How gorgeous, I love the lighting and the soft tones. Fantastic job. Just wish we could see at least part of her face.

Thanks, it's on purpose you can't see her face, I'm hoping to use her again in this contest.
Thanks for the praise, much appreciated.

this has a lovely 'retro' feel to it, with a little mystery thrown in for good measure.........

Front cover quality. Very nice.

I loved it.... congratulations...

Lovely pose like this one very much, sophistication and elegance in one shot , and the black and white enhances both.

Wow, what a great classy photo...well done author

This is very nice. It's ok that we can't see her face as the emphasis should be on the "fashion," which it is in this shot. Good job

A well deserved win............ well done.

Thanks for the votes and the lovely remarks. It's my daughter and she was on her way to a wedding, and wasn't really all that thrilled to go down to the pool where there were a lot of people around. So I had to work pretty quickly. Have to admit I was pleased with this one.

Congrats on 1st Place win

Beautiful, simply beautiful. What a stunning model and I like our lighting. One thing I'd change though is to lighten the right side of her face, I don't like that her forehead is in shadow. But other than that this is superb.

I appreciate your comments, especially the one about her face in shadow. This was deliberate........... the shot was set up this way to emphasise the gems. My idea was to keep just part of the face a little darker to give it a little 'mysterious' effect. The client did actually want more of the face to be darkened, but I did not like this idea.

This was shot number 89 out of about 130....... a lot of the others were and will be used, but this one best suited the theme it was shot for.

Fantastic photograph! Thx for the explanation, I think it will help us newbies!

beautiful jewelry!! and fantastic shot!

Beautiful, just wish the necklace was a little sharper

Each one of the series of shots was done to emphasise a particular piece of jewellery. In this case, the ring was the subject, in another shot, the necklace was the subject, and so on...there are also one or two in which the ear rings were the main subject. The dof was set in each instance to accommodate this.

very beautiful.great shot

I think it's perfect !!

wow.
this is definitely what i expected from this contest. something JUST LIKE THIS!
well done. and i love the focus. truly meant for an advertisement in some jewelers catalog!

the first thing I noticed was NOT the jewelry, it was the shadow on her beautiful face I like the concept of trying to make the emphasis more on the jewelry, but because it isn't sublte enough, the shadow overpowers the rest. Still a great shot though!

I appreciate you comments, but the shot was taken tis way deliberately. and as it was used by a very high profile company for their advert, I cannot complain

In my humble opinion - the shadow and highlight on her shoulder make the photo

Fabulous fashion shoot....it reminds me on the pages of jewelry magazines...GL author

That is what it was shot for.........

Great gems author, all 4 of them, GL

ya know, I'm think that if this is in their catalog that has a black background, the shadow probably wouldn't be as noticible. Still though it is a great shot!

Having made jewelry for 35 years, if I wanted a shot to emphasize one of my rings... this would be a great one. (If I wanted a shot to emphasize a girl's forehead - not so much!

Thank you Kyricom, I was rather hoping you might comment, cos I remember you said you were a jeweller in a past life...... your comment means much to me.
The shot was always about the ring, not the forehead.

Congrats

BEAUTIFUL SHOT!!

amazing shot! i love the urban style, simply because it is a style I wear also! It is quite popular in my city (brooklyn, ny). all the males in my family dress urban (since im a mix of jamaican and italian) - i really appreciate the urban style showcased in this fashion photography contest, thank you author for making it shine in a brilliant way!

Superb shot, worthy of a fashion mag, the lighting is excellent. Well done author.

Awesome light textures and the pose of the model, well done =)

Author, the rim-lighting is superb...great set-up and location, just need a hint of spot-lighting on the face to make this BAM! magazine worthy...sincerely great job

I disagree with mymoment, It is perfect just the way it was shot, again GREAT job!!

Fantastic!

I have to agree with itsmymoment on this one because the man is a very handsome guy and his face isn't highlighted enough--it's kind of flat. But this is an awesome picture as it is! And I have to say that the posing is PERFECT! It looks natural and comfortable for him (I get OCD about posing sometimes)
edit: next time I would wipe off the back of his shirt though after posing him against things

Well thank you for you brutal critiques

Actually I agree with Kellie and James, the one thing that bugs me about this photo is the light on his face. There are two reasons why it is like this, first is inexperience. I had never photographed a person with dark skin before this shot so I had some exposure issues, the second is lack of equipment. At the time of this photo i didn't have a lot of the equipment that I have now, I only had 1 external flash and even though I did use it here I couldn't dial it up enough to expose his face the way I wanted without washing out his clothes. If I could go back again I would fix it for sure. As far as the dust goes.... that was just me not looking at the details.

really well done, great pose and lighting

congrats yours was by far my favorite!

Congrats

AWESOMENESS!!! Love the all white, I know, I know it's called something. I just don't know what it is! My only nitpik is the way her foot on the floor is positioned...but that's just my OCD!

not about body position its about the lovely fashion shes wearing!! im in love with those socks!

oh lord! My ocd is gonna kill me too on her foot. LOL But I think the clothes stand out more on this one than that but my eyes will naturally go to that of course. hehehe CC I do have to say though that the "position" of someone in a shot makes or breaks it really. That is one main point in photography you always want to make sure you are watching. I am in the begining stages of remembering to watch for details on that (such as the foot in this one) but it really (like I said) makes or breaks it. Yes this theme is about the clothes but if you have a horrible position then people won't look past that to the clothes. At least that's how I look at things and have heard others say as well but I'm sure not 100% of people will agree.

Great shot, just nit picking, would they have let the pockets hand down in a fashion shot?

My guess is that, the "hanging" pockets is the particular style of this fashion...

Yea the pockets hangin out are a trend. Most young girls wear very short shorts n skirts with them hangin out. Its petty cute i think. I cant pull it off but a lot of girls can.

If you google pockets hanging out pics youll see what i mean.

A few years ago, we would have binned clothes like this for being past their sell by date......now, you have to pay a fortune to buy them this way.........

Great shot by the way author. I know we are not allowed to use PS here, but if you use this sort of shot anywhere else, you might want to watch for the blown highlights around the hairline.

I take it that binned means to throw away?

yes, 'binned' is an english expression for thrown away.

Gracias por tu ayuda

Thanks, just shows how old I'm getting, well done.

haha! Yer not old missy! It's called Experienced

wow! love this!

I want her socks to play volleyball in!!!!

Perfect...Simply amazing...GL

Really nice!

Great, just wish we had a high res.

I agree, a hi res would be nice if you have it author.......

probably one of my favorites from the entire contest.
i do agree on the hi-res. makes for a better vote, to be honest.

Thanks for the high res, it is indeed a beautiful shot.

this is a great shot and great for the theme. I only have one nitpick....her elbow looks as though it should be on something because the way the arm is posed. It looks uncomfortable and unnatural. But I wouldn't go changing anything because this shot will do great!

Beautiful piece...gl