[jford]

Dave -

I agree completely about the belt strap. It's distracting and in an awkward location.

However, I don't know about the second suggestion - fingers from her right hand, or part of her right arm. In fact, I remember a couple of years ago, photographers were regularly criticized for having fingers, hands, feet, etc., appearing either from out of frame or from places behind the model - which seems to be what you're suggesting.

For the most part, I don't have a problem with shots where a limb appears unless it is hard for the viewer to subconsciously realize where it came from. I thought the people criticizing were blindly applying a rule of thumb - pretty much how I feel about people who criticize shots where the top of the model's head is NOT cropped - just as about five years ago, shots were "wrong" if the top WAS cropped off.

I guess what I'm asking is, when the model'shoulders are twisted so far from the camera-subject axis, do you think the "hands on hips" is NECESSARY, or simply one of several (many?) EFFECTIVE poses?

Someday, I gotta take one of your workshops and pick your brains in person on posing and lighting. Just too busy.