C&C Please

[Don]

This is my wife, nine months pregnant and nearly ready to pop. We were on our way home from a gathering when we stopped by a Whole Foods to pick up a couple of things, when I noticed they had this nice rock formation on some manicured ground, so I decided to have a little impromptu portrait session with my wife.

This is my Rebel XS with the lens at f/5.6 for 1/250th of a second on ISO 200. I had my kit 17-55mm on the camera at 46mm. I used my speedlight on ETTL to lighten her up. I was in manual mode, metered off the grass. Camera was handheld. Looking back at the shot, I wish I had metered off the bright spot on her left arm, so it wouldn't be so hot, but I do like the way the overbright light plays in her hair. I did a little bit of contrast and color enhancement in post.

 

[edouble]

The photo is too bright and appears that the colors are a tad too saturated. The focus could have been better. Her forehead looks sharper than her hand. For this composure I would have gotten a little closer to her and used a smaller focal length and a larger f number. A larger f number would/could have made the background slight underexposed (with the correct flash settings) to make her "pop". A larger f number could have also helped to keep her left arm from being over exposed.

If you have the ability for off camera flash. Flash left would help.

A good focus point would be her eyes. But you couldn't focus on her eyes if all you see is her eye lids!