My First Shot At A Portrait

[starstudit]

Ok so I don't know anything about photography, so I tried doing a portrait of my neice, whatcha think?

 

[linpelk]

You've captured a really sweet expression and pose with your niece. Your background has interesting lines and colors...not too cluttered. The little girl appears to be a bit soft in focus. You should also crank up the contrast and saturation a bit to help your colors pop. And be careful not to cut off little fingers when framing (something I am guilty of with kids...they move so fast!!). This is a keeper. I bet her parents love this picture!

 

[bigtwinky]

Cute picture! For a first try, nice job!

As said, you have issues with the eyes / face being in focus. Those should almost always be your #1 priority to get fully in focus, crystal clear. The setting is ok, nothing awe inspiring, but better than having a cluttered and busy background.

The pose can be worked on, as mentionned, fingers are cut off.

I find the picture has a bit too much dead / empty space over her head. Try zooming in more or getting a higher / lower angle for a different perspective.

 

[amber_martin05]

i wouldn't have thought that was a first time photo. i agree, the pose was great for her! its a keeper!

 

[musicaleCA]

When boosting saturation with portraits, be careful with skin tones. They're easy to over-saturate.

As it is, there's a green line coming right out of the top of her head. Next time, try using the background to frame her face/body, by having lines around her, not through her (and especially, never, ever straight through the eyes).

As for focusing on the eyes, it's usually best to use your centre autofocus point, get AF lock on the eyes/iris—especially when using a shallow DoF, like f/2—then recompose and get AE lock (unless you're using a flash, in which case you should be shooting manual. If you can't get them to stay still, use a longer DoF to increase your ability to get the eyes in focus.

Also, I'd like to know what focal length you shot that at. It's more flattering to the human face to shoot at long focal lengths, in the telephoto range.

Regardless, you caught her in a great pose, which is half the job.