First SLR Portrait

[Karinu]

Hi, I'm a new to SLR photography (Nikon D90). This is my first post. It's also my first attempt at portraits since getting my camera. I'm pleased but would love to hear what those of you with experience think so that I can improve.

Natural light
1/125
F5
ISO 320

[SusanH1970]

You're off to a fantastic start! Is this SOOC or did you do any post processing on it?

Love her expression and pose. I'm not usually a fan of tilts, but in this case it's working for me.

Your lighting is lovely and the catchlights look great. It's a tad underexposed, though. Bumping your ISO up, or opening your aperture a little more (or both) would definitely help with this. I wouldn't go lower with the shutter speed though when shooting kids who are in perpetual motion.

Is your background white? It looks grey in the photo.

[Karinu]

Susan-Thanks for the nice comments.
No, there is no post processing, yes, the backdrop is white. I wasn't worried about capturing it as bright white so I didn't add lighting to it. I wish I'd tried to bump up the ISO--or opening aperature as you suggest at the time so I'd have a comparison. But this was a quickie shoot and as you know, with a 3 year old sometimes you get what you get. She's not mine so I was thrilled to have such a cutie for practice
!

[SusanH1970]

You can bump up the exposure in post processing. Did you shoot in RAW? If so, it'll be a super easy fix. I played with the image a little and it was pretty simple to brighten it up.

[ricklumpas]

I agree with Susan. I like it too. Composition. Perspective. Mood. I hardly noticed the underexposure. No distracting shadows. I wasn't very successful with kid's photos myself. Congrats!

[jamsbrown85]

This Photo is really very nice. If this is your first photo, it is amazing..

[Karinu]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! You all said all the right things to keep me going

[neoHUNTER]

Its nice I like the way you took the picture, in fact she is also playful. The colours are great. I would maybe crop a bit in the top of the head, there are plenty of dead space. I dunno your preference though but to my opinion.

[irishmuth]

I agree with the crop suggest of neoHUNTER and also agree with Susan that it's a bit underexposed. Most importantly, I agree with everyone that this is a great shot and a fantastic first post. I did a quick edit for the crop and exposure in Photoshop. Hope you don't mind.

Mike

[Karinu]

Mike-Thanks so much. And no, I don't mind. That was the purpose of posting here. I totally agree with the need to crop-I wanted to post SOCC to get the best feedback but I like what you did a lot. But I find the exposure edit a little over exposed. My little friend seems a little washed out in relation to the contrast of her very light skin against the backdrop now. What do others think? Is this a matter of personal preference or do I need to train my eye differently? At any rate, could you tell me what you did in the edit--did you just bump up the exposure overall or did you do something else?