1st Portrait EVER

[Holguin]

Hello there. Im a complete newbe. Never taken any photo lessons. Know nothing about photography, but have been intrigued by this wonderful hobby. I have taken the following pic of my wife and would like to know what I need to work on, so please be honest and help me improve my skills.



Camera- Nikon D5000
Shutter- 1/20
Aperture- F4.5
ISO- 400
26mm

This also the first time I own a dslr camera. Oh and I shot the pic in M mode. Thanks in advance.

[behind_a_shutter]

I havent used a DSLR ,, but a simple thought .. In cases of portrait it is generally followed to use a low DOF .. that makes the background (anything out of focus) to be blurred enough to distract the viewer's attention .. It creates a greater impact of the subject in the picture ,,,,

[Holguin]

Anyone else have any other advice.

[MovingStill]

It's a nice portrait and a great first effort.

A few things to watch:
as said above, use a large aperture (small f: number) to throw the background out of focus
this looks a little dark, possibly the meter in the camera was including the darkish background - spot metering might help
watch your backgrounds - there is a lot of unnecessary clutter in the background of this image which distracts
focus on the subjects eye

I think you could improve this image a lot with a little post-processing - use a square or portrait-format crop to eliminate as much of the background as possible, lighten it up a little, and add a bit of sharpening. Otherwise you've made a great start here.

If you are serious about portraits, the Nikon 50mm f1.8 lens is dirt cheap and allows you to get a very shallow depth-of-field (you may lose auto-focus though - have to check this)

[lputman]

It looks like you had some good light behind you. Move closer to that light, up your ISO a little and you will be able to shoot at a faster shutter speed. 1/20 is pretty slow.

[Holguin]

Thank you all for the great advice.