first try at potraits.

this is my first try at portraits. what do you think?

Not bad, but I think the flower competes with her face and the edge of the board seems to flatten the side of her face. Amy H

Hello Mark, the 300D seems to have focussed on the flower rather than your model, which is a shame. The other portrait you took with her in the red jacket is pretty good, sharp on the girl and blurred background.

 

If you want to get both the person and the flower in focus, use a slightly larger f-number, 5.6 or 8 so that the depth of field will cover both. If you went for the portrait mode in the standard settings, it's going to give you a smaller f-number, like 3.5 and the depth of field is less, so the face will be less sharp.

 

I don't know if you use the creative zone (Av, Tv, P and M) but it's worth experimenting to see what your results are.

 

Best wishes and keep shooting. Pete

expression is good, idea is nice, for a portrait you have to have the focus on the person and I would suggest moving the subject to open shade as opposed to direct sunlight.