Portrait

[luckylili]

I did a shoot for a friend and this is my favorite from it.
Is there anything I need to improve on or anything you notice?

Sony a230, f/5.6, 1/100sec, ISO-100, 55mm, no flash

Untitled | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[Matthew_Scullion]

I would have two suggestions I think Lili.

- I think it could be sharper on the face and eyes. Try focusing carefully on the eye. I find this easier to do if I choose "single point" auto-focus on my camera. I focus first, use focus lock (shutter release button halfway down usually) then move to compose the image. Also, to give yourself more leeway, you could use an aperture that gives you sufficient depth of field to make sure the whole subject is sharp (read up on relationship between aperture, focal length, distance to the subject and DoF). You can do this in Aperture Priority mode on your camera which I always think is good for quick portraits.

- I think the bright natural sunlight is distracting. Next time perhaps try either shooting in the shade, in morning or evening (best!) or killing some of the sunlight by underexposing the ambient light and using a flash to correctly expose the subject.

Hope this helps.

[BigFuzzy]

Matthew makes two good points. The Focus needs to be nailed and the exposure issue is one that can only be solved by not shooting in direct midday sunlight (probably the worst conditions for light every). Try to find some open shad and/or learn how to use flash to compensate for that.

Having said that, the first thing that jumped out at me when I opened the image was the awkward composition/cropping. You have limbs cut off at awkward points (elbow, hand and left arm) made worse (in my humble opinion) by the dead-center composition. In the future try putting the subject in a position where there is more space in the direction he/she is looking.. in this case, to the right (his left).

Lastly, personally, I really dislike these overly posed shots. It screams "hey, take a fashiony pose and look like you're posing!".. which to me isn't the way it should be. Even if a pose is 'odd' a good photographer/model make it still look effortless/natural.. this looks defnitely posey.

In the end, know what your lighting conditions are and think about the composition.. which should be your first thoughts before clicking the shutter.
Keep posting!

[luckylili]

Originally Posted by BigFuzzy

Lastly, personally, I really dislike these overly posed shots. It screams "hey, take a fashiony pose and look like you're posing!".. which to me isn't the way it should be. Even if a pose is 'odd' a good photographer/model make it still look effortless/natural.. this looks defnitely posey.

Thanks guys for the help : )

But as for the posing, he did all his own poses.
He's a dancer so he wanted certain poses done and I gave him some free range to be who he was. But I understand what you're saying.