What’s Your Preference?

Val1064 · #1 (**permalink**) 09-05-2007, 04:50 PM

Is this one better? I was going to add it to the other thread but thought it was asking for two different critiques so I decided to post a new thread.

I would love to know what everyone thinks and once again any advice would be wonderful. Thanks for looking! This is the one I meant to post, I am so sorry I posted the wrong one.

brianfarrell · #2 (**permalink**) 09-05-2007, 05:45 PM

could you post the original please Valerie? I think you've gone a little OTT with the processing...

Andreas · #3 (**permalink**) 09-05-2007, 06:06 PM

Valerie,

To be honest, I like "take 1" way better ...

Now let me try to explain why:

1) The first photo is sharper and I like the composition better (it is a wow picture while the second is, well, boring). And the second one is out of focus and that really takes away from the picture.

2) In the second photo you used the flash, which took away the shadows on his face. Our eyes need the shadows to identify shapes. Notice how in the first photo you have a deeper perception of volume in his face.

3) As I said in my first post, the main problem I see in the first photo is the blown highlight on the left (his) side of the face and the rather noisy shadow on his right cheek.

That's why I suggested that you should try to get that highlight exposed correctly, either manually, or using spot metering and/or exposure compensation according to what's available in your camera.

You could still run into the problem of having simply more latitude between shadow and highlight than your camera can handle (the so called dynamic range). So, if you exposed for the highlights, you would risk getting too little detail in the shadow area.

In that case, you should wait for softer light outside (overcast day) so that that your camera can capture more of the dynamic range. Or compensate by reflecting light from the window back to your son's face.

All that said, I like the fact that in the second photo your son's reflection is more clearly defined against the background (as jiminyClickit suggested in his post).