One portrait

[cbrown222]

I took this a few weeks ago but just decided to post it.
C+C is welcome
The picture is unedited.
I used a D80 with the 18-55 mm kit lens


EXIF:
Shutter speed: 1/40
F/3.5
ISO 400
18 mm focal length

 

[joealcantar]

Wish she would have been looking at you during the shot. Nice expression captured.
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Shoot well, Joe

 

[cbrown222]

Wish she would have been looking at you during the shot. Nice expression captured.
-
Shoot well, Joe

I kinda like the fact that she's looking away but is that considered bad photography?
thanks

 

[dakkon76]

There's a little motion blur, but probably not much you could have done about it. ISO 800 on lower-end cameras, like mine at least, tends to be too noisy so I don't usually consider it an option. The only other way you could have increased your shutter speed was to use a wider aperture (lower f-stop), which wasn't an option with your current lens, or to add some supplemental light with either flash, white cards, or reflector. Aside from that, if you know you're going to be shooting pics of someone in a given orientation, try and use single-point AF so that you can choose what you get sharp focus on... and try to keep that on the eye closest to you, or at least the part of their face that's closest to you if they're moving too fast. Another good guideline to keep in mind is that if a person is looking one way or the other, that the image should continue in the way they're looking. So in your image, the back of her head would be more off to the left side, to where it was almost out of the picture. I like candids, so I usually prefer the shots where people aren't looking at the camera.

 

[cbrown222]

There's a little motion blur, but probably not much you could have done about it. ISO 800 on lower-end cameras, like mine at least, tends to be too noisy so I don't usually consider it an option. The only other way you could have increased your shutter speed was to use a wider aperture (lower f-stop), which wasn't an option with your current lens, or to add some supplemental light with either flash, white cards, or reflector. Aside from that, if you know you're going to be shooting pics of someone in a given orientation, try and use single-point AF so that you can choose what you get sharp focus on... and try to keep that on the eye closest to you, or at least the part of their face that's closest to you if they're moving too fast. Another good guideline to keep in mind is that if a person is looking one way or the other, that the image should continue in the way they're looking. So in your image, the back of her head would be more off to the left side, to where it was almost out of the picture. I like candids, so I usually prefer the shots where people aren't looking at the camera.

Thanks for the tips and I see what you mean about the way they're looking, but I cant really see any motion blur.