Lily on the playground

[tott7000]

It's really hard to get a good picture of a 2 year old in the playground. Is the shadow on her face too much of a distraction?

Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi
Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture: f/4.0
Focal Length: 55 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: On, Fired

[dakwegmo]

It is tough working with toddlers; they don't have very short attention spans,don't take direction well, and so damn fast it's nigh on impossible to get a decent shot of them. That said, you've done a nice job capturing the moment on the playground. Your question about the shadow is a good one. The brightest parts of the image are the left side of the girl's face and hair, and orange bars behind her. The contrast between those bright spots and the shadow over most of her face forces viewers eyes away from your subject. You can improve these spots with selective brightness/contrast adjustments in post, but the better solution is to control the lighting and exposure at capture. What you need here is a little less ambient light and a little more fill light from your flash or a reflector. I'd recommend going out with a willing friend in similar light and practice with different flash settings until you can get the proper balance of sun and flash. It can be tricky.

One other thought, the orange bars in the background are a big distraction. They curve away and then just stop, creating an abrupt line for your eyes to follow. Since the colors in this shot don't really add much too it, I would consider converting the whole thing to b&w. That may help put the focus back on Lily's face.

[tott7000]

Thank you for the critique, I'm planning a practice trip as we speak and will fiddle with my fill flash

[FallinWoman]

It is a cute picture! Marcus has given you some good advice. Trying to fix this in photoshop or something is tough because one side of her face is so bright and the rest is in shadow. I am running into the same troubles shooting pictures of my 15 month old!