My Sister Before her dance. Critique Please!

A couple in natural light before my little sister's homecoming dance. What can I do to improve?

T4i, 50 1.4, quick run through LR 4.4

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …90717616@N08/10​248223134/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …90717616@N08/10​248428273/

Anyone?

First one looks might be ever so slightly out of focus on the face/eyes, but I really like the lighting and pose. Also, the red dress and primarily green background compliment each other nicely.

Second one looks great, except her feet are blurred or OOF. I wonder if cropping to put her in the center of the frame might be more aesthetically pleasing. Regardless, definitely worthy of a framed print IMO. I'm sure she is happy with the results.

mannetti21 wrote in post #16368047
First one looks might be ever so slightly out of focus on the face/eyes, but I really like the lighting and pose. Also, the red dress and primarily green background compliment each other nicely.

Second one looks great, except her feet are blurred or OOF. I wonder if cropping to put her in the center of the frame might be more aesthetically pleasing. Regardless, definitely worthy of a framed print IMO. I'm sure she is happy with the results.

Thanks! I agree on the softness, and actually a lot of the pics turned out a touch OOF/Soft. I was pretty discouraged. I think maybe my SS was a bit low on some? Or maybe my camera was front focusing (I have been thinking this now for some time, and a lot of images back it up. Might be time for a trip to Canon to see)

She (my sister) was really happy with the pics, for the reposting on Facebook/instagram that she will do, the sharpness is more than acceptable. I need to pay more attention next time I'm out to settings vs. equipment missing.

Here's another that's a bit sharper and framed a little tighter.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …90717616@N08/10​257051534/

The last one's a winner. Great pose and excellent framing. The red dress against the greenery is spectacular. Very nice.

ChrisNL wrote in post #16368335
The last one's a winner. Great pose and excellent framing. The red dress against the greenery is spectacular. Very nice.

Thanks! It's my favorite from the batch too.

Is the processing OK? I really am never sure where to go with things. I shoot raw and just play with the sliders in LR until it looks ok to me. Then clean up a bit in PS if needed.

chubbyone wrote in post #16368360
Thanks! It's my favorite from the batch too.

Is the processing OK? I really am never sure where to go with things. I shoot raw and just play with the sliders in LR until it looks ok to me. Then clean up a bit in PS if needed.

Yes everything looks balanced and vibrant to me without being oversaturated. You have a good subject, a good pose, good lighting, good framing, and a good background. When everything comes together at the time of the shoot, you have far less labouring in PP.

Very nice, #3 is spot on, I think over all #1 and #2 are just fine, good lighting / pose sometimes soft focus suits the shot, and with the background this is one of those times. Good work.

i love it! both are great! my only problem is the background is properly exposed just like the subject... If possible, I suggest darkening the background by about 1 stop and filling her in with just a tad of flash. it'll help her stan dout

She was a perfect model for you, and I believe that she is what made your imperfect pictures perfect! The images are a bit soft as has been stated and I do not know the capabilities of the T4i, but if you have the ability to tweak the Micro-adjustment on the auto focus, it should help tremendously! If you do not have that ability, the quick fix would be manual focus. By the way, #3 is killer! The clean background and nice bokeh really makes her stand out brilliantly.

TJays wrote in post #16368602
Very nice, #3 is spot on, I think over all #1 and #2 are just fine, good lighting / pose sometimes soft focus suits the shot, and with the background this is one of those times. Good work.

killertofu wrote in post #16368959
i love it! both are great! my only problem is the background is properly exposed just like the subject... If possible, I suggest darkening the background by about 1 stop and filling her in with just a tad of flash. it'll help her stan dout

LG_1089 wrote in post #16376854
She was a perfect model for you, and I believe that she is what made your imperfect pictures perfect! The images are a bit soft as has been stated and I do not know the capabilities of the T4i, but if you have the ability to tweak the Micro-adjustment on the auto focus, it should help tremendously! If you do not have that ability, the quick fix would be manual focus. By the way, #3 is killer! The clean background and nice bokeh really makes her stand out brilliantly.

Thanks everyone!

Killer - I went back and darkened the BG ever so slightly and I agree, looks a bit more polished. Thanks for the tip.

LG - sadly the T4i does not have the feature. Im seriously considering moving to the 6D soon, still can't decide between that or a used 5Dii. Thanks for the kind words, and I agree that a beautiful model is certainly more forgiving!

Every so slightly over-exposed. Maybe even step back a bit and go a little wider. Nice images!

pixiepearls wrote in post #16379108
Every so slightly over-exposed. Maybe even step back a bit and go a little wider. Nice images!

Thanks!

here's another from the set:

A little soft, I know, not happy! but otherwise?

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …05836916@N08/10​368468835/

The last one is my favorite. I like the front view with the shoulders turned about 45 degrees instead of the 90-degree profile or the slightly turned to the back.

Lovely model with a great smile.

She's a lovely young lady. The third shot would be my preference of the group simply for the pose.

With a 50/1.4 a shutter speed of 1/200 is actually over kill. I would suspect your issue is DOF at f2.2 - you don't have much to play with at that f-stop. And you certainly had room to go a bit higher there.