the contrast of light & dark but the contrast of the model herself. A beautiful young face with the almost aggressive face paint. Also the contrast between the stern eye(s) & hint of a smile on the lips. The only piece of critique I can offer is the framing of the shot. Perhaps a tighter crop on the right for symmetry? (I understand the challenge though). Great job!

There were many images of male subjects, but your shot stood out from the rest for me . Great expression on your subjects face and in particular, the eyes. The makeup works very well with the surroundings and a good use of depth of field. Despite the light and mosquito challenges, you captured the primitive roots of mankind very well. Just a small niggle, for me the little green spot on his face is a little bit distracting (leaf?), but I am just nitpicking. Nevertheless it is a great shot. Well done .

What a great lifestyle shot. This shot made me laugh out loud , as I remembered my little girl’s reaction on the new addition in our family .

Well done, you captured your daughters reaction very well and I keep wondering what she thinking and why she is peeking from the cot instead of stand over the baby.

Another beautiful image of a young lady with amazing freckles. I like that you used sepia toning in the image and its works well. Beautifully framed and using a different point of view makes the viewer look into her eyes. This image just missed out of being in my top ten as I feel the image is little over sharpened and dark corner / line in the right handside is detracts from the main subject but still a great shot

I was going back and forward to this image. I think it's a great documentary image, showing pain, sadness and emotion in mens face. But my eye is always going back to the beautiful face of the young and innocent little girl. I loose interest in the people behind her and only see the blurred face of the child .For me this image as a portrait would be way better if you had the little girl completely in focus and kept back ground people out of focus as there is lots going on there. You have a good eye for documentary photography, just remember, for portraits, sometimes less is more...

When I saw this image it straight away brought me to the famous shot by Steve McCurry “ The Afghan Girl “. The intense and sad blue eyes of this young girl makes you wonder what this beautiful girls story is. This communicates a deeper story and keeps you thinking. I feel this image could be better framed, if you crop out the half boys face from the left side, it will draw the attention to the girl.