Photography Workshop Week 1

I decided to take a photography workshop in downtown Denver. It has been a wonderful class and I've been learning SO much! I couldn't wait to get home from class and practice what I had learned. I grabbed Alexis and went out to "find beautiful light". Seeing beautiful light has become apart of my every day life. I'm always looking at peoples faces watching how light and shadows are falling across their face. It's so interesting. Anyways.... here is my first attempt at finding gorgeous light. I think I nailed it! 

I can't wait to take this picture back to class and have it critiqued. I'm really loving the lighting and the rich colors. And loving my model! =) Isn't she cute?

I've found that I am really drawn to backlit images. The glow around the hair and on the shoulders makes me stop and say wow! I have been practicing and practicing to get them down. For the life of me I can't figure it out. I've read everything I can find on tips and tricks and I just stink! Here is my best effort... I'm hoping with practice I'll get better. I'm not giving up on this yet....

I love the sun glowing in her hair, but I feel her face is too dark. I tried sitting her on the concrete in order to bounce some of that light back onto her face, that didn't work. Maybe a reflector would have been better to get that sun bounced back and get pretty catchlights in her eyes. Hmmm... I could study this image all day.