First (pic) portrait candid

[Zephyrize]

Hey
Since I can't go outside in the intense cold, I played with my new toy inside and decided it's time to show the first pic!
So last morning I took this quick snapshot of my sister just before she leaves for school.

Taken with the 'nifty fifty' 50mm f1.8.
still waiting for my zoom lens to get shipped..
No PP except very slight curving, resizing and sharpening

what do you think of this first SLR photo

[crisscross]

a pretty good 1st and amazed at lack of any sign of movement at 1/30th

You may think about removing a bit of that yellow wall at the right. On future work you will now realize there is a background that can distract from the main subject, the window grid in this case. A tiny bit of care also about shading out important features, like her eyes in this case (some rescue may be possible there)

She is a natural model and can see she is going to be in a lot of frames

[shreds]

Hi Zephyrize,

I think you have made a great start with your new camera and you are lucky to have such a willing and photogenic model.

This shot can be improved quite easily as Chris says; try cropping out the wall on the right, back to the curtain, it will make a big difference. I tried it on my screen and it really does make a difference. Equally if you have used anything like Paintshop or Photoshop before you will be able to take out the window bars and the reflected highlights on the window quite easily.

Because you were indoors the depth of field has not been quite enough to keep all the hair on the right hand side in focus, and simple reflector such as a newspaper or white sheet in between you and your sister will reflect enough light back up into her face to lift the shadow in her eyes. Might even give you an extra third/half a stop of light if you are lucky.

Great first shot!

[Zephyrize]

Thanks guys for the advices,

I tried cropping and it does make a difference; and even a nice square canvas
I use Photoshop since quite a while, however, how would you 'take out' the windows bars and highlights? Cloning? Blurring? Darkening?
Also, I can't quite isolate the background to work on it because of the hairs. Any solution?

I agree with the dark eyes; haven't think of this; great suggestion shreds

[Colin Southern]

Thanks guys for the advices,

Here's one more suggestion - Take the shot again, but this time have her turn about 90 degrees to her right so she's facing the window at an angle - it'll give her the perfect classic window portrait look. You could also try a few combinations of getting her to turn her head so it's at an angle to her shoulders (try one with her shoulders square on to the window, but then have her turn her head to look back at you over her shoulder, and take a head and shoulders shot - you might have to try a few combinations (and watch the shoulder height), but I'd be very surprised if you didn't get a few very pleasing classic portrait look shots in the process (which you then process lovingly - print - sell to relatives - show off to everybody - getting them to get you to shoot their friends and family - which you then use the proceeds from to pay for the camera) (might be getting a little too far ahead of myself here, but that's the way it works!) - before you know it you'll be getting a couple of flashes and umbrellas and stands and getting really stuck into it!

[john w revie]

Zephyrize
Have you tried the extract filter in photoshop? I have found this to be useful in situation where fine detail needs to be saved.
How I would handle this is first duplicate the photo run the extraction filter on the duplicate
after you are satisfied with the results of the extraction filter copy and paste this as a layer into the original photo. you now have a two layer file. the background layer can now be blurred or darkened / lightened as required.I have done a very rough edit of your photo I will email it to you I do not like to post others photos to the web.
john

[Zephyrize]

Hey thanks very much john for the mail response. replied