not happy grand daughter

[slowride]

i would like to know what you think about the composition of this photo of my not so happy grand daughter
camera nikon D90
aperture pirority
1/30
f/5.3
iso 200
66mm

[TNH]

Cute pic! You did a good job placing her to the side of the photo, that looks good.

The only things that bug me a little are- The top of her head is cut off. I always try to avoid cutting off people's heads when I'm taking a picture, it looks better that way. Also, the black pole and the pink circles (maybe balls?) to the right of her head are a little distracting. You can probably clone that out in PP. And lastly- she looks a bit blurry, the picture could use some sharpening.

Other than that, I love it! she's too cute.

[TheMoons678]

It looks like shot was taken as it started to get dark but you're only at ISO 200, giving you a shutter speed of 1/30. To avoid blurry pictures that result from camera shake you want to maintain a minimal shutter speed of 1/focal length. 66mm on crop body is like 99mm full frame so according to this rule of thumb you needed a speed of 1/100.

The ISO performance of the D90 is pretty good so dont be shy, crank it up (1000? 1600?)

IMO focus is everything. If the subject is blurry I cant look at the picture very long and the basketball hoop/cut off head becomes irrelevant.

[slowride]

thanks for the info