sun sets upon her

[Tid Bit]

took this picture of my lil one at sunset..
to me all her pictures are beautiful, but I'm the mommy lol
please give me another point of view ... thank you




taken with canon 50D
18-55mm lens
1/200s at f5.6 ISO 400
focal length 30.0mm

[mantapanda]

I think the photo is very cute, may I ask how you got her face to be so lit up? Did you use some kind of flash?

[MrJones]

two things bother me...
1. the horizon is not straight.
2. I think the picture would have been much nicer if you took the camera to the left, thus putting your little one on the right and still catching the sunset that is now lost behind her.

[Tid Bit]

I used fill in flash to brighten her up ... ( to all thank ) you for your thoughts

[freontech]

"the horizon is not straight"
I think that the horizon is not supposed to be straight because the earth is round and you can actually see this by looking at the horizon. I'm not sure about this but I was once told this in an art class.

Anyway, thank you for posting the picture, I think the picture is absolutely gorgeous!

[superduperwesman]

Originally Posted by freontech

"the horizon is not straight"
I think that the horizon is not supposed to be straight because the earth is round and you can actually see this by looking at the horizon. I'm not sure about this but I was once told this in an art class.

Anyway, thank you for posting the picture, I think the picture is absolutely gorgeous!

Round or not the portion that shown is not level

[SusanH1970]

She is quite a beautiful little girl! I love her thoughtful expression and pose.

However, she is too dead-center. You might like to read up on the rule of thirds. She appears to be slightly underexposed even with the fill flash (and I'm guessing you used the popup flash? Never a good option, IMHO - it's light is harsh, flat, and gives pinlights in the eyes - she's got a washed out face while having a harsh shadow under her chin and jawline). Your white balance is a bit off; she's quite cool/blue.

Your focus is excellent and you've exposed quite nicely for the gorgeous sky! If you don't have a speedlight, look into ways of diffusing the popup flash when you must use it for fill.

Definitely not a bad shot. With a few improvements, if you get to do a reshoot with that fabulous sky as a backdrop, this could be killer!

ETA: I agree that I'd like to see the horizon straightened out, and also I'd clone out the rocks or whatever that dark spot is in the lower right, as well as the spots on the horizon.

[Matt L]

Originally Posted by MrJones

two things bother me...
1. the horizon is not straight.
2. I think the picture would have been much nicer if you took the camera to the left, thus putting your little one on the right and still catching the sunset that is now lost behind her.

I agree with this. The 30mm focal length is not wide enough to cause any decent bow on the horizon, but allows a bit more of the sky to enter the frame. This is perfect, really. In anything including a landscape it is really important to get the horizon level. I think on a 50d you can turn on grid lines on the viewfinder?

The frame always needs to show what the subject is looking into. If looking to the left, they need to be placed on the right so that they're not looking at the "wall" created by the edge of the frame.

The fill flash is great. It allows a nice exposure of the sky without silhouetting the subject.

[sk66]

If this is a crop, I would try a different crop with more space on the left. If it is not a crop, I would suggest a "portrait crop"... and slight leveling. see attached

[Tid Bit]

ok, trying again :P
I am very new at this and any comments and criticism is welcome
learning process


I took out some of the harsh shadowing on her face, cropped, and tried to straiten the horizon