B&W of one of my daughters

[ozbear]

Hi all, here is a photo I took a couple of weeks ago of my daughter ruby in my arms, done against a black background then turned into black and white, I've adjusted the light levels a bit, would love your criticism.

My initial thoughts on it are, its a little washed out, and a shame about my thumb in the shot.

[wulf]

The thumb poking out under her body? It does add a rather alien appearance to the picture; you could just tell people it is where her angel wings are folded

I like the tone of it though - I would call it "soft and delicate" rather than washed out. You probably could have got a better shot if you had been behind the camera, for example, spotting the thumb and perhaps also making a slight adjustment to the finger behind her head and waiting for her right foot to come out a bit more. However, if it was a self-shot portrait, then excellent work!

Wulf

[kapilb]

I also thought that your arm getting cut off into the black made it look nice but yet a bit hanging in the air kind of sorts made it look a bit incomplete. But I must say for a self-portrait it's a good job done.

[ozbear]

Thanks for the input. It was a semi-self portrait, I lined up the shot, set the aperture, did a few test shots and then got my daughter, but because I didn't have a remote shutter release my wife pressed the shutter.

I think I will try to retake the shot with the input given, try to remove my thumb from under her back, get her other leg into the shot more, and watch my fingers around her head, I'll also try rolling up my sleeve more so that it isn't cut off so much.

Cheers
ozbear

[ozbear]

Here's the photo I took of her sister, Maya on the same day. Again a slight shame about the positioning of my hand, my thumb slightly blocks her face. But I'm quite pleased with the results.

[peeperita]

both images are delights for my eye.....i especially like the exposure.....

peeper

[jeffreysimms]

I like the image concept. I think it could benefit from having your torso in the shot though. Maybe some kind of below the neck to the lower chest to give it some balance and sense of being complete. You could even blur yourself slightly to really bring out the focus to your child.