Alright, lemme have it.

[clifgriffin]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3145/3072519572_7472a07315_o.jpg

This is my first post on POTN...I've been lurking for 6 months or so. I have picked this photo because it's one of my favorite candids. It was taken at an outdoor restaurant last spring/summer around dusk with a 50mm f/1.8 lens. Click here to view the flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/clifgriffin/3072519572/

Any and all criticism welcome.

[Soliz387]

it seems like you might have just missed the focus. Looks just a tad soft to me. The pose is very good, Looks also to be a little on the yellow side. Nothing a little PS cant' fix.

[buurin]

I see you shot @ f2.8.. The focus appears to be in the hair. With with such a narrow DOF the eyes are a bit soft.

For a shot like this -- I use center point, focus on the eyes & recompose. Maybe you did that & she moved since this was candid.

I wish her left eye(camera right) was facing the camera a tiny bit more.

I like the bokeh, composition, expression, & color(my current monitor is uncalibrated).

Depending on the intended use of the photo, I'd say its a keeper for any non-professional use due to the focus issue.

Good job.

[The Ghost of FM]

I like it!

Nice to see a natural smile instead of all those posed mean looks that seem to be so popular these days.

The shot, compositionally is pretty much dead center to the frame and that's usually considered a no-no. Maybe consider cropping the right side of the frame as its good to see in the picture where the subject is looking.

You might also try using a Gaussian blur on the background and applying a vignetting effect to reduce the interest/focus in the shot to strictly the smiling girl.

Cheers!

[S.Horton]

Welcome to POTN.

Nice capture, good emotion.

Not tack sharp, but, do YOU care?

[BigAlz1]

Good candid, my favorite to shoot. ;)

[nate17]

I tried to take away a little bit of the yellow, what do you think?

before
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z179/nate555_photos/3072519572_7472a07315_o.jpg
after
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z179/nate555_photos/Photo1.png

[buurin]

I prefer the original. All you did was change the white balance?

It looks like you have undone some skin smoothing. Somehow the original white balance made the skin seem smoother. Also there is now a blown out highlight on her forehead.

[clifgriffin]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I agree that it may be a bit yellow...colors are not my strong suit (damn X chromosome :) ).

I didn't consider the focus or composition aspects previously.

Nate, I appreciate the effort but her skin looks terrible in your version :)

[tonydee]

It's a really nice shot... can't add much as the issues re DOF, central positioning, and colour balance have been touched on (agree Nate's edit went way too far).

ISO 400, 1/50s at 50mm, and f/2.8 seems a reasonable compromise... not a lot of wriggle room in any direction.

Sharpness still seems close in most areas - individual eye lashes are clearly distinguishable - looks like post-processing could produce a pretty good result, but you'll know more from seeing it at 100%. Even if it takes a bit of manual brushwork, I think the photo's nice enough to warrant an hour or two's effort.

Cheers, Tony