Is the sharpness Acceptable? (+ other things)

[morning]

Hi everyone, this is my first post here. I shot this on a cloudy afternoon (past 3PM in NJ), not sure if the sharpness is acceptable. Also, I do not see the kid's rosy cheeks on my monitor, does her skin tone look natural or did the flash make it too bright?

There was no sun when I took this, so I used an external flash and bounced it off a big white cardboard.

I cropped the pic using camera's TRIM function.

Taken hand-held.



EXIF:

* Mode: Manual
* Exposure: 1/200 (0.005 sec)
* f stop: f/2.8
* ISO: 200
* White Balance: Cloudy
* Focus Mode: AF-S
* Exposure Bias: -0.3
* Min. and Max. Focal Length: 50.4mm
* Shooting Mode: Single Frame
* Camera/Lens: D90 50mm f/1.8 prime lens



I'd also love to hear more suggestions on how to improve my shot. I really didn't pay much attention to composition, as I wanted to practice getting the right focus and subject's natural color.

Thanks in advance!

[natek313]

I see slight redness in her cheeks on my monitor, but it is pretty subtle. The focus looks good.

[WooD]

I think her face need a touch more color. It seems to be competing with the colors of her hat, and coat.

Looks more like an on camera flash going from the catch light, and although its hard to tell from the size of the image, but it looks like there is a bit of red eye going on too.

[SusanH1970]

Originally Posted by WooD

I think her face need a touch more color. It seems to be competing with the colors of her hat, and coat.

Looks more like an on camera flash going from the catch light, and although its hard to tell from the size of the image, but it looks like there is a bit of red eye going on too.

+1. The pinlights and the skin tones do make it look kind of "flashy". When blown up in Photoshop I didn't see any red eye, though.

I played around with it and gave it a bit of a contrast bump and added a very slight warming filter and it looked a little better.

Focus looks good though, and I like the expression. Cute kid!

[Benji]

Maybe you used "external flash and bounced it off a big white cardboard" but if you did it didn't work. The pin point catchlights and the hard shadow under her chin are dead giveaways that an on camera flash was used as the main light. An external flash bounced off a big white cardboard would leave large catchlights and soft shadows.

Benji

[deborahinky]

Your white balance was set for cloudy because there was no sun, but if you used a flash shouldn't it have been set for flash?? Maybe that's why his face is a little washed out??

That's easly corrected though.

I think the focus is good & I don't see any red eye.

Good shot!

[morning]

Wow, thanks for all the great feedbacks!

Re: Flash/Shadow, SB-600 was attached to the cam but I angled it towards the cardboard, not so sure why it casted a shadow under her chin. I don't have a reflector yet, so in the meantime I'll use the cardboard and work on flash/board positioning to achieve proper lighting.

Re: WB, I just thought the natural lighting condition takes precedence regardless of the flash. Hence WB Cloudy. I'll set it to Flash or Auto if I intend to use the flash next time.

Re: clothing colors vs facial color - this was an impromptu shot, so I wasn't really concerned about it at that time, but I'll keep the tip in mind and use it on the next shoot.

Re: Contrast, nice tip. As much as possible, I'd like to minimize post-processing, do you think an orange gel would help with the warmth?

By the way, here's the original size for those who are interested.

Thank you again for all the inputs, really appreciate it. I'm really glad I found this site, seems like the right place to learn more about photography.