Tight Cropping

[AngeloDefensor]

Hello I want to have a weird composition to my portrait and would like to emphasize his one eye. So I let him cover his right eye and to have the viewer focus on the other eye only. I want to ask from your opinion if this composition is alright. I want also to know if the sharpness is okay and colour. Thank you in advance.

Camera Settings:
ISO: 400
Aperture: f/3.5
Shutter speed: 1/50
No flash
Camera: Canon 500D
Lens: 24-70mm f/2.8
Handheld
Time: 16:30

[Eyad]

Love the sharpness and the catch light in the eye.

I'm just not feeling so comfortable on the hand position or shape (open fingers)... maybe it would've looked better if it was placed totally vertically aligned with the face and the fingers were tight closed.

[AngeloDefensor]

yah thanks for making me notice this. I got what you mean of looking awkward with the hands. I will try to close his hands and do the shooting again. How is the colour by the way and lighting? Thanks for the compliment.

[shocellist]

I'm with Eyad on this one. Your subject's hand position makes it look posed and I guess unnatural. Perhaps allowing him to cover his right eye in a way that looks more natural would help (although this is just a guess).

Other than that I love this photo! Your subject's left eye really stands out, and I like the fact that you left his nose and mouth uncovered as well. I also like your lighting and the shadow your subject's hand creates over the right side of his face.

If you're looking to make this portrait stand out even more, you could try to take a shot where his eye is right in the center of the image. I think that this would be achieved by cropping a bit off of his hand and the top of his head. Good luck and good job!

EDIT: When looking at the full sized image on flickr, I noticed a slight lack of focus. Since you didn't specify your focal length, I'm not sure if it's an issue with motion blur or imprecise focusing. Just from looking at the picture though, I'd guess you were approaching 70mm. And given that focal length, 1/50s is risky. That being said, the lack of focus probably wouldn't be noticeable in smaller prints.

[AngeloDefensor]

@Shocellist Thanks. When the image is enlarged, you will notice that the subject is blurred, possible motion blur? with my lower shutter speed. My focal length was 50mm with shutter of 1/50, maybe I will need to increase my iso to 800 and pump up my shutter to 1/100.

[bphilleo]

I love the photo, but the first thing I saw was camera shake. Handholding 1/50 is doable, but of course with anything under 100 or so you're taking a risk. Otherwise I think it looks great!

[AngeloDefensor]

@BPHILLEO thanks for liking it.

[shocellist]

Yeah if you're shooting at 50mm especially without image stabilization, 1/50s is extremely risky. 1/100s is a pretty safe bet
The 500D is the... T1i right? I'd be careful about undesired noise at ISO 800+. I noticed a lot with my old XTi (granted, high ISO noise has been reduced over the years but it might still be an issue with your 500D). On the other hand, a little extra noise in a shot like this may not detract from the image. I hate digital noise, but it could give this shot texture and a kind of gritty look perhaps.