photodrop Untitled

Heath,

I complement you on your idea of shooting childhood friends. This is a great way to get in touch, and keep in touch, with old friends.

You want to have your subject's eyes in focus. She should have light in her eyes so that you get a small (usually round) reflection in each eye -- catch lights. This makes her eyes come alive. You have too much contrast. Your lights and your darks have no detail in them - the whites are too white and the darks are too dark.

Your composition is not too bad. I might have lowered her a bit (cropped the bottom of your picture). The areas around the outside of the photograph are too bright. You want to keep the viewer's eyes within the photograph. You must burn the sides in a bit. Your background it too busy. It draws attention away from your subject. The viewer's eyes will keep going back to the background.

I would not put her hand in front of her face. You want to be able to see her face. Her forearm is closer to the camera than the rest of her. That will make it appear larger than it should. It will look out of proportion. Don't cut the tip of her elbow off. That doesn't look very good.

Very good idea,

Mark