Which one would look better...

[ancha930]

...as a canvas/gallery block print (12x19)? Also, any editing suggestions you may have are welcome and greatly appreciated.

This one:

DSC_0018-2 by Andrea930, on Flickr

Or this one:

DSC_0018 by Andrea930, on Flickr

I'm leaning towards the second one, myself. I don't know what it is, but I'm just not sure about the first one. Also, do you think I should crop a little off of the top and right to even it out a bit?

and finally, I'm thinking of having this next photo enlarged, but I'm unsure if it would look good in print. is the background too washed out? I'm assuming people will tell me to crop it because there's too much space to the left, but I really like the offset composition of this photo for some reason.

2011-04-27-23-10-03_1000000059 by Andrea930, on Flickr

 

[marmots]

ok... the whole color splash thing is just plain cheesy
why would anyone want to focus on her head band?

selective desaturation in general is just a bad idea in almost any situation.

and when people use it, like in this situation, they tend to draw the attention to the wrong thing

keep all of it or none of it in color

 

[Kbarredo]

A little tip people here hate selective coloring I don't know why. So don't even bother to ask. In my opinion a like the all bw one. The colored headband takes the focus away from the girl. Use selective coloring to draw attention to the main subject. If she had cool eyes you could keep that in color instead.

 

[The_Traveler]

A little tip people here hate selective coloring I don't know why. So don't even bother to ask. In my opinion a like the all bw one. The colored headband takes the focus away from the girl. Use selective coloring to draw attention to the main subject. If she had cool eyes you could keep that in color instead.

"people" generally dislike the use of selective color because 'generally' is it badly done and lends a tacky air to most pictures.Eyes in color in a b/w image is as generally tacky as headbands.

What would you think of a formal letter where one word was written in bright crayon to attract attention? Perhaps attractive if done on a rare occasion by a gifted artist but generally gaudy and silly as executed by the vast proportion of people.

 

[jmurphy]

I like the black & white one. The eyes really seems to stand out.

 

[Kbarredo]

A little tip people here hate selective coloring I don't know why. So don't even bother to ask. In my opinion a like the all bw one. The colored headband takes the focus away from the girl. Use selective coloring to draw attention to the main subject. If she had cool eyes you could keep that in color instead.

"people" generally dislike the use of selective color because 'generally' is it badly done and lends a tacky air to most pictures.Eyes in color in a b/w image is as generally tacky as headbands.What would you think of a formal letter where one word was written in bright crayon to attract attention? Perhaps attractive if done on a rare occasion by a gifted artist but generally gaudy and silly as executed by the vast proportion of people.

Actually not people in general. Most if the non photographers usually enjoy selective coloring. Like many of you have said here, what sells and what is good are different things. What experts might find tacky the general population might find cool. And what pros think are good, people will find tacky. Your letter analogy is kind of off. Its more like putting important words in red or italics. Its done all the time. I do see your point though.

 

[Netskimmer]

Actually not people in general. Most if the non photographers usually enjoy selective coloring. Like many of you have said here, what sells and what is good are different things. What experts might find tacky the general population might find cool. And what pros think are good people will find tacky. Your letter analogy is kind of off. Its more like putting important words in red or italics. Its done all the time.

I tend to think of this concept as the photo triangle. It's kind of like the exposure triangle except instead of shutter speed, aperture, and ISO you have profit, technical, and artistic.

At the profit point you have what sells, what the general masses want and professionals tend to shun. At the technical point you have what is most technically correct, following all applicable rules regarding photography (which we all know can still produce mediocre and uninteresting images) Finally, at the artistic point we have images that often (but certainly not always) break the rules and often appeal more to 'serious' photographers rather than the general public. Every photograph we take is within this triangle and usually gravitates to one of the three points depending on why and for whom we are taking the photo. That's how I see it anyway.

 

[The_Traveler]

Excellent idea, Netskimmer.

And why should a photo site consider cultivating the popular commercial view, which always seems, IMO, a degraded view com pared to the 'artistic'? It would seem that, if anything, we should be educating photographers to be better, more sophisticated, more artistic. They can always retreat from that position in order to satisfy their clients. OTOH, a photographer who never knows the 'good' way can never get better.

 

[Netskimmer]

Agreed, I believe the same is true of the technical point as well. One must have a firm understanding of what the rules are and why they are before one can break them (if it is necessary) with effective results. Getting good results by accidentally breaking the rules, while indicative of natural talent is far less impressive and has far more limits than understanding the rules and choosing to ignore or break them should the situation call for it artistically.

 

[ann]

You need to consider the wrap around part of the image if your printing on canvas and using traditional rails. You are going to lose lots of important information on either.

I don't mind the negative space , it helps that the child is looking at the camera not a profile. As a profile it would be awful, as her nose would be running out of the image. Then the negative space would need to be on the opposite side so that the eyes have something to look into.

 

[kundalini]

Selective coloring aside, even though I agree with The_Traveler and Netskimmer, why would you want an enlargement of #1 or #2 with such a distracting background? The shot may be quite fitting for a family photo album, but I can't imagine that hanging on a wall, particularly at the cost of canvas. Just my 2¢.

 

[ancha930]

Thank you all for your input. And believe it or not, I agree with the "cheesy" and "tacky" comments. I knew the photo felt a little 'off,' but I couldn't quite place my finger on the problem and I was definitely focusing on the headband instead of her.

And as far as my reasoning behind wanting to print a photo with such a distracting background, she's my daughter and this photo sums up her personality perfectly she's turning 2 this month and you'd swear she was turning 16. She was sitting on our front porch in front of the door and when I told her it was almost time to take a nap, this is the look she gave and I happened to catch it. So, it's for my own, personal collection.

thanks, again!

 

[Kbarredo]

Ughh daddy don't embarrass me infront of my imaginary friends. I'm too cool to take naps

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

I prefer the third image. I like the use of dead space here. The story I get is that she is leaving, and raising a hand to say good bye. She's off shopping! So, her being so close to leaving the frame makes sense to me. I also think this is one of those images that can work either way. You could crop this portrait aspect, just beyond her elbow, still including enough of the bag to tell the story.


Kberrado, you don't understand why people tend to dislike (not hate) selective color, because you don't fully understand it. When it works, it can be brilliant. It's just one of those tools that works less often than it is successful. It tends to be disliked because it's one of those things beginners learn early on, and over do it. Like so many other things.

Of course it sells. I addressed this in another thread...

Ok... reluctantly.. I agree. I missed on this one (though mom and dad LOVE it!).

Of course mom and dad love it!

First, it's their baby.
Second, you did magic.
And third, they don't know anything about art.
You have to decide for yourself whether doing something poorly because the ignorant like it, or doing something well because you are the expert, is the path you take.

Don't be mistaken. Selective coloring can be used quite successfully. But only after you understand how it works.

You can learn to use selective color like a pro, or use it as a bottom of the barrel Facebook photographer.

 

[ancha930]

Ughh daddy don't embarrass me infront of my imaginary friends. I'm too cool to take naps

haha, exactly. except, I'm mommy.