It does seem a little overexposed and yellow cast. There are alot of things you "could" have done. but if you simply want to improve what you "did" get. I would say cropping the left and a simple vignette will pull the child into the focal point. It is a wedding pic after all...
A shot like this just HAPPENS. You don't make it, you can't plan for it, it just happens. And if you're lucky enough to see it and if you're lucky enough to push the button in time, then you just might catch a glimpse like this. Then you make do with what you've got. Photoshop the hell out of it if you have too, because it's all you'll ever have. When a moment like this passes, it's gone forever.
Brad, you are absolutly right! James is a six year old with a P&S and he got this snap. Now, it's pretty cute but like Carla says "an awkward snapshot with some technical issues." Lots and Lots of technical issues!
So what can you do with it to salvage the good parts? Don't just tell him "It Sucks..Go Do It Again." What can YOU do to help this picture. Please don't say "Trash It". It's a cute shot. Do you have any PS skills that you could pass down to us gutter dwellers? Any crumbs you could spare would certainly be appreciated. Show me how, so I can learn.
To the both previous posts: Who the hell are you to insult me? It is people like you who ruin a post and make people on here not even want to try and be a beginner photographer. Even the grump Pilles had something constructive to say. If you don't like my photo fine but do not insult my age and or intelligence. For I am still learning and asked for constructive criticism not insults.
jamesD90 wrote:
To the both previous posts: Who the hell are you to insult me? It is people like you who ruin a post and make people on here not even want to try and be a beginner photographer. Even the grump Pilles had something constructive to say. If you don't like my photo fine but do not insult my age and or intelligence. For I am still learning and asked for constructive criticism not insults.
Then don't be retarded. Look around, use good judgment before you post. Think before you speak. There are lots of examples of good photography here, try to emulate and apply some critical thinking of your own. Does your example stack up? Everyone wants to be hand fed simplicity... give me, give me, give me. Well how about people figure it out some before they come staggering in half cocked and half baked. Your example isn't even an attempt at quality photography. So how about you not drop a bunch of tears and figure something out for yourself before you ask a question like that. You asked and you received, now you're all B-hurt over it. What a surprise.
James, you captured a great moment. Don't let the anal retentive posters get you down. They probably take lots of technically perfect shots of boring things.
-But do try to get a better lens, and definitely work on you "cropping eye."
Pandacat wrote:
So what can you do with it to salvage the good parts? Don't just tell him "It Sucks..Go Do It Again." What can YOU do to help this picture. Please don't say "Trash It". It's a cute shot. Do you have any PS skills that you could pass down to us gutter dwellers?
+1
We all take iffy technical pics sometimes, and need to salvage them. I'd welcome any tips in that regard, the kind Steady Hand often posts. This could almost be a forum of it's own. Well, I guess maybe that's part of the "Post Processing" forum. Still...
Brad,
Again with the insults. You sir have absaloutly no tact whatsoever and again I asked for C&C not insults. Maybe when you grow up and can put something constructive down about anything talked about here I will take your lame advice and give it some thought. Untill that time go to hell.
Its a cute shot that tells a story: little boy offers pretty girl some cake. In the original version the story is getting diluted but the distractions of the over lit shoulder of the woman and all the stuff on the table in the background.
A good way to determine how to crop an image like this is to use "inside-out" cropping. Crop in tight on the main focal point - the boy's face and plate with the cake - then slowly expand the frame outward until you see stuff that doesn't contribute to the desire message and emotional reaction enter the frame. What you'll wind up with is a crop like PandaCat's which isolates and simplifies the storyline by the simple expedient of eliminating all the distractions from it. If you start using the "inside-out" technique when editing photos you'll find that it helps train your brain to spot similar distractions when shooting and you'll start cropping tighter in the camera to eliminate unnecessary distractions. But sometimes, as here, its impossible to crop out the distractions when shooting and doing it while editing is necessary. It this case I think the square crop works, but an even tighter horizontal one which minimizes the distraction of the bright shoulder would be even more effective at keeping the attention on the boy..
As for the lighting, a better way to deal with a situation like that is either to bounce the light up off the ceiling (if there is one) or if time permits use two flashes. The problem with direct flash is that exposure is only correct at one distance from the light source. So its physically impossible to correctly expose the kid's face without blowing out the closer shoulder of the woman. When the light is bounced, the source of the light becomes the point on the ceiling where the light hits and reflects, which would be equal in distance from both the boy and the woman.
Using two flashes in that type of candid situation is feasible if the off camera flash is made portable via a wheeled stand. I've been shooting candid shots with hotshoe flash that way since the early 1970s.
The shot above was taken by doing what I suggested above: bouncing most of the light on camera up off the ceiling with a smaller amount bounced forward off the foam diffusers I use. My second flash was up on the stage just out of frame on the left, mainly to make the guy on the stage the focal point, but it also added a nice rim light component to the figure in the foreground.
Another candid two flash shot where I simply parked the off camera flash in the corner and bounced it off the ceiling. In that instance bouncing the "key" light off the ceiling was necessary because people where standing around blocking the direct path of the light.
The shot above is similar to yours in how something in the foreground is used to frame the subject in the background. When I saw the guest of honor at the going away party would likely be standing there talking for a few moments I saw the opportunity to wheel my off camera flash around behind to the left to short-light his face and use the people in front to frame him. The guy in the foreground actually served as a "flag" to hide the off camera flash. By using two flashes that way I was able to independently control the light on my main subject in the middle and the fill on the figures in the foreground separately avoiding the burned out foreground look of a single flash on camera shot.
So while its a great candid capture based on content alone, there are several ways the delivery of the story could be improved by editing the scene via cropping and improving the lighting so there was more emphasis on the boy and less on the woman, who in this case is necessary for context -- explaining the action of the boy - but not really shown in any identifiable or flattering way. We mainly see the back of her ear so the less of her we see the more attention gets focused on the boy.
That was one of the most well thought out and brilliantly put posts I have ever seen on here. Thank you very much Chuck for your insight. I think I might research some of your other posts and see what else you have to say. Again great post and thank you for the valuable information.
Side note. I for now know that I need to think my shots through and get my act together and posting that image untouched was a little bit a of a bad idea and I think I might have just been over excited about the shot itself. So from now on I will make sure its my best work before I post. Thanks.
If people like you were not so blinded by your sensitivity, you'd see that there is help in my words. It may not be the brand of help most use or understand, but oh well, it's my help nonetheless. So quit crying and do something about your photography. Again, you asked what I thought, and I told you. Next time don't give such an open invitation.
Everyone wants to sugar coat our world. Yes, I know I can be harsh at times. But show me you put even an ounce of effort into your photography by learning from others and reading something useful and I'll be much more kind.
What you do not get is that there are millions just like you coming into the photography scene all asking for hand outs instead of putting out some effort PRIOR to asking.
You're right, I have some growing to do, that I do not doubt. However, make no mistake about it, the same thing can be for us all, yourself included.
Now, instead of crying, see if you can grasp what I've said and do something with it. Surely you can learn from anything that is thrown at you, regardless if you think it is negative or positive.
I sincerely wish you good luck in your photographic endeavor.
