Hi, first post but I've been a lurker for a few months now and have learned a great deal from you all.
I'm new to taking "proper" photos, and have had my 450D / XSi for a couple of months, and wouldn't mind if you could give me a bit of direction or C&C on the linked photo. It was taken with the 450D and EF-50 f1.8 II @ f2.8, 1/125 sec, ISO 200 (manual mode), fill in flash -1 FEC, with natural light from the left of the photo from a north facing window. Small increase in saturation & USM for web version, but no other PP, yet.
The picture is of my kids and I plan on getting it enlarged as a xmas present for my wife from them.
please no need for any disclaimers so as to not hurt my feelings, I've worked out that that's not the intention of anyone on here
Welcome to this forum. Good to see a new member posting. I hope you enjoy your time spent here.
The girls are adorable. Lucky parents.
The picture should make a wonderful present. I know it would make me smile every time I saw it, if they were my children. In fact, it already causes me to smile.
What to change?
I would clone over the one foot showing (looks like a pink blob on image left). By eliminating it, you will restore balance to the image.
A departure from strictest orthodoxy, but a fun photo, is to include kid's out-of-focus feet. Children's feet are cute, and as such somewhat detract from the subject. But I've had one or two photos where this has actually worked quite well as a fun portrait rather than a straight portrait. My most memorable is a pic from above (camera pointing downward, child looking up) with one bare slightly-out-of-focus foot stepping foward: that little foot was so cute we were quite beside ourselves. Pity I can't show it.
OK, I've cloned the foot out now (might need to go back an spend a bit more time on it), plus applied a slight S curve to the image but not sure if this has changed the skin tones for the better or worst?
Nice shot Andy and very cute kids. I love their expressions and great job at getting them to look at the camera. Although already mentioned and fixed, the foot was also a distraction for me. But heh, your edited version looks great now. I think it might just be me since no one has mentioned it but it seems like the photo is slightly tilted to the right. Maybe I'm just not holding my head up straight. Haha. Anyways, great work and I'm sure momma is going to love it.
Steady Hand wrote:
One thing....for the future...try to leave some room at the bottom of the image so the fingers are not cut by the bottom edge of frame.
Noted, and will take more care next time
Kopey wrote:
Nice shot Andy and very cute kids. I love their expressions and great job at getting them to look at the camera.
Getting the eldest to look down the lens isn't usually a problem, and I managed to get quite a few really good shots of her but with little sister pulling all sorts of faces . mind you I did have to work fast, start to finish in around 10mins, as they were keen to get outside into the first snowfall of the winter to make a snowman
Getting candids of the youngest is usually my best approach, and here is another one I took of her which I've cropped a bit and done a few minor PP changes.
. mind you I did have to work fast, start to finish in around 10mins, as they were keen to get outside into the first snowfall of the winter to make a snowman