Portraiture: B&W

[faithaffair]

Shot indoors, early morning, low light
Nikon D610 85mm f/1.8 1/100 ISO 3200

1. in what area is critique to be sought?
Composition and photography + post-pro quality. Being a new DSLR user, am I doing this right?

2. what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
Master technique.

3. under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)
Setting as above. My son's always been my biggest muse. Here, he was basically focused on his PSP game.

4. what the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture
Not quite satisfied with overall crispness.

 

[Shizuma]

Shot indoors, early morning, low light
Nikon D610 85mm f/1.8 1/100 ISO 3200

1. in what area is critique to be sought?
Composition and photography + post-pro quality. Being a new DSLR user, am I doing this right?

You're telling a story with portraiture. So yes, you are bringing out a story, which is good. Unfortunately and uncomfortably you are bringing out a story of bad posture. Maybe have your son slouch a little less before you take his photo, the way his chin on chest does look uncomfortable.

2. what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
Master technique.

Exposure is good, DOF is alright, focus is on the eyes. Nice contrasty lighting without being too flat

3. under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)
Setting as above. My son's always been my biggest muse. Here, he was basically focused on his PSP game.

Better posture will make have an image more comfortable on the eyes, but that is solely my opinion.

4. what the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture
Not quite satisfied with overall crispness.

Portrait quality is not about how crisp but how the story is told. You have successfully portrayed your son playing PSP

 

[faithaffair]

Thank you very much! Appreciate your time and thoughts.

 

[zaren]

nice simple composition with good directional lighting and sharpness on the eyes. overall crispness could be improved by stopping down slightly (perhaps f2.8) so that the nose and lips are also in focus. i would suggest cropping away the blackness at the top of the image which draws more attention to your main subject.

 

[faithaffair]

Thank you very much! Yes agree about nose and mouth. Am still trying to master focus techniques. Challenge / dilemma about whole face focus with good bokeh. Some people don't think it's necessary. I have not made up my mind.

Probably best to let mood of photo decide?

I naturally gravitate towards lowest fstop in low light ... will try to let that go. Slowly ... heh

Yes, the crop balances the picture better. In this case though, I deliberately left it in. I don't know why but felt like that "mistake" was also part of this picture's story.

 

[Shizuma]

Thank you very much! Yes agree about nose and mouth. Am still trying to master focus techniques. Challenge / dilemma about whole face focus with good bokeh. Some people don't think it's necessary. I have not made up my mind.

Probably best to let mood of photo decide?

I naturally gravitate towards lowest fstop in low light ... will try to let that go. Slowly ... heh

Yes, the crop balances the picture better. In this case though, I deliberately left it in. I don't know why but felt like that "mistake" was also part of this picture's story.

I agree with you about the darker portion at top of pic, it actually makes the eye focus more on the brighter areas which is your sons face. nice

 

[faithaffair]

Thank you Shizuma!

Also trying to discipline self not to crop ah .. but sometimes see my compo so damn pekchek >=(

 

[dennisc]

iso3200 so clean, I need to get a Nikon!

 

[faithaffair]

Hahah! Come come join the dark side =P

 

[HF Andersen]

I'm kinda inspired. Cheers!