Candid shot of my neice.

[steve ward]

Hi everyone, tried a candid shot of my great neice as she looked my way.
I cropped it as the top of her fathers hair was already missing and i wanted to get closer,a lot of my friends like it and my neice loves it but how does it stand up photography wise. Thankyou for any c&c.

D7000, f5.6, 1/160, 100 iso, 105mm. Built in flash.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Steve,

Using the built-in flash for portraits is usually a "no-no", but you seem to have pulled it off, so well done.

You have avoided 'scorching' the skin tones, your skill, or if accidental; the ratio of white clothes and dark background, has made the metering get it right.
However, the lighting is very 'flat' as a result - i.e. no left to right or top to bottom difference in exposure to give shape to the faces, although again the skilled placement of backlight on niece's right has helped avoid this being a problem.
It perhaps isn't as sharp as it could be on her eyes.
The background is nicely distant and hence out of focus, it might be worth toning down or cloning out the white blob by her ear.
The distant background has also avoided the harsh shadows of the subjects from the small area built-in flash being visible.

When you downsize to post here, you might want to consider that most people's screen are (these days) 1050 or 1080 pixels high, so posting an image 1379 high cannot display 1:1 (for optimum sharpness) without scrolling.

I post at between 850 and 1000px tall and upto 1600 wide, but the height 'rules the roost', the smaller figure should avoid the average browser banners limiting the size when viewed in the Lytebox (although if you can get people to use F11 to full screen, they should see 1000px height at 1:1).

I think your choice of crop works very well.

Cheers,

[steve ward]

Thankyou for your comments Dave, no I don't think too much skill was involved, this shot was taken in a park one late afternoon and she turned around and looked straight at me so I took a shot. I knew that a backlit subject can look good with some fill light so I already had my flash up...that was the extent of my skill, and I guess not to get to close with a pop up flash.
I am planning on getting a good flash unit so I can improve my shots, for now though it'll have to be natural light.

As for the resizing....Guilty as charged....sorry about that, i wasn't paying attention when doing it.
Thanks again for the advice Dave.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Steve,

Forgive me if I 'overdo' the feedback, personally I'm the type of bloke that likes to know what's wrong, all of it.

No apology needed by you on the image size thing.

I find trying to stick to saying just one or two things is, for me, almost impossible ( ), unless I can see that someone clearly wouldn't cope with more, I tend to get carried away in an effort to help.

Cheers,

[steve ward]

Dave, no thats fine, it's what i wanted...throw everything you've got at me, I really feel a need for expression in photography and art so any advice from someone who knows what they're talking about is most definatley welcome.

[paul17]

Dave has pretty much covered it all, but I would add that if the picture was for family and friends I am sure they would all love it, however if this was a competition picture it is way of the mark as as per the very good critic. Even as keen amateurs/hobbyist we are allowed to take normal pictures