I want to share this photo of my grand-daughter Rebecca. I like the colors in this very much. And a question to you skilled photographers: when I take a portrait so from the front, what shall I think about? I cropped the photo on the right side so Rebecca did not sit just in the middle, was that right? What else? She looks right into the camera, is that good or bad?

This is a very nice picture. I don't always believe in rules. And "rules" for portraits change with fashion; look at paintings over the centuries, or photographs over the last 150 years. There are "tricks" one can do. Several books worth.

What a pretty child! I think this is a lovely pic - I like the way the chair is off-kilter, even though she's looking straight on - and boy, you've got some beautiful paneling! :-)

I agree with Misha and Sweet, this is a lovely portrait as is. Your grandaughter Rebecca is sweet, and dhe looks better behaved than my daughter Rebecca!

when thinking about protraits, one must realize that he has as much control over the picture as he/she wants. Lighting, pose, expression, exposure, depth of field, setting etc can be thought about. The choice the photographer makes in each part will determine the outcome of the photograph from simple elements such as lighting style and setting to generate the final mood. there is no right and wrong really with any photograph. The only time something is "wrong" is when the outcome is not what you wanted. Even if it was not what you were looking for, happy accidents are always a welcomed outcome. If that isn't the case either, I guess you can say something was wrong. The real questiong Gunsan is, do YOU like the what came out of this? If so, that can be nothing but good. I personally think your grand daughter is a doll, and that its a very nice portrait. If yer interested in learning a bit about lighting styles for portraits, I'd like to refer you to this link on portrait photograpthy by Alpha and myself. Click the Learning Center button under the Photo Forum anner, and then click the tutorials button that will appear on the right hand bar of the page. There you'll find the portrait lighting link.

Thanks for all replies. Yes I like it and there was not so much to do about the light settings, because she had just finished a Happymeal at McDonalds. But I am eager to learn about light, so I shall attend the Learning Center.

She's adorable gunsan!

I'm not at all experienced in setting up artificial lighting, but there are some masters on this forum who can answer all question on that subject ;) Well, perhaps some quick tips might be more usefull: If the sun shines at the end of the day (when the light gets more orange-ish), shoot pictures outside, and use the sun as your light source. Don't make pictures with backgrounds that are really close. Especially at lower apertures it's nice to have a blurred out background....also, when using flash you won't have any sharp and bold shadows. Crop the crap, is probably the best advice to improve portraits. Don't include to much empty space, and don't be afraid to zoom in closer than you normally would. Closer means less distracting stuff in the background. So a bit above the head till the shoulders or so.....even from above eyebrows till just above the chin makes a pretty dominating picture. On the other hand, if you have the chance to have someone to pose for you, try to include something in the background that makes sense to someone. What I mean is, try to include your whole house (shoot from a low point of view). You know, like an environmental portrait (i.e. a person in his own environment). It's also fun to shoot candits....when you have a lot of nieces and nephews, like me, they don't often notice I'm aiming for them....so I can catch them off guard :) I don't know how others experience this, but especially older children start to act silly/funny/unnatural when they see you want to take a photo :) Or maybe that just runs in our family, hehe ;) Well, I hope that helps....I don't shoot portraits too often for my work, but when taking some time for it, the results can be so much fun! Have fun!

I think it's a wonder full photo. I thought it looked quite nice with the right and left sides cropped off about 1/4 and just showing the face. Say from the secon button down on her coat to say 1/2 of the panneling space over her head. But that's me. I don't think you have to worry too much about the background because it more or less a tad blurry plus whe is in a red coat. As a result you have already highlighted her face. Congrats. Bsteph

Things to think about: Dont have the body straight on, have the body turned at an angle away from the camera, with the head looking back toward the camera. If you're using flash bounce it off the ceiling, or have off camera flash, whats in the background, that will interfere or distract from the portrait, do a close crop and blur the background.

Maybe I should not ask you photographers what you like manipulating Rebecca with VirtualPainter, but I do it anyway cause I am curious. And of course, did I crop to much or quite wrong?