shoes + BW portrait

[ronin2307]

rookie dSLR user. some of my first shots. please critique freely. you wont hurt my feelings, as i am here to learn. thx

[BlueRob]

When posting in the Critique forum I suggest to upload one image per thread, its more "efficient" for the rest of the users to comment on a specific image.

I´ll give you my thoughts on the B&W portrait....I think it is very well executed, great EXP. nice DOF and the expression is really nice.
The DOF really helps isolating the subject from the busy and uninteresting background.

You can play with the crop a bit, chop some more to the left and maybe.

Fine portrait.

[ronin2307]

sorry about that. I will keep that in mind for the future.
as far as the cropping goes, i assume i would not want to crop so much to place the person in the middle of the frame (I hope i am using the right terminology), or am i mistaken. For some reason I thought being off-center was a better thing in this particular shot.

[BlueRob]

Depends a lot on what you want....there are no rules for crops...at least for me.
What I use as ruler is the fact to make sure the attention is on the subject. In most cases if you have a too wide crop the eyes of the people watching the image start to wonder all around....that is not bad...but again depends on what you want to imprint in the particular image and in its own mood.

[Frog]

I agree that you have a good depth of field and good that the background is blurred. I do think that there is still too much of it and even blurry it is distracting.
If I were to crop it, I would crop just a hair past her right shoulder(that's left on the pic).
With her head tilted as it is, her face would still be off center and her face is the subject.
Might need to do a bit of cropping of right and top to balance it after the left crop.

I am completely undecided on the shoe shot. That the shoes are in focus is great but I don't know how much depth of field would be good.
Never mind. I now see that the boy is laying on mom's(?) lap. The hands are confusing and it is not easy to tell what is going on beyond the shoes. More d.o.f. is needed here.
Good idea though.

[BlueRob]

This is my "view" regarding the crop...hope that helps.

If you want a tighter crop just take note that the frame will become squared

[ronin2307]

thanks for the informative suggestions. much appreciated

[BlueRob]

BTW what glass did you used for that portrait...the prime or the zoom?

[ronin2307]

both were done with 50mm f1.8 prime

[mikonyxx]

love the b&w. you've captured the "genuine-ness" of the subject. i agree with the crop.