Casper

[DGK*CRONE]

Here are two pictures of my little cousin.

what do you guys think? How could I have had a better picture? They also came out very grainy and I am unsure why. I used E200 for the first time.

[mikonyxx]

i like the photo on the left. love how the subject seems almost 3 dimensional. something about the crispness in the upper left portion and then the blurriness in the lower portion of the picture...

[BlueRob]

The expression on the second one is much better, overall a good portrait.
Just a few pointers on the composition....the bamboo or palm trunk or what ever it is competes directly with the subject because it is in the same plane. Crop it or clone it out. I wish to see a full body including feet or a more close shot from the torso up.
I like to have a strong DOF, specially with busy backgrounds as this one...this bolds the main subject from the rest of the scene.

[DGK*CRONE]

They do look a lot better cropped.

I like the color in one but the other it is has a blurry background. I adjusted it and now I feel like her face looks washed out.

Next roll I shot i will make sure to try to keep her whole body in the frame.


thanks for the comments!

[BlueRob]

No problem
Yes the crops look much better. As for the skin tone you can play with the saturation and light of each color to boost a little the tone in PP software.
And if you want to venture a little further you can simulate the DOF also with some blur on the background.

[Lava Lamp]

Your model is a natural. Happy photos. I'd think about finding new angles and approaches rather than the straight on full body subject-in-the center "mug shot" approach as you take more shots. With these, I'd actually like to see even more of a head and shoulders type crop.

Also, on the crops, I'd keep to the standard photo paper dimension ratios (4x6, 5x7, 8x10 etc.) so you can print when you get what you like.