Constructive criticism please...

This is one of the first shots I took with my daughter using my new Rebel with the kit lens. I added soft focus in PSP, but I think having to resize it has not done it any favors as well. Any comments/critique would be welcome. Just getting my feet wet here...

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Beautiful colors, great crop... I would like to see it sharper, but I think its a nice shot!

Thanks for your comment. The original was not really sharp either. What could I have done to make it sharper? Suzie

The lighting is nice. I don't mind the pose, but not too sure about the angle?? I'm being real picky here, but you might want to crop a bit more off the top. I just think it might look better a little tighter, but that's just me. I actually like the soft focus for this picture, but you might want to bring some sharpness back to the eyes(especially) and mouth. The eyes are usually the most important aspect of a portrait. You can do this technique in layers by softening the top layer, then creating a layer mask and w/ a black brush paint the eyes back in 75-100%, and the mouth maybe 50% (experiment).

Keep up the good work. Your daughter is a very pretty girl-look forward to seeing more pictures of her..

You can apply some sharpening in PS w/ the Unsharp Mask filter, but be careful not to overdo it. Otherwise, you need to concentrate on holding the camera steady, maybe use a tripod, and put the AF(focus) point on the eyes.

I like the colors and light in the image. Very nice.

I generally try to keep the kit lens above f6.3 for better sharpness. Keeping the eyes in sharp focus helps a bunch.

I like the light and the pose. the soft focus doesn't impress me on this image.. looks like you have a wonderful model and a good eye.. looking forward to seeing more from you..

sari

It's generally not a good idea to shoot people close up with a wide angle lens because it distorts the features. The head of the girl in this picture looks too big because of it. A portrait lens is usually around 85mm. If the kit lens is your only lens, use it at 55mm for portraits, not at 18mm.
Also, even a soft focus image needs some parts to be sharp, such as the eyes, eyebrows, mouth and nostrils. You image looks blurred. I don't know what the original looked like so I can't tell whether I can be sharpened enough to make it look good. The kit lens with the Rebel is not a bad lens but you shouldn't use it fully open - use it a t least with f/5.6 or f/8 and you'll get sharper images.
Good luck,
Julian
http://www.pbase.com/j​ulianht/

I think overall it's nice. The green dress blends too much with the green grass in my view. Another color might have been more contrasty and hence nicer, or you could also select a more neutral color as well. I'm not a fan of soft focus, but that's a personal preference thing. I think the jacket seems more in focus, how about defocusing that a bit more to better match the softness of the face?