Summer Daze

[Newlease]

I love this picture I took a few years ago of my daughter and her best friend. Waiting for their sisters to get out of school. My question is what can I do to make it worthy of hanging in my home. I want others to get the same feel that I had when I took it on a lazy afternoon with 2 usaually very active girls. Comments welcome please.

[xxpinballxx]

you really get the empression they are bored to death waiting.
Wonder how a black and white would look or a Sepia...the onyl shame in tha twould be losing the pretty red hair.

[Murtasma]

Originally Posted by xxpinballxx

you really get the empression they are bored to death waiting.
Wonder how a black and white would look or a Sepia...the onyl shame in tha twould be losing the pretty red hair.

I agree I think a black and white conversion while paying attention to the reds would look great along with a tighter crop around the girls.

[xysmas]

I agree with the above comments - a nice black and white would would probably give it the feel you are after.

[Teewinot]

Priceless capture! Nice job seeing the moment and shooting a a great photo. Here are my suggestions:

-Rotate the photo a little clockwise to get the stairs' lines parallel to the edges of the photo.
-The 2 poles are a little distracting (especially since one is fully contained within the frame and the other is not). Can you clone them out?
-I agree with the other comments that a tighter crop would be good. The girls feel too far to the left. Try to go for a 'rule of thirds' look. And perhaps the crop will help eliminate the poles.
-I think B&W might be effective, but I would be sorry to lose the color of the girls, especially the red hair. Best experiment and see what you like best--that's what counts!

Thanks for sharing your shot!

[ELAY]

You have captured a lovely moment. This is one of those situations where the narrative helps alot -- I can feel the langour!

In terms of post-processing, I agree that a crop would better focus on the girls. They aren't centred on the stair case, which means you are going to get a bit of the ledge and pole on the left, but I think that's OK.

I am not sure about BW though -- the hair/dress/jeans have some nice colours, especially against the concrete and it would be a shame to lose them entirely. What I think I might try is to do a curves adjustment, with a relatively steep S, which should make the faces a bit brighter (overheated?), and at the same time give you some texture on the stairs. Then I would try to lower saturation until you get a bit of a gritty look, and then to adjust contrast again.

If you wanted more subtle focus on the girls you could do a vignette.

EL

[pma]

I agree with the crop. It can really close in to the story here. I would try the black and white also.

[Digidave]

Newlease, I hope you don't mind. I just wanted to give you some idea of what it look like to crop &/or Filter to B&W. Sweet shot by the way.

[xxpinballxx]

i like the black and white but think its a bit too cropped now...not sure if I would go that tight with it.

[Digidave]

Originally Posted by xxpinballxx

i like the black and white but think its a bit too cropped now...not sure if I would go that tight with it.

Yea, I just wanted to have the same space on the right side of the girls as there was on the left. The top, I wasn't really certain how far to go with it.