Ugh, frustrating day

[palmtree429]

I went to the Boston Public Library today to take some really nice shots. The library itself is gorgeous with tons of things to photograph. Unfortunately, there were only two or three out of millions that actually came out ok. This is one of the better ones. I still don't like it. I don't know what it is about it?

1) Is the background too blurry?
2) Is she not in focus? A lot of my shots ended up not being in focus and I'm not quite sure why.
3) Is it just not an interesting pic?

I thought I would be thrilled to pieces about this one and I'm just not. Any thoughts on what might be going on?



Camera Nikon D5000
Exposure 0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture f/1.8
Focal Length 35 mm
Focal Length 35.6 mm
ISO Speed 320
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash No Flash

[Sterling]

The background is probably not blurry enough. As a consequence, the statue is getting lost among the details in the background. I didn't even notice the ball in the statue's hand at first. Without being able to change the distance from the subject to the background and with being at your maximum aperture, there isn't much you can do to get a more blurred background. I'd suggest experimenting with different angles to find one that provides a cleaner background for the statue.

Also, I think the B&W conversion isn't helping the shot. It looks pretty grey without much white or black.

BTW, I'm not sure I see a reason for increasing the ISO to 320. I assume this was on auto-ISO? Is your minimum shutter speed set at 1/500 or more in the auto-ISO settings? If so, I'd recommend that you set it to a much slower speed to avoid unnecessarily high ISO selections.