Studio portraits

This light hatred amusing picture made me smile. Marshmallow girl seems to be blissfully aware she is engulfed her favourite marshmallows or blissfully aware she is in a ridiculous situation. Either way its a lovely expression to have. The colour pallet works very well, with the pinks of the lipstick & rouge along with the highlights and whites of the eye. I do wonder if the shoulder hair could have also been covered with the marshmallows? The top left uncovered pink table cloth does not distract my eye as much. Lovely fun concept, good work, well done.

A classic and very professional looking studio portrait. A Guitarist and his guitar as one. Holding it, feeling safe behind it and expressing himself through it, as the guitar is fully lit, yet his eyes remain in the shadows. Excellent tight composition, all the relevant information together in a central spot. Very nice touch of the cable and strap left casually to do their own thing, keeping the feeling of authenticity without distracting & fading off into the shadows. Great work.

I love this image, a worthy winner. The five generations of the same maternal line. The echoing facial features barring the incremental change of time. Its almost as if it’s a portrait of the same person taken once every 20 years or so, 5 to 95 years old. The idea itself has been done many times before, but this image has been very well executed indeed.. This image will serve as a wonderful family heirloom for their future generations. Well done.

An extremely high quality portrait echoing the tones and mottled background of the great Irving Pen. This is the archetypal gladiator with his sweat drenched muscular torso and pulling on the bandage hand wraps. It drips with authenticity without pretence. It is his facial expression but mainly the eye contact that makes this such a wonderful portrait to look at. A masterful portrait. On a small after-note ... at first glance the rough darkroom border seemed very befitting the image but after a longer viewing it starts to seem added and incongruous.

Even though there is nothing wrong with this picture of a woman sat on vintage farm apparatus in the warm sunlight with foreboding dark storm clouds behind. This was not the only one but I have to point it out, as it does not fit the brief of ‘Studio Portrait’. It is vital in photography competitions and in commission to provide what is asked for in the brief, otherwise it doesn't matter how good the photography is, if it is irrelevant to the brief.