Portrait of my wife

This is a very nice attempt. Your lighting is wonderful, with the highlights in the hair and the naturally bounced fill on her face. You kept her turned out of the sun, which was perfect. It also helps that she's very good looking and has a great expression. My only "problem" is with the background: it doesn't flatter her. Next time try shooting her against something smooth and even, like a wall or the sky or the water. You're on the right track though. Thanks for sharing!

This is the best portrait I've ever done

Lucky guy! Anyway, I would just like to add that you don't need to use a smooth(er) surface for the background...if you use the widest aperture you can on your camera you can blur out the background some more making it less of an issue. Another thing you could try is to put a reflector in front of her to bounce some light into her face to lighten it more so that the camera isn't over-exposing the background as much.

 

My problem is that the picture looks like it's really been blown up in size. It's not as sharp as it could be and that would help a fair bit as well.

unforunately, it is a relatively poor scan, but not everybody has a $$$ film scanner. I like the portrait and agree with the other comments about the background. Mostly, I think you missed the focus just a little for portrait work. Focus should be on the eye closest to the camera. I think you had the focus on her hair that extended slightly in front of her face. Its hard to tell from this scan to say for sure.

Pretty subject and otherwise pretty good composition.

Very nice. I love her smile. I agree about the scanning, it's not very good. Also I agree that the background is a little to busy, if it's was lightned I think it's impact would be reduced. Your a lucky man to have such a beautiful women as your own. Thanks for posting this.

I have noticed that you rate your OWN photos.

You gave YOURSELF a 10!

??????????

 

A 10/10 to yourself?! Very, VERY tacky!

I hope your wife enjoyed the ego boost :)