Technical Advice please...

[terri33inne]

Very newbie... trying to get that "POP" in my pictures.. I think they can be flat, and I'm trying to figure out how to "POP" them

A few disclaimers on this one...

1)Please don't comment on her expression... she HATES the camera, and I know it's a forced smile. I'm looking more for technical critique.

2) I know it would be better if she were wearing a darker color against the white post.

3) This is SOOC... no editing. I did play w/ some edits in Picasa but then I un-did them.

My questions

1) Is it too washed-out? What could I have done differently to darken the background?

2)Is it cropped okay? I probably shouldn't have cut off her legs/feet but she had them propped up in a dress... I did try a crop closer to her face that I liked.

3) How is my angle/perspective?

4)Any other recommendations?






I'm pleased with her eyes... I purposely posed her with the sun behind her so the reflection off the white bldg would be reflected in her eyes.

Technical stuff
Camera Pentax K10D
Exposure 0.001 sec (1/2000)
Aperture f/2.8
Focal Length 50 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

[photofe804]

Hi there, and welcome! I am very much an amateur, but here is what I see.

1) The background is a little washed out, and she is a little underexposed. You can tweak both in post by brightening her up and toning down the background, but you cant do that in Picasa. If Photoshop is too pricey for you (it is for me), you can use GIMP, which is free (I do!). This particular edit should not be too difficult.

2) I'm not too crazy about the crop. It's good that you noticed her legs being propped up, but with the crop where it is and all the space above her head I just feel like part of the picture is missing. I'd try cropping out some of the dead space above and a little on the right (her left) while you're at it so she's not so centered. It'd be a pretty tight crop, though.

3) The angle looks like it might work, but again the crop takes away some of the context, so I am not sure. Not very helpful, I know!

4) She's a cute little girl, and I'm glad you got her to pose for you! I like the shallow depth of field. Good thinking on the catchlight as well! I can never do catchlights very well, so eyes in my pictures are usually not as I would like them.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth. Again I am very much an amateur, so feel free to discard any of the above. It does looks like on the right track, so I hope to see more of your pictures around!

[terri33inne]

Thank you so much for the feedback! She's my daughter and has ALWAYS hated the camera...

I just downloaded gimp the other day but haven't been able to play with it enough yet... I'll give it a try... Would I use layers to adjust the background differently than her?

[lputman]

She's a darling little girl and overall a very nice photograph of her.

If you lowered your shutter speed just a bit, you would have better exposure of her.

Don't forget to come down to a child's level when photographing them. Not a requirement but certainly an option that could make for a very compelling photograph.

The framing is lacking a bit but I bet you could get very nice photos from this same spot with a bit better composition.

Keep shooting.

[terri33inne]

Originally Posted by lputman

She's a darling little girl and overall a very nice photograph of her.

If you lowered your shutter speed just a bit, you would have better exposure of her.

Don't forget to come down to a child's level when photographing them. Not a requirement but certainly an option that could make for a very compelling photograph.

The framing is lacking a bit but I bet you could get very nice photos from this same spot with a bit better composition.

Keep shooting.

Thank you Lori.

I'll try to adjust the shutter speed next time... I have to keep it fairly high b/c she's soooo fast, and won't sit in one spot or w/ one expression for very long... I have a lot more blurry pix of her than in focus.

Yes... I love getting on a kids level...

With the 50mm I usually adjust the cropping in PP....particularly for shots of her....(see above about her being too fast).

I'll try to re-crop & make the contrast adjustments in GIMP & re-post later for more feedback. This is great! Thanks so much everyone.

[photofe804]

Originally Posted by terri33inne

I just downloaded gimp the other day but haven't been able to play with it enough yet... I'll give it a try... Would I use layers to adjust the background differently than her?

Yes. I would have a brighter layer to expose her correctly, then a darker layer for the background, then use a layer mask to control which parts of which layer are showing. You can change the brightness with the levels and curves tools. If you need help with any of those, let me know and I can provide more detailed instructions or links to some tutorials.

[terri33inne]

Ok... did the crop... still trying to figure out the layers in GIMP...but my computer is being hateful...