Need Advice

[ABlythe]

Hey Folks!
First off, I just wanted to say hello to everyone. As you'll notice this is my first post here to this forum as I am visiting from another photography forum and I thought I would join this one as well.

Anyhow, the following are a couple candid shots of my girlfriend that I thought were worth sharing. Please feel free to critique these, as I would love know what you guys think.

Which do you like better and why? What could I have changed to make the photographs better? Just for the record, theses photos were only resized and sharpened in CS2.

 

[LaFoto]

Heya Alex, welcome to ThePhotoForum!

Both are nice, your girlfriend is very pretty and I think she might eventually even be willing to pose for you so your photos no longer need to be candids?

I like her natural smile and open interaction with the viewer in the first but I feel DOF (depth of focus) is a bit short and it is quite distracting to see her left eye (right side) out of focus.

In both cases lighting is not at its very best, but let me move this to the People and Pets section (since posting two photos for some general critique does not quite follow the guidelines to Photo Critique), for that is where our portrait experts come to look (too) - I hope they no not only go into Portraits and Weddings, which is the forum more designed for the portrait pros among us.

 

[ax-ax]

Good evening Alex, welcome to ThePhotoForum

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

The first one is a nice candid shot. As mentioned, a little more depth of field would be better though.

The second one looks kind of awkward. She appears to be leaning back which is causing the skin on her neck to crease up. It's also not the most flattering pose for the rest of her and we can almost see up her nose. Also, the shadows on the wall aren't great. She does have great eyes...which are the strength of this shots.

 

[Steel26]

the first one feels like its a bit to tight of a crop. I dont know it just seems too close for my taste. I like the second but as mike said its a bit awkward. for candids they are pretty good though.

 

[Parago]

I like them but agree with Mike and LaFoto.. you should definitely try some black&white shots with her, her skin is absolutely flawless so they might turn out beautiful. Close-ups are a must with those eyes, congrats on the pretty girlfriend!