What am i missing?

[dawson]

here's a recent closeup i took of my son, i find that the photo
is missing something, tonality, framing, etc? i'm not sure.

i have the mood, maybe it is the lighting cos it is taken indoor.

F stop: F/1.4 Exposure: 1/200 sec. Focal length: 50.0 mm ISO AUTO

all c&c are welcome, thanks

cheers.

 

[espion]

i think the misalingment of the DOF and the subject is disconcerting. You got the eye, part nose, part of one cheek and part mouth in focus, and the rest OOF. And this is disturbing.

But the angle of subject's face is good, so making the DOF plane square with the face wont do.

So then more DOF is needed. Maybe f2.8? And get at least full right half of face in focus, up to the edge of ear/sideburn.

 

[StreetShooter]

I can tell you what the usual "rules" are, so you can decide if you want to follow them or break them.

1. Subject should face INTO the frame, not outside the frame. In this case, his face is facing outside, which leads to some dissonance in the viewer. Crop away the left half of the frame and see how much better it looks.

2. Catchlights are missing. The left eye looks "dead". You want to try having him face the windows, or have the windows behind you. This will give very nice large catchlights in the eyes, making them come alive.

3. The focus is as it should be, on the eyes. Well, in this case, the right eye. The left eye is a little out of focus, again leading to some dissonance. Try to get both eyes in focus and you should be fine. At angles like this, the only way to do that is to increase the DOF slightly. A very narrow DOF only works well with a full frontal shot.

4. The colours are fine. Muted and natural looking. Resist the urge to increase contrast to achieve bright punchy colours. They may appear more attractive, but then lose much of their emotional appeal.

Hope that helps.

 

[dawson]

thanks guys,

i can visualise your comments and certainly that
are the problems to the missing elements.

sum up, here are my mistakes:

framing
1. subject looking away, can't see his eyes
2. leaving left half of the frame with unwanted

focus
1. full frontal since i want a narrow DOF
2. get more of his face in focus

natural lighting
1. catchlight in his eyes

i'll think about it and work on it again...

cheers

 

[goldenimage]

hello, i think if you stop your lens down just a bit more, that would help. seems like its wide open