Oooaahhh..!!!!

I am trying to improve my portrait / people photography abilities -

Any comments / ratings / criticism will be very helpful. Does the

considerable depth of field and details in the background work in

this case ? What about the cropping? THanks in advance.

Whats happening in the left border.. I actually find that more interesting then the rest of the photo. Ok, expression is forced, and not natural, I believe you need to work on your backround.. Reason being is becauses it confuses me of the establishment of the photo. If the beach is what you like, then you should show the interactions of people of the beach rather then posed shots such as this. Great idea, and keep up the work, just keep experimenting and im sure you will soon spark!

First, THanks a lot for your comment and detailed analysis of the photo. TO clarify a few points you mentioned : 1) I was experimenting with how to create a border in PS - this was created by marking a 100 pixel border and inverting the image, and then adding a 50 pixel dark border. What you see at the edge is a woman standing with her child. 2) THis wasn't a posed photo - I was looking through my view finder (my friend's head was turned away) when suddenly he shouted something and turned at me, when I clicked. THe look on his face is mostly surprise at finding my lens pointed at him as he turned around. 3) I was on the beach to take beach photos, which are in a differet - folder - this was a surprise shot that I thought would classify as a portrait. ALL SAID, I really do appreciate your comment, and my clarifications are in no way to 'show offense' or anything like that. It's just that I wanted to clarify :)