Mara turns one, CC

[noelleyjane]

Hello all, I'm a major lurker here. I a just a total mom with a camera but I have really been trying to get all the technical aspects down. The hardest I find is composition and pp. I posted this on another forum a visit and got some good feedback. Hoping for some more here.

<a href="http://s461.photobucket.com/albums/qq337/noelleduncan/?action=view&current=DSC03517copy.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i461.photobucket.com/albums/qq337/noelleduncan/DSC03517copy.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos" /></a>

 

[noelleyjane]

Shoot, hmmm not sure which link to use from photobucket...... HTML works on another forum. Maybe the image code

 

[paigew]

Hi there! Gorgeous field you have found!! Your focus, exposure, and skin tones look great to me. I am not a fan of the chair however. In such an earthy field I would have opted for a quilt or at least a worn looking chair. If you use a chair, I would really like to SEE the chair; not just a chair back popping out of the field kwim?? Welcome to tpf!

 

[Derrel]

The "chair in field" posing device has become somewhat common these days among a certain segment of the photographer population, so I see it as more of a pose-of-an-era thing than the solid, classical posing ideas paigew was alluding to. On a purely practical level though, the chair does help to elevate the toddler UP and above the oats, and also gives her something to literally, hold onto! So...yeah..."something" is needed to get her up and above the flora...40 years ago, we probably would have used a small step ladder for the child to hold onto. The classic "ladder pose" gave the child an implied sense of "action", and for children in the 2- to 6- year-old bracket, gave them a place to WANT TO BE! On a ladder! Woo-hoo!!! Click! CLick! CLIck! CLICk! CLICK!

Anyway, cute kid, GOOD catchlights in the eyes too, to add sparkle and emphasis!

 

[noelleyjane]

Thanks for your comments! I kinda agree about the chair style, was not my first choice but wasn't able to locate a worn wood type one as the shots were sort of impromptu. The field is actually adjacent to my backyard! Nice,eh?
The most critiques I got on this photo is the crop. Does anyone have anything to say about that? Here is my SOOC

 

[Granddad]

For a "mom-with-a-camera" I'd say this shows promise. After reading your self description I was surprised to see a decent photo. Crops and props are a lot easier to learn that getting a decent image with a good expression. It seems to be in focus with good depth of field. :thumbup:

Keep on reading the advice given to others as well as what you get on your own photos, I learn loads from doing that.

 

[Derrel]

Your cropped image is MUCH better than the one that has the tree-line in it...the tree-line takes emphasis away from the child. Your placement of the baby within the frame in the original photo is quite good. I LIKE the way you placed her eyes roughly on a rule of thirds intersection point...that's not a hard and fast rule, but it is a good guideline. CROPPING is a real art...it can hugely impact a photo's reception with viewers. FOr example, try cropping 1/2 inch off the bottom of the photo originally posted. FTO me, losing 1/2 inch off the bottom makes the child even MORE-prominent: my honest feeling is that the original picture has just a wee bit too much bottom-weight..a wee bit too much of the oats...

YMMV, of course. As far as the MWAC comment above: Yes, it does show promise. You have good eye contact, eye sparkle, CLEAN background, CLEAN foreground, simple pose, vertical framing on a vertically-oriented picture (EVERYTHING in the shot runs up-and-down...an MWAC would likely have framed this as a "landscape"), and clean, accurate and acceptable color. Win,win,win,win. Looks more like a photographer's effort than a mwac effort.

 

[Trever1t]

As Derrel said, crop is everything...well maybe not everything but presentation is 2/3rds the job. Cropping off the bottom or cropping 8x10 is a good idea as Derrel mentioned. I would also consider cloning out the treeline for just a wee bit more headroom

 

[noelleyjane]

Thanks so much guys! When the kids are in bed tonight I think I will play around with it and see if I can get a bit more head room in.

 

[janineh]

Great shot! Like the cropped version and the edit.

 

[noelleyjane]

Here is my 2nd edit with a little more head room......