My Niece

[mythic]

A picture of my Niece.
Looking forward to your thoughts and opinions!

[Ben H]

I like it. Not sure if the face is a litle too bright or not.

I do find the brick line on the wall coming out of her eye a bit distracting - you could probably burn the brighter parts in a bit to try and tame them.

Lastly, in this case, I find your logo itself is also quite distracting - if it was me, I'd size it down a little and not have it taking up half the width of the photo - it interferes with the subject at this size imo. At least it does for me...

Just my thoughts - other than that, I like it - not sure if the eye is a little soft, perhaps?

[mythic]

Thanks Ben! All valid points imo. I didn't even realize the brick wall was so distracting until you mentioned it! Thanks again for your critique!

Jason & Steph

[Mad Aussie]

From memory Podcast #1 talks about backgrounds that can ruin a photo.

I love the composition of this photo (other than the wall into the eye trick) although her left eye should be much sharper. Another of Marko's podcasts tells you to make her eyes 'sing' ;)

For b/w it's usually a good idea (I think) to make the whites more white and the blacks more black where possible. Less of the medium grey look. Adding contrast might be all that's needed.

The signature doesn't bother me at all ... but then Ben would have the same complaint about mine cause I do the same thing :D
I do try to keep it under half the horizontal width of the image though so I agree with him there.

Back to the composition again ... love the 'Active Space' you've used. The viewers eyes are lead away from her eyes, in the direction she is looking, because you've composed it with that space for us to look at and wonder what she is looking at. Nice job on that.

[Marko]

For me the eye (left) needs to be much sharper and cropping between the lips is a bit too weird for me. I do like the pose though - very pensive.
Hope that helps
Marko

[mythic]

Thanks everyone for your critiquing. It is much appreciated!