photographing hands - too dark?

[buttershug]

I have an obsession over hands. I used to be a professional musician, which I believe contributed to this obsession.

Anyway, I was photographing my mother's hands as she cooked...I kinda like the warmth of the colors. I fear that the photo is too dark, but I didn't want to blow out the highlights either. Also, I sense that the dark brings emphasis to her hands...but I struggle with knowing the level of brightness - on balancing darks and lights. Thoughts?

Thanks for your comments.

[buttershug]

Oh yeah -

ISO 200
1/60
f/1.8
50mm
no flash

[pjflan7]

they look good to me...very experienced looking

[snowfalldesigns]

I think the colors are beautiful. I love hands too - especially ones that show hard work.

[Benji]

One compositional aid that many image makers avoid is "simplicity." The essence of simplicity is eliminating clutter and any extraneous stuff in the image that detracts from the main object in the image. In your image (IMHO) we don't have enough of the hands, and we have too much background and extraneous stuff around the hands. Also if it were not for the peelings I wouldn't know what she was doing with her hands as they are kind of bunched up. I feel they should flow more and the viewer should not have to guess or look for clues as to what she is doing with her hands.

Benji

[buttershug]

Thanks, all for your comments.

[ricklumpas]

Th highlights in the photo lead our eyes away from the subject.