Please critique

[cookincanuck]

Hi everyone, I am very new at taking portraits and would really appreciate some feedback. I happened to be in the park with my camera, taking pictures of my kids, and this prom-ready couple wandered by. I offered to snap a couple of photos of them. This weekend, I'm going to be taking prom photos of some of my friends' kids and hope to improve from the pictures at the park.

Specifically, is the place where I cut them off at the bottom awkward? I think I should have captured her dress fully on the right instead of cutting it off. Anything with exposure or focus you would change? Thank you.

Canon Rebel Xsi
Lens 24-70mm
ISO 100
Focal length 70mm
Aperture f/4.0
Shutter 1/100

[PhotoGnat]

Originally Posted by cookincanuck

Hi everyone, I am very new at taking portraits and would really appreciate some feedback. I happened to be in the park with my camera, taking pictures of my kids, and this prom-ready couple wandered by. I offered to snap a couple of photos of them. This weekend, I'm going to be taking prom photos of some of my friends' kids and hope to improve from the pictures at the park.

Specifically, is the place where I cut them off at the bottom awkward? I think I should have captured her dress fully on the right instead of cutting it off. Anything with exposure or focus you would change? Thank you.

Canon Rebel Xsi
Lens 24-70mm
ISO 100
Focal length 70mm
Aperture f/4.0
Shutter 1/100

Hello, first off, beautiful shot, they're adorable and it's great that it was so random and spontanious. I'm fairly new myself so I don't have a lot of room to critique, but I do have a few suggestions.
-In regard to the crop, I agree it might be nicer to see her full dress I think it would have made the shot a little better.
-I noticed their faces aren't in focus as well as they could be.
-The photo seems a little bright and the colors maybe a little washed out, you could probably tweek that in PP.
-The only other thing I see is the space to the left of the guy and the right of the girl is cut off, it throws me off a little.

Like I said I'm farily new so take anything I said with a grain of salt. great shot though.

Cheers,
Nathan

[cookincanuck]

Nathan, thanks so much for your comments. You're right, I could definitely do a better job with framing them and I agree that it is a little washed out.

I did notice that their faces seemed a little out of focus, but didn't know if that was just my eyes playing tricks on me. Does anyone have any suggestions regarding aperture or focal length so I don't make this mistake again? Thank you!

[PhotoGnat]

Originally Posted by cookincanuck

Nathan, thanks so much for your comments. You're right, I could definitely do a better job with framing them and I agree that it is a little washed out.

I did notice that their faces seemed a little out of focus, but didn't know if that was just my eyes playing tricks on me. Does anyone have any suggestions regarding aperture or focal length so I don't make this mistake again? Thank you!

D'oh! Sorry I didn't meant to leave out suggestions to correct the focus. I saw you had your apature pretty low. I've always been told unless your doing something specific where you need the low apature to keep it about 8 for good measure. I don't know how accurate of a suggestion that is but so far it's worked pretty well for myself. Also if you use manual focus just make sure to pay attention to their eyes when you focus your shot. If you use auto focus I don't know if your camera supports it but I use the face finder in mine and it does an excellent job of finding and focusing on the face. Hope that helps

[TheMoons678]

I'd say what is most awkward is their pose. I probably would have asked him to stand up straight and she could lean into him.