Middle of the Road

jleon · Oct 30, 2008

I took this picture of my daugther on a visit back to my home town (400 TOTAL people) the only place a little girl could stand in the middle of a dirt road. Any comments? I took the color down a bit to give it an "older" feel - was that the wrong thing to do?

1/400
f 4.4
ISO 125

Those were the settings on my camera - should i have used something else? I am still learning about the "settings" part of taking pictures.

Thanks!

davebmck · Oct 30, 2008

It looks a little under exposed to me and a bit flat. Perhaps a little saturation would help.

jleon · Oct 30, 2008

THis is the original shot - i just thought it to be too bright.......

davebmck · Oct 31, 2008

The original looks better and is not over exposed.

mrodgers · Oct 31, 2008

Is that road near you then? You have a perfect setting to walk backwards and allow a bit of distance from her to let her do her own thing walking down the road. Stay zoomed out just a bit and get the road into the shot. Get her walking along the side glancing around. Wait until the dog (nice dog, btw, I have a 4 month old yellow Lab) is out of the shot.

I live on a back country road. I grabbed a shot of my little girl walking along. There's a cow pasture along the road with a fence. I put my daughter over on the left 3rd (rule of thirds) and have the entire road width in the photo. I desaturated a bit to give it an older look and it came out fantastic. It's one of my first images that I printed out in 8x10.

Environment can make a big difference in a photo. Nothing wrong with yours the way you took it. But that road would make for a great environment. The photo I grabbed of my daughter has her strolling along the side, hands in her pocket, just gazing down where she was walking. The non-challant (sp?) expression, her gentle stroll, and the environment of the back country road with the cow fence and the desaturated edit just made the image perfect in my eyes.

I can share if you'd like. I don't like posting photos in other people's threads. It would be just to give some more creative ideas about taking the environment into account in the image.

I like your desaturation better than the original. The saturation levels need to match the environment in my opinion. The country road thing just screams desaturate, just as you did. Had she been in a field of colorful flowers, then the saturation levels needed would be different. You are definitely on the right path with the saturation, in my opinion.

I just wish I could see her in the environment. I'd like to know what she is looking at. With this photo, she is looking right out of the image. Had there been more of the road width showing, she would be looking through the image and would carry the viewer's eyes through the image. As it is now, she carries the viewer's eyes right out of the image.

Biggest problem with the image is where the sun is. Walking down the road in the opposite direction would have helped loads in having the exposure better.

Edit: Ha ha! I just noticed the big chalk stick. She planning on drawing on the dirt road with that?

manaheim · Oct 31, 2008

Looks like a really cute pic that you didn't QUITE get, which is a bummer. Good eye, though, and that's really important.

For me...

1. The dog in the background is distracting.
2. The crop to her head is a little tight.
3. The framing is fine (aside from the head thing), but doesn't take advantage of the road as a neat element in the scene.
4. As mrogers said... the light thing.

Still, good eye and you saw the shot. Just take a few more in a burst next time and try to pay mind to some background elements and try different angles and crops and you should be in great shape.

jleon · Oct 31, 2008

To Mrodgers - i would love to see that shot - do you mind posting? I think I undertand what you mean about getting more road but would definintely enjoy seeing your shot.

The head crop was just where i took the picture- not being mindful of cutting off her head i just snapped. She is a mover and a groover so i was lucky to have gotten what i did get!

Yes - LOL, that is chalk in her hands. She was drawing on the sidewalk near the house earlier and just kept the chalk in her hands. She is looking up at an airplane she heard overhead - she loves them!

THanks to all for the C&C - this really does help and the more i read and post pictures the more i learn!!