Girl and Horse

[tookie]

First Post (I read the rules but if I missed something, please let me know)
SS: 1/80
ISO: 125
AV: 5.0
FL 131
Lens: 55-250; f/4-5.6 IS

This is ROOC (RAW to JPEG and Sized)
Do you feel her face is a little soft? Is the vine to her right distracting? Is the hair over the horses eye distracting?

Thank You

[ncbcymtechie]

The first thing I notice is that the girl isn't sharp at all. It's not a matter of softness, it's that the shutter speed was not fast enough to freeze the action—she was no doubt moving her head, as we all do, when you were taking the picture. Certainly, with a lens that has image stabilization you can take images of still objects two to three stops slower than the 1/focal length shutter speed rule, which holds true for non-IS lenses in preventing camera shake. But with a moving subject you want to freeze the action at about 1/250th of a second or faster. Which is obviously lacking with this picture. So that is the first and foremost thing you should know.

(It may not help that the focus looks like it was on the horse's eye.)

The vine on the right could be considered distracting. The hair over the eye could be considered distracting. But I wouldn't spend too much time editing this picture. Maybe read up on the exposure triangle and manual settings to understand how different photographic elements affect each other, light-wise, and get out there and try again. You'll be happy you did!