In his mind...

[idb]

In his mind it's not just a stick.



Please let me know how you would improve the composition. I think it's cute but he's my grandson so I'm a little biased. Btw, it was not posed or staged at all. He just picked up the stick while were going for a walk and carried it all the way home.

Pentax K200D
18 mm lens
IS0 100
1/180 @ f/6.7
no PP

Thanks

[cphoniball]

Good catch.

Like you said, it IS cute, but there are a lot of distracting elements in the frame. His shadow, that red car off to the left, houses and trees - I don't know what to look at, especially because the road is leading me down to them.

Two ways to fix that. One, drop down to his level. This removes his shadow from the composition as well as the leading lines from the road, so my eye isn't tempted to wonder elsewhere. This has the added benefit of putting us on his level, so we're no longer an adult looking down at him, but a kid walking along behind him. Second, use a larger aperture (smaller number) to blur the background more. I realize your lens is limited in that regard (it only goes to 3.5) but there isn't much of a reason to be shooting at 6.7 in this situation.

[idb]

Originally Posted by cphoniball

Good catch.

Like you said, it IS cute, but there are a lot of distracting elements in the frame. His shadow, that red car off to the left, houses and trees - I don't know what to look at, especially because the road is leading me down to them.

Two ways to fix that. One, drop down to his level. This removes his shadow from the composition as well as the leading lines from the road, so my eye isn't tempted to wonder elsewhere. This has the added benefit of putting us on his level, so we're no longer an adult looking down at him, but a kid walking along behind him. Second, use a larger aperture (smaller number) to blur the background more. I realize your lens is limited in that regard (it only goes to 3.5) but there isn't much of a reason to be shooting at 6.7 in this situation.

Thanks. I appreciate the comments. The aperture was chosen by the camera - I was using the Program mode - I should have gone manual or aperture priority to achieve the shallow dof. I guess it was too much "capture" and not enough composition.

[pix_e_l8]

If you crop the photo to just below the second driveway on the right, and clip the sides just past the power pole on the left and his hand on the right, it takes out most of the bits that are distracting, you can clone out whatever is left. I quite like the shadow and would include it in the composition, my preference would be to then convert it to black and white and apply a chunky black border.

[PointNShoot]

Also, squat down when you shoot kids so you're shooting from their level. With a lower shooting angle, the boy would stand out from the street better.

Great subject for "Rule of thirds." Imagine a tic-tac-toe drawn over the photo. Put the boy on the right vertical and let the stick reach to the left edge. Try to get the stick along the top horizontal. Try not to crop out his feet. I know, the feet and the stick on the 1/3 line might be conflicting goals.



Hope you don't mind I played. I cropped, and adjusted the curves just a tad.

[idb]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I've applied some of them and here it is again. I made it B+W and increased the contrast and cropped it.
I think it's better in some ways but not sure that B+W is better.
Please let me know what you think. Thanks.

[sarahenn]

LOVE the latest version, cropped and made b/w. there really is no question where the focal point is now. and the lines created by that branch are so interesting. i think this makes for a much more interesting and focused composition.

[PointNShoot]

I like that. You got rid of more of the background clutter than I did.

B&W or Color? Hmm. I can never decide.

[sdstone00]

Your latest version is a great version of your original shot. I think your adjustments really help turn the "capture" (as you phrased it) into a great composition. I think the shadow does go to the overall feeling of the image.

[idb]

Thanks everyone. I'm going to try to apply these composition ideas up front instead of in post production.