A long way to go!

[marcelo_valente]

I was reading a while back a post here on DPS about giving the subject some space to look at, and another I think about sports saying to give a space for the subject to move into while composing shots. Here I was trying to achieve this by trying to show that my son had a long walk ahead of him if he wanted to reach the end of the road. Did I get that across? Could I have done something different? Please critique.



EXIF:
Camera Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XS
Exposure 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture f/16.0
Focal Length 250 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire







Thank you

[oriolhdz]

Hello marcelo_valente,

I don't know too much about composition but the pose of your son distracts from what you told you want to transmit to the viewer. What I wonder it's how the photo would look like if subject were out of focus and the end of the way focused. Just a suggestion!

Thanks for sharing it!

[marcelo_valente]

Hello, oriolhdz.
Yes, he is kind of just standing there. He should be moving. I did read yesterday a post about focusing somewhere else to give a different feeling to the picture. I'll take your advice and that into consideration when shooting this kind of concept.
Thank you very much for your feedback.

[BigFuzzy]

I think, for the most part, you have succeeded in the "moving into space" part that you were trying to achieve. Now, though I know it's hard to control, you would need to have the kid actually moving in that direction to really add to that feeling.

In general, I like the DoF but think, also, that it's a bit flat due to being shot in somewhat harsh light and could use a contrast boost.

Also, have you considered a conversion to b&w since it could add more mood to the image and since there isn't much strong color to begin with?

Still, all in all, a good effort at achieving the feel you were going for!

[marcelo_valente]

Hello Big Fuzzy, thanks for your reply!
Here, I've converted it to B&W but I didn't really like the result. Maybe I need to go back and try to capture it again. I don't know. What do you think?




Thanks,

[BigFuzzy]

I'm kind of partial to the b&w, but that's a taste issue. If you like color better, use the color one. I'm just one dude, I just wanted to give you options.

I still think, in the end, him standing there in a bit of an awkward position instead of walking or looking (he's clearly looking down) into the distance is what hurts this the most. If you're able to, yeah, try it again.

[marcus1983b]

if you're trying to capture distance i would probably change my aperture and go with a real deep depth of field. the shallowness of it isn't necessarily bad, but if you're trying to get across a vast distance i would get that f stop as high as possible.

[ovechcka]

The flatness of this image is freaking me out a bit. I'm not quite sure what's going on with the background, but, to me at least, it looks like it doesn't fit. Is it a steep slope looking over something? Is it an edge of something? Honestly, it's making me nervous for the kid's safety.

[marcelo_valente]

Originally Posted by BigFuzzy

I'm kind of partial to the b&w, but that's a taste issue. If you like color better, use the color one. I'm just one dude, I just wanted to give you options.

I still think, in the end, him standing there in a bit of an awkward position instead of walking or looking (he's clearly looking down) into the distance is what hurts this the most. If you're able to, yeah, try it again.

Thanks BigFuzzy. I agree, he is not moving at all and the whole purpose is gone. This was at a friends house and I'll try to re shoot it when we go back.
I also like b&w pictures, but I didn't like the way it came out, maybe because the whole think seems wrong.
I did a B&W of my niece that I think came out reaaly nice. You can check it in my flickr, also I have a post here asking critique on it.
Thanks!

[marcelo_valente]

Originally Posted by ovechcka

The flatness of this image is freaking me out a bit. I'm not quite sure what's going on with the background, but, to me at least, it looks like it doesn't fit. Is it a steep slope looking over something? Is it an edge of something? Honestly, it's making me nervous for the kid's safety.

Hey, don't worry. The road goes downhill a bit and then goes flat for a while and uphill again, but it does kind of look like a long way down. Maybe I should have gone with more DoF as suggested. Maybe next time I go there.
Thanks.