Is the crop too severe

[reddyj]

Hi all,
Do you thing that I've cropped this photo of my daughter too much, and what could I do to give it more punch? All feedback would be very welcome.

Camera: Sony A200
Lens: Minolta 70-210 AF f4
@200mm

Aperature: f4
ISO: 400
S/S: 1/200 sec

P.S. Its fantastic just what you can learn from this great site...

[LeeR]

No, I don't think the crop is too severe because the tree is already doing a lot of the cropping for you and you have left enough of the tree in your image to let us know that we aren't missing anything.

[Lightwriter]

I like the crop. I might giver her a little more head room but that's all. As far as giving the shot some punch goes I'd sharpen (it is a bit soft, ya know) and boost the color and contrast.

[reddyj]

Originally Posted by LeeR

No, I don't think the crop is too severe because the tree is already doing a lot of the cropping for you and you have left enough of the tree in your image to let us know that we aren't missing anything.

Originally Posted by Lightwriter

I like the crop. I might giver her a little more head room but that's all. As far as giving the shot some punch goes I'd sharpen (it is a bit soft, ya know) and boost the color and contrast.

Thanks for the replys guys, I know its not as sharp as it should be, do you think it was caused by the ISO 400 setting?

Cheers
John

[Michael_2010]

There tends to be a little softness with most zoom lenses toward the max focal length. Not familiar with your particular lens, but most have a sweet spot where you will get the sharpest results.

[reddyj]

Originally Posted by Michael_2010

There tends to be a little softness with most zoom lenses toward the max focal length. Not familiar with your particular lens, but most have a sweet spot where you will get the sharpest results.

Thanks Michael, will have to experiment a bit more, only got the lens a short while ago...
Hope the sweet spot on a lens is not as hard to get as the sweet spot on a golf club

Cheers
John

[Niresangwa]

try coming up to 5.6 or one stop up and see what its like.