Spunky kid - Candid Portrait

[mholt]

Hey all,

First post here, glad to join. Been reading the blog for quite a long while (near its beginning). Great stuff. Anyway, was hoping to get some critique on this shot:



I took this outside and this kid was actually annoying me a bit so I threatened to take his picture. Funny, because the background happened to be a nicely-textured utility door and the sun was just right... it looks posed but it's 100% candid...

To be honest, I wish more of my better-composed shots were like this. So I would like some critique on what to do about getting better portraits. (And how to improve this photo. Maybe some vignetting?)

Cheers,
-Matt

[xxpinballxx]

really nice shot for candid....it does in fact look set up and the bckground is a perfect backdrop for portraits!
Great job catching something most can't do with preparation!
as far as the rest goes...maybe a cloning of the scratch or streak spot above his head.
Then the couple of spots by his left ear. might want to throw a catchlight in his right eye to go along with the left one. Thats about all I see thats off in my eyes...even with that its a great shot and candid its even better!

[mholt]

Originally Posted by xxpinballxx

really nice shot for candid....it does in fact look set up and the bckground is a perfect backdrop for portraits!
Great job catching something most can't do with preparation!
as far as the rest goes...maybe a cloning of the scratch or streak spot above his head.
Then the couple of spots by his left ear. might want to throw a catchlight in his right eye to go along with the left one. Thats about all I see thats off in my eyes...even with that its a great shot and candid its even better!

Thanks for the review. I thought about the scratch and was wondering if that should stay or not, but in the effort to keep the image as unedited as possible, I think the character of the background is preserved with the scuff thing. And uh, what is a catchlight exactly? I've heard of it before but am not sure...

[xxpinballxx]

it the small white reflections of light in the eyes....
if you look at the left eye you have a light about the 11 oclock position so adding one to the other eye and you might even play around with widening the eyes a bit but thats a harder task than it seems in photoshop.
if you search these forums Clockdoc has some good posts on info about catchlights.
Its more of a portrait photographers thing....for the most part you don't really think of them unless they are really casting alot of reflection or lacking them entirely.
I think this photo would work well with a bit of eye work.....

[jiminyClickit]

mholt, Welcome

Here's some of clockdoc's info:

http://digital-photography-school.co...44&postcount=4

[xxpinballxx]

thanks jiminy i tried finding this very post to reference but I have a short attention span and no patience! LOL!

[jiminyClickit]

xxpinballxx,

Been there, done that: through Search and finding all of clockdoc's posts. Wonder if we could persuade him to write an official tutorial, placed in a logical thread, so everyone could benefit?

[xxpinballxx]

I think that would be a great idea.....there are certain posts that I seem to be referring to or reiterating over and over....would be nice to have then readily available.

[mholt]

Interesting resources everyone, thanks. I'll look into that and see what I can do, but again, I don't want to edit it too much.

[bahgheera]

Originally Posted by mholt

this kid was actually annoying me a bit so I threatened to take his picture.

Ha ha thats hilarious. Great shot. I can't say anything about improving it that hasn't been said already, but what I can say is in regard to setting up a shot and composition - you always get better shots when the action is real and not composed. The key is to take lots and lots and lots of photos, and then take a lot more after that. Then take some more, and after you get them all home on the computer you sort through and find the one that looks the best. Thats the great thing about digital - its now affordable to take seven hundred shots of a duck waddling about the lake just to get that sweet shot.

Nice shot again, thanks for sharing.

Laters...