Boy and Bike (first ever portrait)

[Jackofknives]

Hi all, this is my first ever portrait shoot. Managed to catch some rim light. Please C&C.

 

[The_Traveler]

couple of questions to help you look at pictures.

What about the space on either side of him/bike? Does it add or detract?
Look at this at 100% magnification. What is in focus?

What f stop was this shot at?

Lew

 

[tirediron]

I like the expression and the use of ambient light, unfortunately, you missed focus and the face is soft (focus appears to be on his right shoulder vice the near eye). The other issue I see is the busy, cluttered background, which, while out of focus, is still defined enough to be distracting. Look for plainer, less busy backgrounds.

I'm not seeing any EXIF data, but I'm guessing you used a fast lens wide or nearly wide open; that's great, but it makes nailing focus critical.

 

[Braineack]

Crop tighter. Good capture.

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Tapatalk

 

[reaper7534]

looks to have been shot at 1.4/1000/100 according to my exif plugin in chrome

 

[Derrel]

The boy's expression looks genuinely happy, which is good ! I would crop it tighter, yes, and rotate it maybe two to two and a half degrees clock-wise, to straighten up that wall behind him there. I would probably eliminate the left-most wall entirely. I looked at it at full-resolution, and I can see the lens performance is typical of most lenses shot wide-open; ever-so-slight veiling and faint CA. Not critically sharp, but sharp-ish. Looks like he collar and closest sleeve are THE sharpest zone of focus, but the face and teeth are just a tiny bit behind the actual focus plane, yet, still "acceptable".

For what it is, it's okay. Rotate it, crop it a bit, sharpen it up a bit,. reduce the size down to 3-megapixels, it's as good an image as you will need for the web or small print sizes, and the kid looks happy. On today's Facebook or Samsung or iPhone, it'll look hella good, because expression trumps quality most of the time!

 

[Jackofknives]

I like the expression and the use of ambient light, unfortunately, you missed focus and the face is soft (focus appears to be on his right shoulder vice the near eye). The other issue I see is the busy, cluttered background, which, while out of focus, is still defined enough to be distracting. Look for plainer, less busy backgrounds.

I'm not seeing any EXIF data, but I'm guessing you used a fast lens wide or nearly wide open; that's great, but it makes nailing focus critical.

Thank for the C&C. The EXIF data is 1/1000 shutter, f/1.4, ISO 100, focal length 50mm. Yea, I should use centered focus point and point it at the boy's eyes and recompose. Though, I dunno how I can crop the image differently because if I make it tighter on the sides, the subject would be at the edge of the picture, and that would make the composition worse? (referring to 1/3rd rule).

Edit: I have cropped the picture and rotated it 2 degrees to make the wall straight.

 

[Derrel]

FORGET the rule of thirds....that doggone WALL in the background left needs to GO! The rule of thirds is a made-up thing from the 1940's...it's not a "rule" at all, just a shorthand guide to help casual photographers take better photos, and it came into being in the photo press of the World War II era.

Here is my edit of your original frame. First thing, I rotated it then I cropped out the wall edge at left, and also eliminated the pipe in the lower right corner, and I cropped some off of the top in order to specifically eliminate the "pull" of the light fixture (?) on the garage or carport wall at the top. I actually lowered the clarity, to SOFTEN the image and lower its sharpness, and I made the light more yellow, to look more like late afternoon, warm, yellow lighting, and I also darkened the exposure level a bit, and I applied a very soft vignette around the edges.

NOW the shot is about a boy, and his bike, and his happy expression. Secondly, the red rear reflectors on his bike are echoed by the red taillights on the parked car...now it's a "picture" that to me, makes total sense and is pretty decent really.

 

[Jackofknives]

Wow, thanks. The lowered clarity and the yellow tinge does give it a dreamer look. And the cropping is great. Amazing.

 

[Derrel]

Wow, thanks. The lowered clarity and the yellow tinge does give it a dreamer look. And the cropping is great. Amazing.

You are welcome. Yes...this is a "romantic" photo...a "pictorial" or "sentimental" picture, so the cool, blueish tint to the light found in your original capture is too "cold", as we say. Warming up the light (going to higher White Balance numbers, like say toward 6,500 as opposed to 5,000 Degrees Kelvin or "Daylight-ish") for evening shots makes psychological sense, especially when we see side-lighting or backlighting that causes a bright outline, and then there is the darker carport area that is "cooler" because it is lighted not by rays from the SUN itself, but by cooler light that is called sky light.....not SUN-light, but sky light.

If a person has a bent or crooked nose, don't try and shadow it--light the bent side! If the focus is a bit soft due to having been shot at f/1.4, then focus not on fine, fine detail, but focus on "making a picture" by working more on the overall total mood or feeling. Eliminating distractions, like the wall edge, and the wall-mounted light, and the piece of pipe in the ground, and then straightening up the crooked wall, and "tightening up the frame" are all basic photographer's methods.

THis image could even be made much,much darker, and the light's coloring changed even more-markedly, and it might look even better to some people. WHat I see in this photo is a big smile, a boy, and his bike, and some nice evening-time light. The LIGHT is more of a big deal than the focus or the lack of ultra-fine detail.