Nose or eyes

[samutsim]

I want to know whether this photo would have looked better if the nose had been in focus rather than the eyes. Also any comments and critiques on my Flickr uploads are welcome. I am new at this and am trying to improve.
With this shot, I changed the contrast a little PP and cropped it a bit.

Exif data
Camera Canon EOS REBEL T1i
Exposure 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture f/6.3
Focal Length 55 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

[NgaiHill]

Ideally I'd like to see both eyes and nose in focus But it looks like that nose was reeeeeally close! And given the choice between one or the other I'd say the eyes are more important so I think you've got the focus right here.

[adunivan]

I also think the eyes being in focus are better. The eyes are the windows to the soul after all.

[FDCPR]

I agree with everyone else, always the eyes. Unless you're a veterinarian taking a photo of the nasal cavity.

I like the idea of the photo and the strong central placement, it is looking straight on and is filling the frame so that is perfect for this shot. IMO the photo could have been stronger by moving slightly left. Since it is a central placement, moving left would have allowed the body to have equal parts on both sides of the head. As it is, the body draws my eye down through the photo to the bright spots in the background. I think if you removed those bright spots, you would improve this a lot as I find them distracting.

The laid back ears makes me wonder what happened next and that's a good feeling to have when looking at a photo!

[yulchick]

To me if there was a different angle to the picture and the nose would be covering more of a picture and wasnt cropped, than the nose, but in this case the eyes

[rotty022]

i like having the eyes in focus.

[samutsim]

Originally Posted by FDCPR

I agree with everyone else, always the eyes. Unless you're a veterinarian taking a photo of the nasal cavity.

I like the idea of the photo and the strong central placement, it is looking straight on and is filling the frame so that is perfect for this shot. IMO the photo could have been stronger by moving slightly left. Since it is a central placement, moving left would have allowed the body to have equal parts on both sides of the head. As it is, the body draws my eye down through the photo to the bright spots in the background. I think if you removed those bright spots, you would improve this a lot as I find them distracting.

The laid back ears makes me wonder what happened next and that's a good feeling to have when looking at a photo!

Thanks for the detailed feedback! I agree removing the background spots would make it better. I am still trying to learn PP techniques. I hope to improve on this photo and share the updated image soon!

[samutsim]

And thank you everyone for your feedback! I was hoping you would go with the eyes!!

[autofocus]

In portrait work, regardless of subject, it's always best that the eyes be in sharp focus. But what you have here is a classic example how being very close to the subject influences depth of field. Even shot at f/6.3 you can see how thin the DOF is at that distance.