Critique please - Waiting for Dinner

[DJ-S1]

This is a picture of my niece - actually my 1st cousin once-removed, but it's easier to say "niece"! This was after her baptism while waiting for dinner to be served. I really like it, but I'm curious about ways to make this and similar shots better. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

http://daveorama.smugmug.com/photos/23636788-M-1.jpg

Canon 300D - handheld with available light - f3.2 - 1/30sec - 120mm - ISO800

[tmlphoto]

I'll give it a stab. The expression and lighting are lovely. The menu in the left lower corner is a distraction and certainly doesn't add anything. I think the whole shot would be much stronger with a tighter crop. I would crop down about 25% all or so all around and then maybe clone out the rest of the menu.

[rutt]

It would have been a much stronger image if you had gotten the camera down to her eye level instead of shooting down at her. One of the big tricks of shooting kids is to erase that height difference. Once you do that you are in their world instead of peering into it.

And I agree about the cropping. Better would have been to have gotten closer or use more tele and open up the lens to get shallow DOF at the time of the shot. You can try to accomplish this in post, but it's often challenging. See:
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=1011

[Andy]

It would have been a much stronger image if you had gotten the camera down to her eye level instead of shooting down at her. One of the big tricks of shooting kids is to erase that height difference. Once you do that you are in their world instead of peering into it.

And I agree about the cropping. Better would have been to have gotten closer or use more tele and open up the lens to get shallow DOF at the time of the shot. You can try to accomplish this in post, but it's often challenging. See:
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=1011


excellent critiques by both thomas and rutt. rutt- you hit on the single most important thing about shooting kids imo. :clap

[ginger_55]

Since that photo was there, etc, no retakes, etc. I messed with it in under 10 minutes, so this is as sloppy as I could get.

http://gingerSnap.smugmug.com/photos/25420708-M.jpg


I am sure the article has good to say, I usually sit down for my own convenience, puts me on the kids level, too. I personally did not like the background, so that is what I did, got rid of it.

Tried to keep enough of the hands in so she would not look amputated. Very pretty child. I tried to keep the white, only the white, for purity's sake.

This is rough, and I am leaving. We are going birding, as the weather is getting worse looking and worse, yikes. But I won't be here, so no one can get me to critique ME.

I did notice that the eyes had been sharpened, I would not do that to the degree I could see it, she is a child. Softness would be key, kind of.

This is not a bad photo of a child, on a special day, just too much in it.

Simplify, keep in what you like, get rid of the rest, IMO.

You can't reshoot on her level, so don't sweat it, rules are not firm anyway. I cherish my first b'day photo and thinking now, it was taken from an adult level. The background was a bit better. But this is OK, ............just work with it, will be back tonight, PM me if you want or post, or someone else can come up with something better, or you can.

Cheers, ginger (If I had had time I would have tried a white background which probably would not have worked, as long as you save the original, you can try different things.)

[david_h]

I like available light portraits like this. I certainly agree with the comments about the cropping. For me, neither the background or forground add anything to your picture so a tighter crop portrait is the way to go.

What Ginger has done is close to what I try as well. I'd try hard to keep the thingy she is waving around and (I think) I'd keep the background rather than remove it.

Looks like you did a nice job with the handheld shot at 1/30. I would have to switch to decaf to do that.

Your photograph makes me wonder if her dress was so nice and white after the meal? :):

[DJ-S1]

Thanks for the good info everyone. :thumb I actually was sitting at the time, but should have bent over more to be more at her level. I agree about cropping this, it definitely needs it. I was at max zoom and I couldn't easily get closer so I couldn;t fill the frame with her at the time.

As for the sharpening, I did quick post in Elements3 which I'm not happy with (I used to use PS6). You can't add a mask to regular layers, so I wasn't able to selectively sharpen it. Anyone got a workaround for that, I'm all ears!

Good stuff, thanks.

[colourbox]

As for the sharpening, I did quick post in Elements3 which I'm not happy with (I used to use PS6). You can't add a mask to regular layers, so I wasn't able to selectively sharpen it. Anyone got a workaround for that, I'm all ears!

Does Elements 3 allow painting from other history states? If it does, that's a workaround. Sharpen, step back in History, paint in selectively from the future.

[rutt]

What's the problem when you sharpen? What do you want to sharpen more and what do you want to sharpen less? Does Elements3 have CMYK? What about lighten and darken layers?

[DJ-S1]

It's really just layers, I think. If I'm reading it right, you can have a mask on "adjustment" layers but not regular layers. In PS6 I usually make a background copy layer, then sharpen on that so I can mask off areas. Can't do that in Elements 3 AFAIK.

I'm just talking about quick an dirty unsharp mask here.

[ian408]

It's really just layers, I think. If I'm reading it right, you can have a mask on "adjustment" layers but not regular layers. In PS6 I usually make a background copy layer, then sharpen on that so I can mask off areas. Can't do that in Elements 3 AFAIK.

I'm just talking about quick an dirty unsharp mask here.
Can you use the magic wand to make a selection then copy it and create
a new layer from the copy (ctrl+c then ctrl+j)?

Ian

[XO-Studios]

This is a picture of my niece - actually my 1st cousin once-removed, but it's easier to say "niece"! This was after her baptism while waiting for dinner to be served. I really like it, but I'm curious about ways to make this and similar shots better. Any suggestions would be appreciated.Canon 300D - handheld with available light - f3.2 - 1/30sec - 120mm - ISO800
Besides all the other comments, I would crop this and keeping the rule of thirds in mind. i.e. I like Gingers crop, but it still has the subject smack in the middle.

FWIW,

XO,

[ginger_55]

The rule of thirds is one rule. There is also a composition in the center called the S curve. I like that one a lot.

This was just a portrait, IMO, wanted to get rid of the background, yet give the child room to look at whatever she was looking at.

Where would you have put her? That would have been a different shot. In a really cool environment, etc. Either that or a lot of negative space........that is good, too.

Not defending myself, I was in a hurry, but I know of other composition rules besides the rule of thirds.

Brutal, I get tired of hearing of only one rule, why don't we list all the compositions recommended, or mentioned, in the same "rule" books.

ginger

[Shay Stephens]

Well I am going to diverge from the others here a little. I like the photo, a lot. This isn't a studio setting, it is a restaurant, so having the menu visible, to me, is not a problem at all.

Of course there is no harm in doing a tighter crop, but this is a beautiful environmental portrait as is.