Outdoor portrait - critique please

[Jonathan Evans]

Hi all,

I took this photograph of my wife at the local park last week and I would like some feedback on it. Do you find the pose and composition pleasing? What about the hotspots down the side of her face? Are they too distracting? I feel this is one of the few photos where she is really engaged with the camera. Would you agree?

Thanks very much in advance for your feedback.

Jonathan



Exif:

Camera Canon EOS 50D
Exposure 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 98 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

[andsome]

She is lovely, but to me the overall effect is too hard. Lighting needs softening up. Just my personal opinion for what it's worth.

[Jonathan Evans]

Thanks andsome. I guess a diffuser of some sort would be useful in this situation. She was position in one of the few positions of open shade without speckled light in the park, but the sun was low in the sky providing the hard side lighting. Perhaps a bit of extra post processing to soften the highlights would work?

[Madog]

Couldn't hurt to try, it looks like you also have a bit of a white balance issue, it looks a little yellow to me.

[NicolaB]

Hi Engagement with the camera is good as is the composition.

Unfortunately the overexposure stops it from being a really solid picture - but not from being a keeper

Looking at your exif data, you have plenty of room to dial down your iso and bring down you ss. In bright sunlight, you should be at 100. If you are feeling brave next time, if you open up your aperture even more (smaller number) you will get even more bokeh in the background .

Although the sun was low, it is possibly still too strong here and as you say, the only option would be to have someone hold a diffuser / find full shade.

Hth