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	Username   Password FM Forum Rules What are the criteria? FM Forums | Photo Critique | Join Upload & Sell    end    Archive 2012 · Salvation (hands shot)

smallrewards Offline • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #1 · Salvation (hands shot) Well, I went ahead and posted it in the weekly challenge, but any feedback real quick? No time to reshoot, but cropping or basic editing is possible, as this is just from the camera. Also, do you think the slickpic logo ruins the photo? The one I submitted for the weekly assignment is from a smugmug trial...only 2 weeks. So, it would be best to submit it Iguess, but I hate the slickpic logo...The larger size from smugmug follows, just incase someone has some tips to help the 640 one look sharper. Looks soft, but seems pretty sharp in original. Feb 01, 2012 at 04:10 AM

AuntiPode Offline • • • • • Upload & Sell: On p.1 #2 · Salvation (hands shot) Consider a tighter crop? Feb 01, 2012 at 04:29 AM

smallrewards Offline • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #3 · Salvation (hands shot) My wife felt like I should leave a little more wrist to emphasize the concept ofrising up, but we both agreed overall. Of course, yours has a nice diagnal line thing going on from top right to left that I find very appealing....I am really stumped. This is byfar the hardest part of photography, in my opinion....minutia. I ampretty stumped, not sure how far to take the crop. Either way, centered or hand to the left to emphasize the diagonal and supposed direction ofmotion? Edited on Feb 01, 2012 at 04:59 AM · View previous versions Feb 01, 2012 at 04:43 AM

AuntiPode Offline • • • • • Upload & Sell: On p.1 #4 · Salvation (hands shot) The odd thing is that the child's hand is reaching down to the adult. Counters the usual expectation. Feb 01, 2012 at 04:53 AM

cgardner Offline • • • • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #5 · Salvation (hands shot) When first looking at the shot, even after reading the title, I had trouble seeing the hands in the photo. I call this the "lost keys" perceptual dynamic. Have you even searched for your keys or other familiar object only to find them directly in front of your eyes but turned at an odd angle so you didn't recognize them. The brain is a pattern matching computer and what the eyes where sending it didn't match the mental picture of the keys. What throws this one off for me is the highlight on the palm of the adult's hand, and the shaded pinkie finger that hides and slows recognition of the baby's hand. As is my SOP for evaluation and cropping I zoomed on the star of the show — baby's hand — then expanded the frame to try to eliminate the distraction of the palm. I cloned in darken mode to hide the parts of the palm i couldn't crop out and lightened the shadows with a screen adjustment layer. Put that pinkie finger remains like a guy wearing a hat in the theatre spoiling the view of the star in the spotlight. It would be a much better photo without that pinkie in the way. I'd reshoot it rather than trying to fix it keeping the key light off the palm of the adult, the pinkie finger out of the way and using fill from near the camera. Fill to record detail in the shadows even to the point of overfilling a bit then darken to taste in PP as a strategy to minimize zero exposure threshold noise. Feb 01, 2012 at 11:26 AM

smallrewards Offline • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #6 · Salvation (hands shot) I see what you are saying. I actually had many different photos, and this was the one I picked. There were several aspects that I liked, and in identifying those I missed the most obviuos...pinky over her hand. Terrible decision on my part. The others are all lacking something though. Hm, that is painful though, because I was so loving this shot until now Since I am donig a print of some of my favorites right now...about to start in a separate thread for feedback on that...and until now had been planning on printing the above photo as one of my favorites. Now that isout the window Still, would like to salvage one though... here are two others, would you say its better, or any potential way to salvage one and make it print worthy? Oh yea, and do you have a better way to get the background blacked out without PP? I put a flash light out...and not having a tripod I put my camera on a table, went to the intersection and focused on my wife's hands and set exposure, then I used a cap top and hair band to set shutter priority and hold it down, then my wife swung my daughter near the intersection (think superman) while I reached out toward her hands, attempting to stay within the focal range (marked on the floor) and then picked the ones that accomplished what I wanted, and chose my favorite...lol, it was the only way I could find to get the background so dark without good editing software. Any tips to make it easier? It was a real pain...lol Feb 02, 2012 at 02:52 AM

AuntiPode Offline • • • • • Upload & Sell: On p.1 #7 · Salvation (hands shot) The last is my favorite. Ideally the lighting ought to be slightly adjusted - simulated here with a bit of burning to modify some of the highlights and a bit of arm re-touching. Feb 02, 2012 at 03:47 AM

cgardner Offline • • • • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #8 · Salvation (hands shot) The second shot is better than the first but the ideal composition (for me) would be to make the baby's small hand the star would be to have the baby grasping the extended single finger on the adult's hand extended with most of it out of the way. For and interesting metaphorical twist you could model adult's hand in the shot after this famous one on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel Edited on Feb 03, 2012 at 03:08 AM · View previous versions Feb 02, 2012 at 04:56 AM

smallrewards Offline • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #9 · Salvation (hands shot) lol, I totally thought about that. Almost went for it in fact, but backed down deciding it would be cheesy. And while I do appreciate the feedback, you have offered very valuable criticisms both here and in other threads, I must respectfully disagree with the concept of the "ideal composition" in regards to a specific subject or subject matter. Particularly as the message I was attempting to coney would be totally lost (though was still somewhat ineffective as executed.) Ideally I could have gotten the shot I originally went for....I think the message would have been much easier to decipher...but without a tripod I couldn't find any way to control the lighting, focus, AND my daughter to make it a reality One of these days I will stumble across one in a thrift store Feb 02, 2012 at 11:51 PM

cgardner Offline • • • • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #10 · Salvation (hands shot) When I wrote "ideal" I meant for me – I was after all expressing MY opinion on how to improve the message. I've edited to make that more clear. We all carry emotional context from memory into every shot we take. That's part of why the first shot looked OK to you despite the pinkie covering the baby's hand — you know what the baby's hand looks like from memory and only see the action. I can only react to what I see in the photo and suggest what would cause me to focus and hold my attention on the baby's hand — like being able to see it. A dark background shot is just like lighting a dark stage — put the star in the spotlight and let everything less important fade into the footlights by degrees you want it to not distract from the star of the show. When you have two "stars" in a shot you need to decide if you want the viewer to see both at the same time (a harmonious vibe) or ping-pong between them (creating a feeling of tension or conflict - taking sides). What is "ideal" in composition for me is when I see the star of the show and am not pulled off it by less important content. How much of the adult needs to show to tell the story here? Finger, hand, half the arm, the whole arm, head and shoulders, the entire body? For me just the finger would be enough for context and would put max. attention and hold it on the baby's hand. YMMV Feb 03, 2012 at 03:22 AM

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