Girl and a barn

[Daniel765]

I was wondering about the photo composition I really liked the barn/shed and the faded color near the bottom as well as the light coming in from above through the pine trees. Would like and feed back or ideas thank you.

OK to re-edit and repost my shots on dps
Taken mid morning under the cover of pine trees

Shutter 1/125
Aperture f/4.0
IOS 320
no flash
Converted to B&W here http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...0619-1-1-1.jpg

[MrJones]

your main issue is the focus. her eyes / face is really blurred and that kills it for me.
if you have photoshop, try sharpening the photo (just her face), turn it to BW and add contrast to get more life into it.
other than that, I don't really like the crop of her hands, either lose the completely or have a full hand... just not half way there.
sorry if I'm harsh

[BigFuzzy]

MrJones nailed it.. a portrait (in my humble opinion) is about the person which means it's about the face, which means it's about the eyes. In my opinion, if you fail to focus the eyes (unless it's intentional) you fail in general. You really need to not let the camera decide on the focal point, or learn to "focus lock and recompose" technique to ensure the face at least is in focus, but preferably the eyes.

I agree that the crop is awkward and would have composed the image a bit further back to at least include her hands.

The image also feels a bit flat, that's either because of the focus, or also because you should consider boosting the contrast. Not sure what you use for PP, but if you use LR you can use the clarity slider (or brush) to pump up the contrast.

Having said those things which aren't so positive, I'll say that you chose a really good setting and lighting.

Just make sure you get the basic focus issues nailed, and it'd be a much much much better photo.

[dlambert]

Maybe it's just the focus (as others indicated), but I found myself drawn to the barn -- not the girl. What do you think about taking a half-step to the left and forward, then opening your aperture to see if you could get the girl focused and the barn fading out of focus behind her?

I'd also want to try moving the camera down to see if you could get the faded boards of the barn without the ragged bottom with the cinder blocks. The faded boards would be a great background, but the other stuff takes draws my eye away from the subject.

I tried to do a quick hack to crop & defocus the background - the editing is pretty crude, and you'd really want to try to get this effect in-camera if you could, but I think you might get what I'm talking about based on this.

[carlyfan]

I love everything about this photo...except the focus. It looks like the focus point was set to the middle and so the camera focused on the barn. If the focus was spot on, this would be a great picture! I usually lock the focus on my subject, and then recompose, and snap the picture. I love the composition though, and the lighting is great.

Lisa

[Daniel765]

Thanks for taking some time to critique my work I don’t think that is was harsh how else would one learn more without the knowledge of others. Again thanks for your input I’ll put it to use on my next shoot.
Daniel

[Daniel765]

Originally Posted by BigFuzzy

MrJones nailed it.. a portrait (in my humble opinion) is about the person which means it's about the face, which means it's about the eyes. In my opinion, if you fail to focus the eyes (unless it's intentional) you fail in general. You really need to not let the camera decide on the focal point, or learn to "focus lock and recompose" technique to ensure the face at least is in focus, but preferably the eyes.

I agree that the crop is awkward and would have composed the image a bit further back to at least include her hands.

The image also feels a bit flat, that's either because of the focus, or also because you should consider boosting the contrast. Not sure what you use for PP, but if you use LR you can use the clarity slider (or brush) to pump up the contrast.

Having said those things which aren't so positive, I'll say that you chose a really good setting and lighting.

Just make sure you get the basic focus issues nailed, and it'd be a much much much better photo.

Thank you BigFuzzy this was really one of my first attempts at a real portrait not just point and shoot. I had never done this before I appreciate the feed back.
Daniel

[Daniel765]

Originally Posted by dlambert

Maybe it's just the focus (as others indicated), but I found myself drawn to the barn -- not the girl. What do you think about taking a half-step to the left and forward, then opening your aperture to see if you could get the girl focused and the barn fading out of focus behind her?

I'd also want to try moving the camera down to see if you could get the faded boards of the barn without the ragged bottom with the cinder blocks. The faded boards would be a great background, but the other stuff takes draws my eye away from the subject.

I tried to do a quick hack to crop & defocus the background - the editing is pretty crude, and you'd really want to try to get this effect in-camera if you could, but I think you might get what I'm talking about based on this.

Thank you for taking some time to look at my picture dlambert as well as the re-edit. What do you use to edit the photo? All I have is what came on my computer. Like I said I have only just started shooting and will apply these thoughts in the future.
Daniel

[dlambert]

That was just a quick shot with Paint.net. I was away from my desktop, where I normally use Paint Shop Pro X2. At some point, I'd like to pick up Photoshop, but for now, I'll have to make do with a slightly less expensive option.

[kristenh]

i think it was a nice choice of setting and i like the expression on her face. agree with the comments re focus and regarding composition, which was your original question, i think david lambert hit it- the dark line formed by the bottoms of the boards draws your eye away from the girl and into the darkness at the edge of the photo. when you have a "leading line" like this, you'd want it to end up at your main subject. since you like the faded area at the bottom, if you were to retake, i'd do what dl suggested, take it a little more head on, but certainly not all the way (i like how you have her looking somewhat over her shoulder), and consider including her feet as well as her hands. that would necessarily include some of the weathered boards as well.