First try with 85mm 1.8

[K.ErickPhotography]

Hi I just got my 85mm1.8 lastnight and got a few shots in before it got to dark.
In PP I played with levels and did minor Dodge and burning. I have dual display monitors and both of them are calibrated differently =( Im ordering a calibrater today, so If my colors are slightly off thats why!

Any suggestions to this photo? I feel like it needs to pop a little more I just dont know what to do to achieve that besides bump the Vibrance up maybe. Any other suggestions are welcome =) Thanks everybody

Camera: Canon EOS 50D
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/800)
Aperture: f/1.8
Focal Length: 85 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire

[mpf777]

The levels look pretty decent to me but someone else might have another idea on that. As for some other things it looks like we can see a bit of a "halo" around the subject from your dodging and burning. The elbow and fingers being cut off by the bottom of the frame is a bit awkward and might be a bit better to have them off center to the camera left.
Looks like a nice smooth background from the lens.

Other than that I think the pose for the most part is nice.

Mike

[BigFuzzy]

Overall, it's quite a nice happy photo. Seems to 'pop' ok for me. Maybe booste the Clarity setting just a bit?
As for the 'halo' I would have done a more traditional vignetting and made it a bit more subtle and agree with the above poster about it being noticeable which I don't like.

Seems the lips are the sharpest part of the image, did you use autofocus on the central focal point? I think it's pop a bit more if the eyes were pin sharp as her teeth are.. see how they stand out (besides being nice and white haha).

In the end, it's a fine photo, with just a couple of small stylistic things I don't like, but they'll be happy with the image.

[kirbinster]

Depth of field is too shallow. The hair is sharp but the teeth are soft.

[falafelicious]

Nice shot but I would ditch the vignetting - it's contributing to the haloing effect around the subjects and it's making the picture too dark. I might also edit her eyes to remove some of the blue/green tones.

[K.ErickPhotography]

Thanks everyone, and yes now that I look I understand and agree with what everybody says. I did a lot of editing and learning over the weekend bc I am new to photography. This morning I came up with this image from the same practice shoot. Is this better?
Maybe the eyes are a little to white?




and PS: BigFuzzy I looked at your website and your portraits are incredible!! I wish I had someone like you to teach me some editing tricks lol