My daughter - Lauren

[enigmatic]

OK, hopefully the link works this time!

Any hints or tips with the below. Perhaps a tighter crop?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v428/cjhowell/108_0808_WEB.jpg

[12345Michael54321]

While I'm a real believer in Robert Capa's observation that "if your pictures aren't good enough you're not close enough," I can't honestly say that your picture would benefit from tighter cropping.

But the upper part of Lauren's face - the part which I presume was nearest the camera - appears unnaturally large, compared to the lower part of her face. I'm guessing this is a result of you using a moderately wide lens, at a fairly short lens-to-subject distance.

This sort of "distortion" can be an effective portrait technique in some circumstances. However, in general, it should be employed only when you have a solid reason for employing it. For example, shooting a portrait of a famous pianist or surgeon, his hands being positioned close to the wide angle lens, serves to emphasize the subject's hands. But there's no real reason to emphasize the upper portion of Lauren's face, so the effect is a net negative.

Next, while Lauren's eyes are fairly sharp, it seems as though the zone of sharpest focus is her lower lip. When photographing people, you usually want to focus on the eyes. Not the tip of the nose, or the lips, or the ears. The eyes. I'm not sure that's the case here.

The reflections in her eyes doesn't bother me too much. Although I'd be tempted to adjust them a little in Photoshop.

Next - again with the eyes - in a typical portrait, the eyes are the point of key interest. No, not always. But usually. And in a portrait of this type, the eyes are indeed where the viewer directs his attention. You've put Lauren's eyes right in the middle of the frame (well, slightly above and below the center point). This putting the most important element(s) near dead center tends to work less well than might be the case were the eyes nearer one side or the other. (Preferably, the right side.)

Often, this can be managed by clever cropping, but in the case of this picture, you'd have to crop off much of the top of your daughter's head, which I just don't think would strengthen the picture.

Finally, Lauren has very fair skin - not unusual, for a young child. Personally, I find that a softer light tends to flatter a young child's very fair skin.

Please, please don't let my observations discourage you. It's not a bad picture, at all. Better than the overwhelming majority of photos parents take of their children.

[enigmatic]

Thanks for your comments Michael; this is just the sort of feedback I was looking to get by posting the photo.

The photo was taken with a 17-40 mm zoom lens so that would correspond with your comment. Funnily enough, my wife said she didn't like the photo but couldn't put her finger on it. She agrees with your feedback.

Re focal point, according to the Canon software, the focus is just on her left eyebrow, just above the white of her eye. Perhaps sharpening the image in PS will help. May also look at applying a soft filter and perhaps boosting the contrast?

I will try and implement your feedback in other photos and will use my 50 mm lens (didn't have it with me whilst away).

Cheers,

Chris