Working on my B&W editing style, CC welcome.

STiZzle2010 · Feb 2, 2016

Normally this time of year is very cold and is covered in snow where I live. This year we have had record high temps and we have no snow on the ground! My wife and I took our 9 month old son to the park with his older brother sister to take advantage of the sunshine and warm temps. My youngest has just started crawling and of course he wanted to be let down to explore.

I do not edit many photos in B&W and have wanted to work on my post processing. I know that I cut his hand off but any other CC is very much welcomed.

Shot with a Nikon D5500, 50mm 1.8G, and edited in Lightroom as well as Photoshop.
f/2.5, 1/800th, ISO 100, natural light.

Final- by Hebee's Visions, on Flickr

Braineack · Feb 2, 2016

nice shot. processing looks good; but the horizon being so unlevel is bothering me a bit.

STiZzle2010 · Feb 2, 2016

He was on a hill but yes there is a slight angle to the horizon. I can make the adjustment. Thanks for your feedback!

nf1 · Feb 2, 2016

I like it - the sharpness is great, the hill for me enhances the photo - the boy is making his way up the hill (and with the cute 4x4 patch...

). The bit that bothers me is the blown out sky - my attention is drawn to the white sky. Other than that - really great photo.

STiZzle2010 · Feb 2, 2016

I pondered on the sky for a while. I know that the brightest part of the image is what your eye is drawn to. Should I try and reduce the exposure there some?

Parker219 · Feb 2, 2016

I think it is good how it is, other than I would crop some off the left.

Nice conversion. Good job capturing a baby at ISO 100, makes the photo look clean / crisp.

Braineack · Feb 2, 2016

even on a hill, trees grow vertically. that's what throwing me off.

nf1 · Feb 2, 2016

STiZzle2010 said:
I pondered on the sky for a while. I know that the brightest part of the image is what your eye is drawn to. Should I try and reduce the exposure there some?

I don't think so - this photo is quite good as it is, it's just something I would suggest to keep look for for future images. When we shoot outdoors it is nearly impossible for all stars to align and capture the perfect photo - but we still keep trying

.

Parker219 · Feb 2, 2016

Don't worry about the tree...99.9% of the people that look at this image will say...."Cute Kid". The depth of field is shallow enough to make the kid stand out.

STiZzle2010 · Feb 2, 2016

Parker219 said:
I think it is good how it is, other than I would crop some off the left.

Nice conversion. Good job capturing a baby at ISO 100, makes the photo look clean / crisp.

Thank you! I try to shoot at a low ISO whenever possible. Lucky for me this was about 1.5 hours before sunset and I had plenty of light.

Braineack said:
even on a hill, trees grow vertically. that's what throwing me off.

I agree and I will make the change when I get home. The tree on the left is a dead give away. I usually catch fixing the horizon, not sure how this one got by me lol. Thanks for pointing it out!

STiZzle2010 · Feb 2, 2016

Thanks everyone. I'm still learning and I've grown very passionate about photography. I'm eager to learn and improve. Thank you everyone for your feedback!

DanOstergren · Feb 2, 2016

I would pull the exposure down a bit, but that's just my personal taste. Great shot.

Braineack · Feb 2, 2016

STiZzle2010 said:
Braineack said:

even on a hill, trees grow vertically. that's what throwing me off.

Click to expand...

I agree and I will make the change when I get home. The tree on the left is a dead give away. I usually catch fixing the horizon, not sure how this one got by me lol. Thanks for pointing it out!

if it means cropping the fingers, then just leave it

The_Traveler · Feb 3, 2016

nf1 said:
I don't think so - this photo is quite good as it is, it's just something I would suggest to keep look for for future images. When we shoot outdoors it is nearly impossible for all stars to align and capture the perfect photo - but we still keep trying .

Parker219 said:
Don't worry about the tree...99.9% of the people that look at this image will say...."Cute Kid". The depth of field is shallow enough to make the kid stand out.

If all the indicators say the image is tilted, then make at least one seem normal. I think we should be shooting for the 1% who get thrown by everything being off - for no artistic reason.