What else could I have done?

[noreen23]

This is my first post in this section of DPS. I have always been intimidated to post here. But then I realized I want to learn how to take picture of people/portrait.

Below is a picture of my daughter. So far, she's my only willing model, so if I'll have other shots that I'll need your advice and/or comments/critique, you'll be seeing more of her.

Anyways, what do you think of this shot? Some people who've seen it liked it. Personally, I liked it. I know the right side of the face is dark, maybe I should have used a reflector or something but having a 14 month old as a model, i don't think it's feasible for me. Oh, I prefer to use natural lighting.

So, what else could have I done to make it a better picture? When you see the photo, is there something that intrigued you? Can you see something from it - the mood maybe?

Any critiques is greatly appreciated.



Exif data:
Camera: Nikon D90
Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture: f/1.8
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: No Flash

[kristenh]

well, she's adorable- that certainly intrigued me. and i like the way one side of her face is darker than the other. what i like less is that the background is such a bright white that my eye tends to travel over to look at that and that takes the emphasis away from her face. it's distracting. if it were my photo, i'd probably experiment with cropping away the oblong dark part on the right and maybe even the very brightest part on the right, along with some stray hairs. but don't crop anything off the left; give her a space to look into. but i think you did a nice job blurring the background while getting her sharply in focus. others will be able to give advice on darkening the background, but my pping skills are largely limited to cropping .

[sk66]

To me the composition is a bit off..The gray/white on the right side is a bit distracting. I don't have any real issue with the lighting.
I would have done something more like this....but I think it would be better with the top of her head.

[noreen23]

Originally Posted by kristenh

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@Kristenh: I was supposed do what you suggested, but sk66 did it for me.... I completely agree with the distracting white and grey vertical beam on the right side. I am such a newbie, I did not even pay attention to it.

By the way, my pp skills are limited as well.

Originally Posted by sk66

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Thanks for cropping it for me. I just cropped the part as suggested and as shown in your attached thumbnail. As for the head part, I looked into my file but unfortunately, most of them had the head cut off. I don't know if it's been a pattern but i think it was because I was in a hurry to get this before she'll move. I know, there'll should be no excuses but i'll definitely work on getting a full head shot - next time.

Thanks for the input. I truly appreciate your ideas and suggestions. It makes me motivated and inspired.

[sk66]

I also added more room to the left for her to look into.....simply cropping off the rt side made it feel too "tight" to me, but it does put it into more of a "standard" 8x10 format.

[prmsheriff]

noreen23, your daughter is beautiful. I also had a look at some of the other snaps of her in flickr. Having recently taken pictures of my niece who is around the same age as your daughter, I agree that its a little difficult to capture good expressions and more than that to make them stay put except when they are sleeping!

Since you have used a fast lens that lets you take pictures w/o the use of flash in most instances, I would suggest to use the camera in burst mode so that you get more shots of the varying poses and expressions of the child in that short span of time. Most entry level DSLRs today come with the speed of at least 3 shots per second. Not using flash really helps because you do away with the time taken for the flash to recharge. I have used this method fairly successfully.

[Peapod Photo]

Photo's gone?

[noreen23]

by the way, here's the cropped version. Please let me know if I get what you were trying to tell me on the suggestion above.

[noreen23]

Originally Posted by Peapod Photo

Photo's gone?

sorry, I replaced the original photo with the cropped version without knowing that it has affected this post. I already put up the new/original photo. Thanks for pointing that out to me.

Originally Posted by prmsheriff

Since you have used a fast lens that lets you take pictures w/o the use of flash in most instances, I would suggest to use the camera in burst mode so that you get more shots of the varying poses and expressions of the child in that short span of time. Most entry level DSLRs today come with the speed of at least 3 shots per second. Not using flash really helps because you do away with the time taken for the flash to recharge. I have used this method fairly successfully.

I'll look into using the burst mode. Thanks for that suggestion as well! I appreciate it.