Candid Portrait

[theusher]

I was photographing my parents new puppy, and I decided to check for reactions of my family instead of taking the umpteenth picture of the dog. I thought this one came out very well, a nice mixture of true emotion and color. Since the lighting in the space was poor, I had to bounce my flash off the ceiling. I would like to hear your opinions of it, good or bad.

(click the picture to see it larger)

 

[his4ever]

I like it. I love the DOF and the colors and the expression! I think a little off the top might be better... but I could be wrong... Great shot!

 

[Jake42]

I like the DOF also. the colors are good too. and yeah, maybe a little more off of the top might be better.

 

[theusher]

Appreciate the comments, I'll look into the crop idea, thanks.

 

[his4ever]

just wanted to let you know... I have been thinking about your picture this evening... and it makes me so geeked about getting a flash that bounces off the ceiling. To see what that can produce is so cool! Thanks for sharing your picture.

 

[live_it10]

definetly good. its a cool picture...i wood guess the guy's looking at the dog but it almost looks like theres nothing distracting him...like he's just laughing. i may b crazy. but its good.

 

[LaFoto]

I want a flash other than the one that is in my camera! *pout*

But I would crop this for sure.
For me there is no doubt this one needs a crop.
And it should be in People and Pets.
So I think it will move over now .

 

[theusher]

So would you suggest an irregular size crop, (ie just taking a little off the top) or going tighter all over with the shot?

And yes being able to aim the flash is huge imo. I also have a light sphere for it, but it was not on at the time I had left it home.

 

[LaFoto]

Well, if you don't mind "sacrificing" his one knee, then I would crop in from above and from the left to his shoulder ... this is me speculating about it, I haven't done the crop as yet other than in my mind, so I don't know if it still looks good.... :scratch:

 

[Christie Photo]

So would you suggest an irregular size crop, (ie just taking a little off the top) or going tighter all over with the shot?

I would consider taking a bit off the left along with the top. Have you considered cloning out the flare in the background?

Pete

 

[theusher]

Thanks for the suggestion. I think the flare was actually the tv set reflecting in the window. Doesn't look too hard to remove.

 

[theusher]

I take that back. With my meagerly horrid photoshop skills, I cannot so much as remove that flair with the clone tool. It just ends up looking worse than if I leave it there. I'm so annoyed with myself right now, the stupid flair can stay there.

 

[Christie Photo]

When I get one like this, I frist plumb any verticle lines in the area where the work is to done by rotating the canvas. If necessary, I rotate the image back to it's original orientation after completing the work.

 

[theusher]

Wow, great job. When I tried using the clone stamp, it ended up discoloring the blinds. Do you mind providing me with some other hints to help me along using the clone tool?

 

[Christie Photo]

Do you mind providing me with some other hints to help me along using the clone tool?

I don't mind... it's just that I don't know that much. I'm self-taught, and that's just on a need-to-know basis.

I suppose the most important thing I learned in PS is to use the fade command in the edit menu. I didn't use it here, but I use it lot.

Pete