Birthday girl

[Gunsotsu]

Today is my daughter's 7th birthday and we shot this at the local playground. Being born on Christmas Eve is rather bittersweet, and I felt that this image kind of captures that, at least for me.

Fire away folks.

[Gromguitar4]

I really like this shot. I like the black and white feel, it fits that bitter sweetness perfectly. Thee only thing that bothers me is there are sooooo many lines in the back ground, some that do some good leading, others that drew my attention away from your little girl. other than that I really do like it

[hitkaiser]

Tones are lovely as well as lighting

The height at which you took the shot makes it more intimate (a good thing) but perhaps filling the frame more with her, so cropping out some of the distracting elements on top and to the right hand side

[Gunsotsu]

Originally Posted by hitkaiser

Tones are lovely as well as lighting

The height at which you took the shot makes it more intimate (a good thing) but perhaps filling the frame more with her, so cropping out some of the distracting elements on top and to the right hand side

That's what I thought as well. This one's going on the wall, so it'll get cropped. I just like posting my un-molested images here for critiques. Better for the learning process I figure.

[googlit]

nice shot, indeed.

I love the way the light catches and highlights her hand. I agree that some cropping would be in order.

Have you played around with toning the image? try both cooltone and warmtone and see if you like one or the other.

The easiest way to try it out in Photoshop is to add a hue/saturation adjustment layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation). Check the colorize box at the bottom and play with the sliders. Back the saturation way down and change the hue to golden-brown or blue. Or any other colors that catch your fancy.

[Saralonde]

Another vote for cropping. I like the lighting and b&w, though. Conveys the mood nicely.

[Gunsotsu]

I appreciate the comments and take them to heart.

So, here's what I cropped to:



And per googlit's suggestion, a slight hue has been added:

[Bluejacket]

While I agree that it could be cropped, I would crop out the bottom. To me, having more space above the subject makes them appear even more forlorn...

Of course, that leaves the distracting lines above, but maybe a little background blur would diminish that.

[MelissaRV]

I really like the slight color added to it. I also agree that perhaps less of the bottom? What about duplicating the layer and then you dodge/burn the first layer to darken the background so the focus is lessened? (Top layer has lowered opacity)