Headshot or not

[Gina9942]

When I was doing dance pictures this past weekend I was asked to do a headshot for this girl. This is one of the ones that we didn't use because of the out of focusness. If I would've shot this on a smaller aperture, would her face had been more in focus? Would it have looked better?

Exposure: 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture: f/1.8
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 800
Exposure Bias: +1/3 EV
Flash: No Flash

[SusanH1970]

It's hard to tell from the attachment (Flickr embeds are so much clearer!) but it looks like the focus was on the nose, not the eyes, which is why they're blurry. Maybe a bit of camera shake, too.

I like the composition and her expression, though - cute kid! The exposure looks good, too.

[WooD]

I think its a really nice shot. Good pose, and angle.

It looks a little flat to me. I think you could get it to "pop" more with just a little post work.

[SusanH1970]

Wow, what a difference from the originally attached photo - this doesn't look OOF at all.

I really like this!!

[Gina9942]

Thanks! I flickred it in. Hope that helps.

[Gina9942]

WooD- What do you suggest pp?

[WooD]

Originally Posted by Gina9942

WooD- What do you suggest pp?

I opened the image in CS2, and just hit auto contrast, and thought it helped.


Don't get me wrong, I think you got a nice shot as is.

[Gina9942]

Thanks. I will try that and see what it does. I am hoping to send them to print tonight.

[Trader]

I think you have a nice shot there, it just needs some processing work. Here is what I did with it:

I popped the image into Focus Magic and did a 4 pixel adjustment on it. That gave a better overall image. In photoshop I added a gausian blur to the face on a seperate layer. Turned down the opacity by 15%. Added a little color to the lips. Worked on the eyes. Her left eye still needs more work but this is a bit better.

[autofocus]

Hope you don't mind, but I had some fun with it also...a very cute girl, and I love freckles

What I did:
auto color
selective levels adjustments on face to darken a little
shadow highlight adjustment
dodged hair highlights a little
dodged eyes a little
smart sharpen