please cc

[tomlinson]

so I have been using my dslr for a couple months, I shoot in manual and I am unsure of the efxi I don't know where to get tht info.
But I feel like some of my photos are good but there seems to be a line between my pictures and professionals, Im not sure what it is ? any cc on what I can work on to make my pictures look better would be geat Thank you.

sorta hard to tell with just one picture but most of my work seems to look more like snapshots I see alot of others have really nice bright photos Not sure if its pp or camera

[windrider86]

You do have a nice pose here. Pert of the problem you are having is your crop. Try doing a portrait crop but leave more room in front of her than behind her. You want to get rid of the negative space that is pulling attention away from your subject

[jonnyquest45]

you can find the efxi on your flicker upload if you click on the part where it says what camera was used. here is your efxi data

Camera Fujifilm FinePix S3Pro
Exposure 0.006 sec (1/180)
Aperture f/2.4
Focal Length 50 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash No Flash

i agree with the other post as well.

[tomlinson]

what is a portrait crop ? more crop around her and leave more of her shirt/chest in ?

[windrider86]

no, portrait crop is more of an upright (vertical) crop where a landscape (what you have) is horizontal
You might find this interesting reading: rule of thirds

[tomlinson]

ok thanks, I have read about the rule of thirds, but I thought that leaving a big portion like that was negitive space. I will expierement with that! thanks

[Mark Engelhart]

Originally Posted by windrider86

You do have a nice pose here. Pert of the problem you are having is your crop. Try doing a portrait crop but leave more room in front of her than behind her. You want to get rid of the negative space that is pulling attention away from your subject

I agree with Windrider86 even though you woould think that the green pillar would create interest in the image it is competing and pulling the attention away from the subject. Far too many times I looked for something of interest to put in the image with my subject and almost ever time it took away from the subject. You could have had her facing away or leaning against the pillar. Then her eyes would have had plenty of space infront of them. I also agree with a more vertical crop of is would have gained more interest. The depth of field in the background is perfect. If you need it to have a horizontal cropping for some reason then adding more of the background would have worked. As long as the negative space has no distractions and is more neutral it will work fine.

What about lighting? Did you use a reflector or flash? Was it a very cloudy day? The lighting is somewhat flat like no external light source on a cloudy day. You could have popped her with a key flash set about 1/3- 2/3 to camera right of her face (short lighting) and given some more detail and drama to her face. Not that flat is not ok, it just would have rendered more of a 3 dimensional look with some ratio.