My first "shoot"

[lifebylisa]

A friend of mine wanted pictures together with her horse. Here is what I think is the best shot from the afternoon..

Critique away!!

[NicolaB]

Hi there

Perhaps it would help if we knew what the photos were for?

For example one of my thoughts looking at this image is that it is a nice photograph, HOWEVER you have the ability to capture a nice 'portrait' (looking at your cat photo) of the two of them showing their relationship? ie stalk her and don't let her pose - lol.

[zona5101]

working in direct sun is tough - although the horse still looks good, your person has highlights and shadows on the face that are typically undesirable. It is a wide shot, I think a tighter portrait crop would be more intimate. Lastly your person looks a little soft (focus) while the horse's head looks sharp...could be an artifact of the compression for posting on line. You should post the exif data.And really, have a more specific question than "critique away" as per the critique posting guidelines...

[lifebylisa]

Thanks Zona, I guess I skimmed too much when I read the rules.. I guess I didn't really know what to ask about, as I'm pretty new to the photography world.. I've always taken pictures and things but not really for any specific purpose.. what is the exif data?

The shoot was mostly for her to have some nice pictures, but also for me to practice and get an idea of how to use lighting, sun, etc..

Thanks for the input! I'll try to come up with better questions instead of just asking for critique... I'm really wanting photography to be a someday part-time/hobby job, so I'm learning!

[zona5101]

the exif data is essentially the shutter speed, aperture and iso used in the image. The exif data also includes lots of other information but the essentials concern the exposure components. In your case understanding what f stop you used will indicate if you had a shallow depth of field and explain the lack of sharpness in her face...or it would indicate you had plenty of depth of field and any fuzziness I see could be attributed to an artifact of compression... Same with shutter speed, it may indicate motion blur or eliminate that as a consideration. The ISO setting will tell how much latitude you had in chosing other settings as well as be an indicator if there was excessive noise in the image.

[sk66]

My biggest critique of the image is that it is too "loose". I think a much tighter portrait crop would work better.