Portrait

I'm pretty new to photography but my brother threw in some silly faces free of charge. Comments and critiques appreciated.
Aperture: f/4.5
Exposure 0.3
Focal Length 113
ISO 800

Lol! Funny shot! The expression by your brother is good. Composition is good. I like too that he stayed steady for the shot. In an unusual pose, it can be difficult for a relatively long exposure.

Items I noticed?

White balance is off. It's too "warm." Although there are times warm is good, I think it's just a bit too much in this one. You can fix this by correcting the white balance, "cooling" it a little.

The diagonal on the right side of the photo (a door jamb?) is distracting. Although blurred, the lines are so strong that they come through too much. I think it's probably that the object is lighted toward the bottom. You can fix this by selectively darkening or de-emphasizing it. "Burning" it is one way, but there are others. It need not go away, but it could be brought down a little.

Hope this helps!

Good shot - it makes me wonder what was going on - and I like photos that make me want to know more.

I do agree with Graham though - too warm and the board/door jam on the right should not be quite that obvious.

Thanks guys! I added a version with the suggestions. Opinions? Thanks again.

I think it's better! I think the photo works well now. Make sure you save this version.

Here's another suggestion. You might try playing with the photo a bit. Go to extremes. Do a full white balance adjustment to make it look perfectly natural, and then back off to see what looks good to you. It still has an amber tint to it. (I'm colorblind, so if I can see it, it's not just a tiny bit amber.) Also, play with the door jamb to eliminate it as completely as possible. Then back off on that to see what looks good to you. Whatever you do, look at it again in a day and see what you think.

Photo editing is iterative, at least for me. I'll make major edits on a photo after shooting. A day later I'll see the photo is crooked, or perhaps has an odd color to it. I'll change it and look at it a day or so after that. Eventually I'll decide I like it. Even if I make changes over multiple days, the magnitude of each change is usually smaller from one change to the next.

Hope this helps!

ShaneKPhotography wrote in post #11876275
Thanks guys! I added a version with the suggestions. Opinions? Thanks again.

Try white balancing on the well-illuminated portion of the white of his left eye and see how you like the result. Second version still seems a bit warm to me.