She whipped her hair back & forth

[brian_dg]

Camera Canon EOS 500D
Exposure 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture f/2.8
Focal Length 100 mm
ISO Speed 3200
Lens EF100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
Subject Distance 8.26 m

my weakest point in photography would be the field of portraiture but this one is my favorite among the pictures that I have taken that night

-Do you think the shadows on her face is kinda bothering?
-How about the white balance? (this one's on 3050 in PS)
-the exposure in general? what do you thunk? i think it's kinda underexposed? maybe not? not really sure

[RichardTaylor]

That's a good moment.

Technical.
The exposure is ok considering the lighting conditions.
The top of the shirt, around the neck, appears to be blown out.
White balance looks ok.
The biggest problem is that the girl is not at all sharp. It looks like you have missed focus.

Aesthetic.
The background doesn't help the photo and the vertical white bar is a major distraction.
Shooting from a lower POV would help as it would remove that "looking down onto the subject" feel.

[brian_dg]

I see thanks for all your opinions / suggestions.. I have never thought of that shooting from lower POV.. next time I'll try that..

[wulf]

I agree with Richard on the lack of focus - even more apparent when I look at a larger version back on Flickr.

The shadows on the right of her face are fine, giving a sense of shape, although they might be even better softened with some lighting coming from the left of the frame. There is a brown mark above her left eye that looks disconcerting though. I don't know whether it is shadow or make-up but it comes across as a splodge and I think it would be better if it were not there.

Overall, I think a slower shutter speed would have helped to get some motion in there - at first glance, this image makes her look more like a shambling zombie (lolling head) than somebody rocking out.

Wulf

ps. As well as the background, don't forget the foreground as well - that blurred table doesn't help.