I had an epiphany yesterday while watching a documentary that featured many professional portraits. Nearly all of them had one side of the face much darker than the other side and they were very effective portraits.

Since I shoot with Canon Speedlights and not studio lights which have "modeling" lights so you can preview the ultimate effect of the full light strength, choosing exposures involves a lot of guesswork, or "chimping".

Having already taken this photo I wondered if I could edit it in Photoshop to darken one side of the face. I decided to make a feather selection of the face at the left and darkened the midtones of the face. Just that slight adjustment makes her face look much better.

I will further experiment and do some slight darkening of the other side of the face, just along the edges, to make it look less full.

Next time I experiment with portraits I will turn down the strength of the flash on the side of the face closer to the camera.

What do you think?