eeneryma Offline Upload & Sell: On
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Some general suggestions on portraiture:
1.) I like to shoot with a longer lens. I believe the D7000 is an APSC sensor, meaning that shooting at 28mm is a full frame equivalent to shooting at at 42 mm. For shooting portraits, it's usually recommended to have a lens that you can set to 75-125MM. In this case, it would have avoided the optical irregularity of his close hand being large and out of proportion to the rest of the body.
2.) I generally ask people to take off their sunglasses when I take portraits. I'm not sure how comfortable you were with this gentleman, or how cooperative he might have been, but seeing his eyes would have produced a stronger portrait. You know that old saying that "the eyes are the gateway to the soul."
3.) When composing portraits, try not to cut off hands, fingers, elbows. If you do have to crop limbs, there are suggested rules about where to crop to make it less noticeable.
4.) Also when composing , take into account distracting backgrounds, something Ben has suggested and I agree with.
All that being said, I compliment you on approaching someone you didn't know to ask to take their portrait. Many people are not confident enough to take this step. You often meet the nicest people and come away with some great portraits and stories. Keep at it.
Steve
PS Karen is the resident expert on portraits. Perhaps she'll chime in.
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