Softball shot...C&C please for a newbie

[bowen.deanna]

Okay I had a few mintues before my daughter's softball game so I convienced (bribed ) her to let me practice with my camera. I am a newbie to my Canon Rebel T3 and have a lot to learn. I have started off by trying to use my light meter on M mode and get a good exposure. I would appreciate any and all (good or bad) C&C. Oh and this is SOOC. I know there is alot of empty space above her head that needs cropped.

 

[tirediron]

C&C per req: You've already noted one of the key compositional issues with this image; that is: The negative (empty) space above her head. A couple of other things that come to mind are: (1) The cropped right arm. While cropping limbs is acceptable when necessary, when you do it, do it boldly (avoid cropping "little bits" of limbs such as finger tips and toes) and never at/near a limb or along a lateral axis; and (2) the angle that you were at relative to the subject. "Up the nose" poses are rarely considered attracitve.

A more advanced topic is the lighting. Any time you deal with hats, you are bound to have lighting issues. In this cae you made a good choice (Or was it just s**t-house luck?) positioning the sun over her right shoulder, but there's still a noticable shadow on her face, and the specular highlights on her glove and shirt (the white-ish areas) are a bit strong for my taste. If you had one, an off-camera flash (OCF) image right would have allowed you to reduce the overall dynamic range and enhance the colours. If you don't a reflector would have worked well; that could be anything as simple as a large piece of white card or even a white t-shirt, held in such a way as to reflect the sunlight onto her face and chest.

So, all of that to say: It's not a bad image at all, but there are areas in which it could be improved. Keep shooting!

Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.

~John