backlighting silhouette

[choums]

This is a shot I took of a friend of mine yeterday. I edited the sky using GIMP.



I used the mettering of the sky by pressing the shutter half way and then recompose the shot. I found it a pretty interesting shot to take, but I am not really happy with bottom part of the image and I am planning on going to take some more, so any critic and suggestion would be helpful!

ISO: 100
Exposure: 1/200 sec
Aperture: f/16.0
Focal Length: 18mm

Thanks in advance!

Michel
http://picasaweb.google.com/michel.g.../FriendsAndMe/

[wulf]

Overall I like it. I think the lower part of the picture - almost black but with a bit of detail (compared to the silhouetted figure) works well.

If it was my picture, the two main things I might want to retry would be:

1. I am not keen on the contrail (aircraft vapour) emerging from the subject's head. A shift in position might have yielded a better relationship between the two.

2. It might work well to have a bit more of the subject's face in profile (a bit of nose and cheek) since all detail is lost.

Wulf

[jiminyClickit]

choums, Welcome

Usually you have success putting tall vertical subjects in a portrait aspect, low wide subjects horizontally, in landscape aspect. Left and right side could disappear, center would still make an interesting shot. As wulf suggests, more of a profile adds interest.

[filemanager]

I like it! But I've gotta say, the sky is my favourite part of the picture

[choums]

Thanks for the inputs!
I will put them into pratice... as soon as the weather allow it! . Let's hope tomorrow is gonna be clear!

[Nathan deGargoyle]

I like it in Landscape. Changing to portrait would cut too much of that great sky! Although I would get rid of the contrails.

[wulf]

I do like the contrails in this shot - they add a kind of grid to the sky, helping indicate how large it is. I think that is also shown by the width of the shot. Overall, I think the choices make a striking picture and it is just the fine details that could do with some tightening up.

Wulf