Unintended photo

[Dmariehill]

I was getting my daughter ready and wasn't intending to take pictures but she looked so pretty picking out accessories that I grabbed my camera really quick.

That means this is just snapshot quality. I had to fix it as much as possible in lightroom as I had my settings wrong and there's distracting crap in the background. If I'd know I was going to take photos I'd have closed the piano and moved the blanket and the straw/crap.

But I think it's a nice snapshot. Since I didn't shoot in raw, I'm guessing I can't get rid of the graininess right?

 

[tirediron]

You can definitely reduce the noise with software, but honestly, I'm not sure that I would. This is a really lovely image, all the better for being a 'shot of opportunity'. I would clone out the straw(?) to her right, and crop just a bit off of the bottom to get rid of the foot and be very pleased with it.

 

[waday]

This is a cute shot!

Screw the idea of a 'perfect' image vs. a 'snapshot' image. We all too often discard shots because they're too noisy/grainy, too soft, underexposed, overexposed, not composed 'right', slightly off-kilter, distracting watermark, wrong this, wrong that. I don't know how many times I hear myself or someone else say something similar to: "oh this is just a snapshot" or "this is SOOC". We're trying to justify that the image isn't perfect technically, or up to a certain standard, so take it lightly. But, so what if we're proud of it just the way it is?

The perfect image is one that evokes emotion when you see it. No matter what it looks like from a technical perspective.

This picture to me seems perfect. I agree with John's comments and suggested edits, if you want to make them. It was a 'shot of opportunity'. It's a lovely image. Be pleased with it as it is.

 

[Dmariehill]

thanks for the suggestion. I'm still learning lightroom - so I had to look up how to do that. but you're right this is better.
And the best thing about this one, and the reason I tried to save it since it was underexposed is it is exactly my daughter. It captures her personality perfectly. She picked the dress that morning and was in the process of picking her accessories from the drawer beside her. It's a morning ritual that I happened to catch in a vintage looking dress.

Thanks for the kind words.