First Critique, 2 girls in front of the lions

[kellymo]

first critique post. Thanks in advance for any input you may comment on, I greatly respect and admire so many of you and am learning so much just by reading the DPS site daily. So much inspiration here!

So know alot of the faults in this photo already..Mid day sun leads to harsh shadowing on my girls faces. Would a fill flash or would a reflector be best to help fix it? Which one and why? or better suggestion (pick another time of day would help too).

is the brightness on the mountain tops (the lions) too distracting?

anything else, improvement wise. thanks again!



Camera: Nikon D40X
Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 58 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6

[SuperDan]

I think that the background is an AWESOME background to have... it helps pull your eyes into your two beautiful daughters.
in regards to the lighting ... yes, the shadows are distracting, especially on the older, where as the younger one, the shadows actually help define a little.

i think that yes a fill flash would help, but also a reflector is a great option but then you have to be careful with which reflective to use


if you can do some PP i would work on the levels a little, and clean up the bottom of the olders shoes (a bit distracting)

I think its a pretty sharp pic tho

[RuthieMae]

Wow, great job for shooting in full sun. I think if you either used fill flash or positioned them slightly different, you could have avoided the shadow on the older child. The background is to die for! The composition if wonderful. I think even with the shadow, it's a keeper. If the location is close, I would try for a different time of day. Perhaps early morning or right before sunset.

[Cmoon]

Great Shot, I love the background! Its so hard to get multiple children to be still and "pose" for you, and I think that this worked perfectly. You already know what part of the image needs fixing and I think a great helper would be PRACTICE. Thanks for sharing this!

[kellymo]

Ok thanks so much for all the imput, with nicer weather I will head out there and take the shot again. Different time of day, same back ground, stagger the sitting position a little maybe, different shoes and see if I can get them to hold still again..looking in the same direction Quick before the little one is walking (only days away now im sure).
Thanks again guys! will repost once ive made it out there for version 2.

[wal]

awesome background and composition.. the only thing i'd try to fix is the shadows...

[lavitz]

I love the composition, it is really good and such a lovely background, It will be better if you use reflector to lesser the shadow