Portrait (I'm new to this)

[rmcheek]

Hey everyone I'm new to photography and would love some constructive criticism. How is the composition and overall exposure?

Canon EOS Rebel t1i
EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
Shot at 44mm
1/60
f/5
ISO-400

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5044/...3bbc7777cc.jpg

[janakkpandya]

I guess there is a direct flash on the subject if I'm not wrong. I believe if you bounce the flash or no flash at all with soft lens may be more effective.
Nice try. Keep it up and. Welcome to DPS.

[ctcook]

Welcome to DPS.

Composition - Try portrait orientation. The lamp right behind is eye is a little distracting.
Exposure - +1 on diffusing the light. If you can't bounce try placing a tissue in front of the flash.

[fernampo]

I enjoy bw pix and your shot shows blacks AND whites (sorry if i'm wrong, my monitor sucks...).

I agree with previous comments about orientation (it would eliminate the light on the right of the frame) and the distracting back light. I think that you could have the fill light coming from a little more behind the subjects left shoulder. It would increase the contrast between left/right eyes and it would look nicer IMHO. At last, try avoiding to keep the subject in the center... It's too static and leave no room at either sides...

Hugs and welcome!

[lputman]

Ideally, you would not want the eyes to be all the way in the corner as they are. A step to your left would have shifted the eyes. I think this could benefit from a crop, eliminating some of the space on the right side of the photo or by just cropping into portrait orientation. The conversion to B&W is somewhat flat. A tweak of levels would fix that.