Cropping and sharpening advice please

[ChrisM28]

This is my first post - be gentle with me!
Sony A900
Lens 70-200 2.8 sigma
Exif
focal length 120
f6.3 1/200
The first pic is totally unaltered
The second has (obviously) been cropped. Does the vertical work, should I have left more of his arm, think I'm not supposed to crop at a joint? Am I trying too hard to get the eye on the magical third?

WB to daylight (think I had it set to shade)
Bit of recovery for husband's hand (26), 8 of fill.
I think my husband's hand is sharper than the chipmunk's eye, think the eye was what I focused on but was so overexcited at what was happening that I could be wrong. Sharpening is a bit of a mystery to me but used amount 90 rad .8 detail 16 msk 58 noise 15 - all in Lightroom 3.5. Have I a) overdone it? b) underdone it?

If anyone can be bothered I'd like to see what someone who knows what they're doing ends up with from the original file. Any takers?
All help gratefully received
Chris

[Hill Country Hack]

Welcome to DPS and for taking the dive into the critique section. Hopefully you'll get some more responses.

First off, very nice shot and how lucky you were to be there and have a willing subject.

Since you asked about the crop, in this instance I'd crop up to from the bottom to your husband's knuckles and leave the top alone. Don't want to crowd the subject too much.

I don't feel you over did the PP.

What you did well was obtaining good bokeh and the proper use of shutter speed/focal length ratio. You shot in apeture priority, so the camera made that choice for you, as well as the ISO of 400.

To post the pictures from flickr to the page.
1. click on the picture in flickr so it opens on it's own page
2. Click the drop down arrown on the "Share" tab.
3. Copy the long url there
4. Back at DPS click into your new post and paste the url
5. Use the "Preview Post" to be sure it is done correctly.
6. You can resize to no more than 740 on the long edge in the Share tab, or from LR when exporting to flickr.
There is also a tutorial around here somewhere if you are willing to use the Search.

[ChrisM28]

Thanks very much I'll try cropping it again.
I nearly got the Flickr copy right just didn't do the long URL.

[ChrisM28]

Wonder if you can help HHH. Have just noticed that in the exif data in Flickr it's showing my exact address and postcode and mobile phone number. I don't want to stop sharing the exif because I've learned a lot from looking at other peoples but don't really want the other info showing, any thoughts? Have searched Flickr but can't see any way of removing it?

[Sweetlifephoto]

I like the closer crop idea, but I would try keeping it horizontal and move the subject to the right of the frame. General rule of composition is that you want to leave more negative space in the direction your subject is looking toward and less of the frame in the direction the subject is looking away from.

[ChrisM28]

I'll try that thanks

[njedrn]

Originally Posted by ChrisM28

Wonder if you can help HHH. Have just noticed that in the exif data in Flickr it's showing my exact address and postcode and mobile phone number. I don't want to stop sharing the exif because I've learned a lot from looking at other peoples but don't really want the other info showing, any thoughts? Have searched Flickr but can't see any way of removing it?

I think your best bet will be to disable EXIF data on flickr, then manually copy the exif data that you want to share into the description. Otherwise, there should be a way to not include that information when you take the picture. (ie you should be able to disable gps location information - this is possible on the iphone and many other devices).

[The LoKW]

Although it may violate the general "rules" of composition, I actually like your current crop. The S curve formed by the fur markings/thumb/hand/chipmunk tail really works to my eye.

TFS

[ChrisM28]

Solved it, it was actually Lightroom, for some reason I had filled all that in under ITPC, am now waiting while it updates all my pics - could be a while!

[Sweetlifephoto]

Originally Posted by The LoKW

Although it may violate the general "rules" of composition, I actually like your current crop. The S curve formed by the fur markings/thumb/hand/chipmunk tail really works to my eye.

TFS

Of course, every rule is made to be broken, I just think it would feel less choppy if there was a little more arm and space to the left...