[mickeymax]

I'm taking the plunge to have one of my photo's critiqued. I figure I"m not going to learn much from sitting on the sidelines and I respect the opinions of others here so here goes.
I took this photo yesterday inside with just some natural light coming through a high window. I used the AV mode (not sure if this was the right choice) with a shutter speed of 1/50. Aperture of 4.5 and iso 400.
Any feedback will be appreciated.

Cheers
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[fionaB]

wow look at the curls,...... this is nice, to be honest tho, the image would have IMHO worked a lot better had she been facing the camera and getting into "contact" with the viewer. Only other thing is that the lips seem sharper than the eyes. and in portrait its the eyes you want to focus on (( which i appreciate can be difficult with kids when they wont sit still for more than a second! lol)
a little bit more negative space on the right would have given her something to look into.

Nice one tho well done!

Fi

[mickeymax]

Thank you fiona for your comments. I do have one of her facing the camera which I'll post tomorrow (I think I can only do one per day here?) I checked the focus point and it is just below her chin - I guess thats something I need to remember! I can also see your point on the negative space to the right.
I also converted it to black and white and was quite pleased with the results.
Thanks again, its nice to get feedback from those with more knowledge than me.

[stigmundfreud]

think Fiona summed it up nicely! There is a clear distinction between the sharpness of the eyes and lips but you could, here, soften the lips slightly and go for a more classical look rather than the current super sharp trend. The composition is slightly let down as I feel here the full head would have worked more than an attempt at tight crop but you have left a dead space that isnt needed to the right.

I like the lighting, very subtle and soft - the shot looks more like a classical portratit/painting style

[Dabhand16]

I go along pretty much with everything that has been said before with the exception of the space on the RHS. For me I want more, not less. There should be space for the subject to look into, and there is just not quite enough. That is easily cured though with the clone tool.

I'm not sure how much is needed so I'd be generous and then crop it back as required.

[stigmundfreud]

If going for the more of the head shot then more space would work but when going for the crop shot certainly less is more Certainly getting a wider shot and cropping in never really hurt anyone either and thats good advice from Dabhand - to an extent you can always take away but you can never put it back if you never had it to start with