Over-the-Shoulder Swimsuit Portrait on Sunlit Pool Steps

Theme: Looking back on pool steps.

Subject: An adult woman in her twenties. Her back faces the camera and she raises one foot onto stone steps ascending toward the upper right. Only her face turns back over the nearer shoulder. A rear three-quarter overall view, with hips and legs close to the camera and shoulders and face higher and farther away.

Appearance and expression: A soft, small face with a short, tapering chin. Relatively large gray-brown eyes, pale fine eyebrows, a small nose, and slightly parted pink lips. She looks at the camera over her shoulder. Long, loosely curled light-brown hair in a half-up style falls down her back, with sheer bangs across her forehead. Bright ivory-pink skin. White sunlight reflections on shoulders and thighs, soft facial shadows.

Clothing and pose: A black one-piece swimsuit with thin shoulder straps, a deeply open back, and relatively high-cut leg openings. The foot on the upper step wears a black thin-strapped heeled sandal. She raises the farther arm, bending the elbow and resting the hand on her head. The nearer arm lowers along her side, with that hand resting in front of the raised, bent knee. The leg on the right is bent with its foot on a higher stone step; the other extends downward.

Background and light: Blue-green pool water on the left; gray stone steps on the right ascend into the upper-right distance. Deep-green shrubbery and a dark horizontal-slat fence behind her. The foreground stone step appears large at the lower edge. Sunlight and dappled light from above, delicate highlights on hair edges and skin, small glints on the water. Soft reflected ambient light wraps around the face.

Composition and camera: A close rear three-quarter side view, looking slightly upward. Her back is visible, with perspective making hips and legs relatively larger. Vertical 3:4. Crop the crown of the head and part of the raised hand at the upper edge. Keep the upper-step foot and sandal in the lower right; the foot of the downward-extending leg remains out of frame. The subject fills the frame.

Texture and style: A bright photographic look based on blue-green, black and gray. Smooth skin tonal gradations, wet stone texture, transparent ripples in the water, and fine individual locks of hair.