Does the centering hurt this image?
I really want the entire background, but not at the expense of an effective portrait.
Short of cropping two ways, what do you think is optimal?
SOOC and processed.
Cropped from the right. Imo, no real loss of information relative to the scene, as the structure cropped out is replicated in the background with the others, just more diminutive scale ... which means it competes with the subject less.
I prefer the crop and I do not think anything of importance was lost. I don't have too much problem with the background. I think the slight OOF blur is enough to clear pull attention to the child. I would clone out the lettering on what appears to be a paper box. Letters always pull our attention and I see no reason to retain them. Being OOF only seems to make them more of a distraction. If this was my image, I would lighten the child and darken the rest of the image as well as adding a slight vignette. That is a matter of style and lots of people would prefer the more even lighting.
thanks everyone for the suggestions and illustrations.
Kent, Jim: I agree the crop improves without losing some important background elements.
Jim: I like the vignette and a bit of highlighting the child with selective exposure work. BTW, the black frame adds pop!
Scott
@CamperJim's version for me too - like how you got down (actually appears slightly below) to the child's eye-level. Good move. Craig Tanner's advice remembered
