Hey guys, I recently did a model shoot at an abandoned location with a friend. Any creative criticism about the shots or editing would be appreciated

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In close up shots #2 & #3 the eyes not the hair need to be the AF lock on point.
Either that or manual focus them in.
The eyes are the window to the soul; blurred eyes can easily trash a keeper.

Stopping down the aperture setting helps but doesn't fully eliminated the issue.
Make sure your AF settings are correct!
Use single point AF and be close enough to get a lock on the eyes, hold it and frame up the shot.
Eyes generally lock up easy but anything with high contrast nearby can compete for lock on; you need to be close. Use a longer lense or get closer.

Posted by blackhawk In close up shots #2 & #3 the eyes not the hair need to be the AF lock on point. Either that or manual focus them in. The eyes are the window to the soul; blurred eyes can easily trash a keeper. Stopping down the aperture setting helps but doesn't fully eliminated the issue. Make sure your AF settings are correct! Use single point AF and be close enough to get a lock on the eyes, hold it and frame up the shot. Eyes generally lock up easy but anything with high contrast nearby can compete for lock on; you need to be close. Use a longer lense or get closer.

Thanks Blackhawk. I was using a 50mm and AF locked on center. I'll definitely remember to focus on the eyes next time.

Posted by themadheretic Thanks Blackhawk. I was using a 50mm and AF locked on center. I'll definitely remember to focus on the eyes next time.

Keep the AF point clear of the hair when locking on. It's got to be dead on, on the closest eye.
Don't move your cam position lengthwise from the subject either after lock on or you'll lose the focus point.

Make sure the lense/cam AF focus is spot on.
Make sure cam firmware is up to date; this is especially critical on newer models as undected firmware flaws are corrected after release.

First of all if you look at my shots, I'm by no mean a good photographer, I know some things from my stepmother so correct me if I'm wrong.

For #1, I love the contrast but I feel like my eyes are drifting on the plants in the frontground, they're taking too much room and it's distracting me from the real subject. Rule of base would be the 2/3. But in here, the plants are almost 1/2 way in the picture and it's overloading it, with it. Not to forget also, the bright red colour is attracting my sight to it.

#2, Overall good, should've aimed the camera towards where she's facing. She's more on the right side even though she's looking right. You want to camera to follow her sight, it makes us move our eyes to where she's looking at but there's nothing to look at but a border after a bit. She should've been on the left side of the picture (2/3 once again) looking right --> moving our eyes through the image. Also, you are shooting profile so you should not see that much of a gap between the top of her head and the top of the picture, she's not centered (horizontally).

As for #4, the shirt and the pants are not detailed enough. You never want a picture that has deep black or white in them, you always want informations everywhere. The pants are too dark and the shirt is over blown with the exposure removing details, stuff to look at like a zipper, pockets or folds in the shirt anything. Especially if it's your subject. As for the focus, it looks off, as if it wasn't focused on her, either that or she moved in a long exposure.

Posted by Rusty Canadian First of all if you look at my shots, I'm by no mean a good photographer, I know some things from my stepmother so correct me if I'm wrong. For #1, I love the contrast but I feel like my eyes are drifting on the plants in the frontground, they're taking too much room and it's distracting me from the real subject. Rule of base would be the 2/3. But in here, the plants are almost 1/2 way in the picture and it's overloading it, with it. Not to forget also, the bright red colour is attracting my sight to it. #2, Overall good, should've aimed the camera towards where she's facing. She's more on the right side even though she's looking right. You want to camera to follow her sight, it makes us move our eyes to where she's looking at but there's nothing to look at but a border after a bit. She should've been on the left side of the picture (2/3 once again) looking right --> moving our eyes through the image. Also, you are shooting profile so you should not see that much of a gap between the top of her head and the top of the picture, she's not centered (horizontally). As for #4, the shirt and the pants are not detailed enough. You never want a picture that has deep black or white in them, you always want informations everywhere. The pants are too dark and the shirt is over blown with the exposure removing details, stuff to look at like a zipper, pockets or folds in the shirt anything. Especially if it's your subject. As for the focus, it looks off, as if it wasn't focused on her, either that or she moved in a long exposure.

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Hey Rusty, took some of your advice on the 2/3 and recropped these 2. As for the red tree, I can't do much about it, I was going for that "shoot through" effect. I definitely need to work on my in camera framing etc.