Haley - First Portrait Job. C&C Please.

[zendianah]

What do you think?

 

[eravedesigns]

I like the shot! but there is one thing I would do. In my opinion I would bump up the contrast more.

 

[zendianah]

I agree with you. I thought I bumped it up but when I posted it .. It looked dull! Thank you for your comment..

 

[The Phototron]

Her face is out of focus, especially on the left.

 

[Peanuts]

This is going to sound really stupid, but is this a computer painting or a photograph?
If it is a photograph, I personally feel there has been a bit too much post-processing done to it - however, her eyes look very very sharp and I like the motion of her hair alot and the colours

 

[zendianah]

there wasnt a lot of post proccessing done. All I did was boosted the contrast..( not enough )and sharpened the eyes. Then I sharpened the overall pic.

 

[emogirl]

its a nice shot...but i have to agree with brittany....the cheeks and neck looked like they were 'smudged'...like trying to fix bad skin or something...just looks funny....

 

[zendianah]

As soon as Imagecrap is back online, I will post the original pic. My focusing comes out soft in most my photos. I don't know how to make them sharper.

 

[heip]

I think it may have been sharpened a bit too much and it emphasizes the contrast too much.
It's a good shot though. I like the comp, the crop and the expression.
Post the original please.

 

[Flash Harry]

Stop down the lens, the closer you are to your subject you need more DoF for sharpness overall, a fuzzy OoF portrait is not really any good. H

 

[zendianah]

Here is the original

 

[zendianah]

Stop down the lens, the closer you are to your subject you need more DoF for sharpness overall, a fuzzy OoF portrait is not really any good. H

Ok... I'll try that !! Thank you for your suggestions!

 

[Big Mike]

Cute shot.

I agree with Harry, the DOF is a little too thin for my liking. This looks like it was shot at about F1.8 ? Try F2.8 or F4

 

[zendianah]

Thanks Mike. And yes it was shot at 1.8... Is the trick for sharpness 4 stops higher ? My portraits are always soft it seems. I'll get it one day!! Maybe I need to start sleeping with my understanding exposure book to retain the info since I have read it a million times.

 

[Big Mike]

A fair number of lenses are not at their sharpest, wide open. Usually one or two stops is good enough to sharpen it up. Many of them are at their sharpest around F8.

There could be many factors as to why are are having troubles with sharpness. Is the shutter speed fast enough? Are you focusing accurately? There is a chance that the lens or camera could be misaligned.

What is your post processing workflow? What sharpening techniques do you apply?