Taking it all in.

[Sid]

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sid-williams/2091611073/" title="Ashton by sid_123184, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2368/2091611073_5cece1fee5.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Ashton" /></a>

Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT
Exposure: 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture: f/7.1
Focal Length: 45 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0/2 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

[zapp]

Sid this is a great photo but personally I might take some of the distraction away from the background with some glaussblur (Paint Shop Pro XI) or something similar also maybe some fill flash to lighten the facial shadows just a touch..... you wouldn't want to over blow the light but the shadows in the eyes lightened up might make a world of difference to you ...

of course this is just my 2 cents and as a left alone /stand alone photo I would still hang it on my wall

btw... I love b/w portraits .... great job making me wonder what the boy is looking at
John

[ELAY]

Hey Sid --

Well done. I think you have nice tonal separation between the boy and the background, which helps a lot. The BW works well for the face.

Question about the shirt -- what colour is it in the original? The white stripes are the brightest thing in the shot. If they are white, then there may not be a whole lot you can do without radically playing with brightness and contrast. If on the other hand they are coloured stripes which went white in the conversion, then you should be able to make them go a bit darker by playing with your black and white conversion. If you feel like taking a stab at it, I would suggest you select the shirt on a separate layer (or do a layer mask) and fool around in channel mixer until the shirt is toned down a bit.

EL

[Sid]

Yeah his shirt was white and navy blue, I still might be able to bring in some more detail with photoshop but I kinda like the hard contrast.

I would blur the background more but I feel like it's nice to get a sense of setting as it is blurred a little.

thanks both of you for the ideas!

[chanedcomm]

The shot is very nice but the way you had the water horizon behind the boy (mid-way behind his head) bothers me a bit. I would suggest shooting from a higher or lower angle to avoid that. Getting a greater DOF may also help but I noticed your intention to only blur it a little to get a sense of setting.

cheers
chanedcomm

[Sid]

Yeah I see what you mean there. Its kinda cray the stuff that gets pointed out about your photos out here. I'll try to avoid it from now on =)

[Diana1979]

It looks good. I can never get my camera to get good depth of field and I own the same camera as you, and have a 50mm lens with f/2. I always seem to blur out what I'm trying to get a picture of, or the background isn't very blurry.

[Sid]

Have you tried it in aperture priority mode (Av)? that should help with your problem a lot.

Not ot mention a little photoshoping =)

[Mission]

Great shot - certainly grabs your attention and leaves you wondering.

Done well

[Sid]

Thanks! glad you enjoyed it =)