One of my few attempts at a portrait

[Jim A]

She is not looking at the camera and the background is messy ......... but otherwise?

[Manfred M]

Overall a very nice image, Jim.

We don't always need to have eye contact with the camera, so that is not an issue. The background is a bit messy and distracting, but that can be toned down a bit in post. Chopping through the fingers and hand is not great form either and the background looks like it is not quite level either.

A tighter crop would help reduce some of these "issues".

[rpcrowe]

Absolutely beautiful lady... IMO, looking away from he camera gives her a shy appealing look that is becoming...

[Shadowman]

If you were in control of the shoot you could've had her move in front of a more compatible background or you could've moved, some of the background has elements which compliment the model's costume though. Crop does solve the messy background, nice effort.

[rpcrowe]

My EXIF viewer no longer seems to work. I am wondering about the focal length and f/stop you used for this portrait...

If you had the equipment, this might have been an excellent place to use a longer lens with a very wide aperture such as an 85mm f/1.4 or even f/1.2 on a full frame camera. I am guessing that the combination of long focal length and wide aperture might have blurred the BG even more than it is...

IMO, the place for a really wide aperture portrait lens is when you are shooting in areas in which you cannot control the background. However, in studio work or when I am in total control of the BG, I prefer to shoot around f/5.6 or even f/8 with a 70-200mm zoom......

I have an 85mm f/1.8 Sony lens which I use on my APSC mirrorless cameras. It does a pretty good job working with a narrow DOF... I also have a Canon 85mm f/1.8 lens which I can use on my Sony APSC cameras adapted with a Viltrox EF-Eii focal reducer giving me an 85mm lens with an aperture of about f/1.2 or f/1.3. The focal reduction negates any crop factor...

[Jim A]

Many thanks for all your comments, Manfred, Richard and John. I came across this scene unexpectedly and was the interloper, not the official photographer, so no way to direct where she and the other model stood. I shot between the helpers, so was quite restricted and took chances as they arose. We were in the Auckland Wintergarden. I had only one lens with me, a Sigma 17-70 2.8 to 4.0 (1.5 ratio for cropped Nikon sensor). My settings were ISO800; 1/100 sec; 70mms; f4.0.

Not too concerned about the background, as I can deal with that (though it would be very nice, if it was better). However, since in other respects you think it a good shot, then I will take the time to replace the background. My skills are up to that, at least

[xpatUSA]

My EXIF viewer no longer seems to work. I am wondering about the focal length and f/stop you used for this portrait...

Mine says there's no EXIF in the image, Richard. Your Viewer is probably OK ...

[Manfred M]

Mine says there's no EXIF in the image.

The image link is to Flickr. Flickr strips out all the metadata.