Anders, congratulations on your purchase. I always say you can't go wrong with a Canon.
You say you took a snapshot of this little girl, well that's just how it feels. Now, there's nothing wrong with that - sometimes you can get excellent results that way. However, there are a few things techincally you could have done to improve the picture.
Firstly, the point of focus seems to be her nose which means her eyes are not in sharp focus. Unless you are going for some kind of candid shot the eyes are very important because they convey emotion. Now in this shot it is not so bad because it is not a portrait as such, but even so her nose is literally the dominant feature and totally draws the eye away from the rest of her face.
The depth of field is very shallow. Everything past the nose is blurred which compounds the problem of having the nose dominate the shot. Again, this would probably not be too bad (maybe even an interesting technique) if the focus were on the eyes.
The bottom of the picture is totally blown out and there is no detail in the white top she is wearing. This looks like it was caused by using the built-in flash close up. If you can get her to stand by a window with natural light coming through it might be better. Failng that, you need a dedicated flash unit which you can bounce of the ceiling to avoid that very harsh light on the face and clothing.
The composition is very centred and the crop is very tight. The negative space on the left adds nothing. Read up on the 'rule of thirds' and think about how you might have composed the picture differently.
Think about what you are trying to say here. Every picture tells a story but yours tells me nothing other than little girl gets a snapshot taken. Not every picture has to be contrived, some of the best are spontaneous, but you should try to engage your subject. Get her to look at the camera and make her laugh. Tell he to jump up and down, say silly things, make silly faces.
Hope you don't take offense at my critique, I am being honest. Think about what I've said, try lots of things you've never tried before and above all have fun. Remember, you're not wasting any film.
|