Child Portrait: I'm trying something new

bellacat · Dec 8, 2007

I am still trying to define my style so I wanted to try something new with yesterday's session
Both of these were taken around 830am in our neighborhood. We had a ton of rain so there was lots of soggy grass. I softened the shadows in his face on the first photo and lightened the shadow on his face in the second to give a little more balance. In the second shot i think the highlight is a bit blown and I am not sure about the crop. All these were shot in Aperture Priority.

CC as always is welcome.

Thanks for looking

1.

2.

LeeLeeMelis · Dec 10, 2007

In the first one I think you lightened where you needed too, it looks good. The second one in my opinion is blown out and distracts from his face. There is too much differential between his arm and face so his face is hidden. It's hard to find "your style" I think you're on your way though! Good work!

Sweetsomedays · Dec 10, 2007

I like one, but theres something about the composition (and I struggle with comp myself) that just feels like it could be better. #2 does nothin for me, to many shadows and his eyes are to dark for me.
Keep at it. I am in the midst of finding a style and sticking with it

bellacat · Dec 10, 2007

thanks for taking the time to comment

LeeLeeMelis said:
In the first one I think you lightened where you needed too, it looks good. The second one in my opinion is blown out and distracts from his face. There is too much differential between his arm and face so his face is hidden. It's hard to find "your style" I think you're on your way though! Good work!

Thanks. I wasn't sure about the lightening when compared to the original but i like the PP much better in the first one. I'm having a hard time with the second one. I did try to burn the arm a little to bring back the definition in the shadows but the arm is so bright.

Sweetsomedays said:
I like one, but theres something about the composition (and I struggle with comp myself) that just feels like it could be better. #2 does nothin for me, to many shadows and his eyes are to dark for me.
Keep at it. I am in the midst of finding a style and sticking with it

in the first one do you think its the stick? It seems to be taking away from his face maybe. I keep wanting it to be moved to the right and lowered so its not sitting on his chin.

Sweetsomedays · Dec 10, 2007

Did you sharpen for web? His eyes look nice and sharp I bet they would pop right out with a nice sharpen

The sticks don't bug me at all. I dig the sticks, very boyish. I think perhaps it's the wall. It's not straight so when I look at it I look right down the wall.

Ok, it says it's ok to play so I did

If you want it down just tell me and I will take it off.
I straightened it, had to crop a bit tighter when I straightened.
Did a screen layer.
Saturated a bit
Added a very light venette
sharpened for web then I did a lil blur to the wall to HIS right cuz it got SUPER texturised when I sharpened lol

bellacat · Dec 10, 2007

very nice. I'm going to see if i can reproduce what you just did on my own. thanks

Allsmiles7282 · Dec 10, 2007

On the first one I really like the composition and crop. The only thing I would suggest is using a reflector for some fill light on the darker parts of his face and to get some light in to his eyes. Other than that I Love the photo!

The second one doesn't really do anything for me. He isn't exposed properly and he has funky light on his arm that is distracting. When my eye first hit the photo it went straight to that sun on his arm and the goal is for the eye to go straight to him, ya know? (Ofcourse keep in mind that I am a crazy perfectionist so take what I say with a grain of salt!)

I commend you for branching out and trying new things. The important thing is to always keep trying! If you could see some of my early stuff, you'd die! Really!

bellacat · Dec 11, 2007

i have tried to reproduce what you did but I don't know how to sharpen for web. I am using CS so I think this is something in CS2 or CS3.

bellacat · Dec 11, 2007

Thanks allsmiles. I can totally relate to being a perfectionist as I am crazy when it comes to graphic design, now am just learning how to do it with photography. Practice makes perfect so I will continue to take your professional advice and apply it to my work.

wildmaven · Dec 11, 2007

bellacat said:
in the first one do you think its the stick? It seems to be taking away from his face maybe. I keep wanting it to be moved to the right and lowered so its not sitting on his chin.

That's the part that's bothering me. If it wasn't against his chin, the composition would be better. In art, you seldom want to have one structure bumping against another or the sides of the image. If the stick ended halfway between his t-shirt collar and his chin, it would be perfect.

Also, I wouldn't crop as tight as sweetsomedays did (though I do understand she had to due to the straightening), because the sleeve of his shirt and his head are now bumping against the side of the image. We all need to remember that, when framed and matted, part of the edges of the image will be lost, resulting in his head being cut at the top in sweetsomedays' crop.