Please Critique Color and Composition

[VEW]

Hello.

I'm new at this, but willing and eager to learn. Please offer critiques on the composition, color and sharpness.

Camera: Canon 7D
Focal Length: 50mm
F-Stop: 1.6
Shutter Speed: 1/30th of a second
ISO: 1600
No flash (Just lights in the room)

Thank you,
VEW

[docxnoel]

I feel that your model is very relax and she is pleasing in the camera, also i like the colors of your interior, and you need to do justice for that, first, I observe that your ISO is so high bumping to 1600 which increases the image noise, try to lower it, some suggest to keep it at lower ISO as possible from 100 to 400, second, it appears to blurry, proper focusing is needed to keep your image sharp, third, there is an excess skin on the left side of her back and very obvious, you may probably tweak in PP or to reposed your image to hide those excess, and adjust your white balance, it appears to me a bit yellow., I hope I can help.

[wings of a bluebird]

I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination, but here's my thoughts as a fellow photographer...

ok truthfully I'm not digging the pose at all. (that's how my daughter sits when she's on the loo with her legs like that!).

I'm not finding the pose to be pleasing to the eye, nor very flattering (it's making her appear shorter/hunched and like she has no neck). Also her head looks awkward tilted to the side like that.

I think sitting her in a few different poses and working out what is more flattering might be worthwhile. She doesn't appear to be tall, so sitting her with better posture and her legs creating longer lines would be more appealing to the eye, and much more flattering for the model.

I think that you've used a low aperture in order to try and get as much light in as possible, but in the process it has left your focus off - I find it really difficult to get a sharp image using such a low aperture, because not everything is on the same focal plain - therefore your eyes may be in focus, but the rest of your face out of focus if that makes any sense?!

Working with natural light is difficult unless you have a really good light source with big windows nearby etc. Even then, it's much more flattering if you have really sheer curtains over the windows to allow some diffusing of the light so it's not really harsh.

Was this taken in the late afternoon? I find working with natural light indoors late in the day creates this kind of 'yellow' appearance to photos, so maybe do some shots in the morning and you might find you don't need such a high ISO or low aperture.

[VEW]

Thank you for the feedback and suggestions. They were very much appreciated and will keep them in mind.

The picture was taken between 10:30 and 11:00 p.m. maybe later and there isn't very much lighting in her condo. (The model is my girlfriend--she lets me practice with her).

[wings of a bluebird]

Originally Posted by VEW

The picture was taken between 10:30 and 11:00 p.m. maybe later and there isn't very much lighting in her condo.

If this is the case, it may be necessary to adjust your white balance according to the light source as different light sources create different colour casts. Fixing the white balance might counteract the "yellow" in the shot.