Shanghai Courtyard Candid Portrait

A candid photograph of a young woman standing in the open-air interior courtyard of a Shanghai shikumen house, authentic daily life photography, natural candid moment. Half-body framing, shot from across the small tianjing courtyard — above her, the narrow rectangle of sky opens vertically, afternoon light falling straight down. East Asian young woman in her early 20s. Almond-shaped eyes with natural double eyelids, slightly elongated eye corners — eyes directed at her phone screen, fully absorbed in something, one corner of her mouth about to form a smile. Straight refined nose with a delicate bridge. Skin tone fair to light beige (NC10–NC20) — skin subsurface scattering visible under diffused vertical courtyard light, specular micro-highlights on cheekbones and nose ridge, fine foundation powder grain perceptible. Fresh summer skin, sheer coverage, peachy sheer lip. She wears a powder blue cotton midi dress with a slight puff to the short sleeves, a smocked elasticated waist, and buttons running down the front — the kind of dress that looks like she thought very little about it but actually thought quite a lot. White mary jane shoes with a low stacked heel. A woven white-and-natural straw bucket hat hangs from the crook of one elbow. She stands with her back half-turned to the courtyard wall, phone in one hand, the other hand lifting a glass of iced water to her lips without looking at it — the ease of someone entirely at home in a semi-private space. The tianjing walls: old whitewashed plaster with green moss creeping at the base, dark wooden window frames on three sides, a stone shelf with an old enamel basin. The narrow rectangle of sky above opens with soft diffused afternoon light. At one visible roofline edge, the upper portion of a distant apartment tower enters the frame in soft out-of-focus blur — a reminder of the city just beyond. Two or three stray hairs displaced by faint air movement in the enclosed courtyard space, natural unplanned imperfection, not geometrically symmetrical. Overcast-diffused afternoon daylight falling vertically through the tianjing sky opening — the particular flat and flattering quality of courtyard light unique to this architecture. Absorbed in focus, unaware of the frame, entirely in her own world. Subtle ISO 400 film grain in shadow areas, photographic noise texture not CG render smoothness. Aspect ratio 2:3. No watermark, no text overlay, not cartoon, not digitally painted, not illustration, not anime.