A mini-shoot with friends. How can these portraits be better? (light can be a little harsh in Houston, hence some blown highlights...)

Is this good enough for semi-pro photography?

Don't like cut off legs in 1 & 3.

1. Dont cut off the legs.
Post is distracting, takes away from the couple. Try to keep backgrounds simple.
2. Better, but he is not sharp; she is. Color, "action" is pleasing. I think you either need to crop more from the left, or less. Back of his head is cut off.
3. Best. But I'd either include their full length or crop mid-thigh. Extraneous leaves far right. Shooting from further right down the length of the walk might have worked better.

Scott

All great points. Please keep them coming!

Bryan

Glad its helpful.

I think that was not the best time of day to shoot. The sky is blown out. The faces are too flat for my taste. Also I have this feeling you're getting motion blur on #2, but it's too small to tell for sure. And you're getting some pretty wicked fringing on #3. Gotta work on your technique.

Say, did you take these with a point and shoot camera?

Apart from technical stuff... Call me conservative, but i'd love to see some open eyes on #1.

Oh yea, and maybe you should try taking people pics from a lower angle (on your knees).

For #1) I think this shot should be done standing closer to the subjects and the rail, and with your lens almost parallel to the rail. Also might be nice to get that depth of field effect by using a larger Ap. and faster shutter.

Too many colors (red post takes away from subjects) and colors of light - maybe convert this to BW and crop?

Here's what I get from the one above but this will look better starting from your original because there is enough information to make a crop like this and still see some details.