the Shot that WoW'd my friends

[lancer]

Okay now I have a horrible time trying to photograph my one friend. I finally got here, and well I dunno if its as good as we think.

Please give a critique on it.

[Teewinot]

lancer,

While I am a major beginner when it comes to portrait photography, here are my two cents:

First of all, I think you've captured a really great expression on the subject. I love how you have her looking off to the left and how you have aided in this effect by placing her all the way over to the right with somewhere to look. I immediately am drawn to what she might be thinking. Also, the little bit of warm light touching her hair is a nice accent.

A couple of suggestions:
-I know shooting a subject wearing glasses can be challenging because of reflections! In this case, perhaps you could just clone out the small reflections on her glasses as they are a bit distracting and they hide her eyes (an important element).
-It seems like the subject could be a pinch sharper. Did you use a tripod?
-I'm trying to come up with an opinion about the background, but I can't....perhaps someone else can chime in here. You've certainly achieved good depth of field and it doesn't seem too distracting or anything...I think I like the black chair(?). Again, we'll see what others think.

Overall, I'm not surprised your friends were wow'd. Nice job and keep shooting!

[lancer]

Teewinot,

Thanks for the critique.

To answer your questions,

I was using my 5700, with a telephoto lens, standing about 100ft away from her, the shot was taken free hand, so no tripod.

She was sitting on a bench, in a place we call the forks here (where two rivers join) the item behind her is a fancy garbage can.

Sharpness would have been better if Iwas in ISO 100, on this particular photo, it was ISO 400.

I had also just just got the camera that day so i was still learning how to use it :P

[clockdoc]

Nice work for just getting your camera. Are these the photo-grey lenses that darken when outdoors? I suppose those will always be a challenge. You can try selective lightening of each eye with Photoshp just to see what the end result will be. I agree withthe suggestion to clone out the reflection on the glasses. The background isn't the best but I think what is more important is that you captured your friend in a relaxed, pleasing pose. That is more important at this point than the "proper" background. Have you tried extracting her from the shot and placing her on a Photoshop gradient background or other background of your choice? I look forward to more of your work. I'll be happy to help where I can.

[lancer]

I did in fact try a different background as I was playing one day, this is what I did. It was raining out here, and I was in a Beauty meets Beast mode!