The fleeting emotions of a child

[carlyfan]

I took this picture of my cousin a while ago. I like it, but does the tear in her eye look out of place to you? I'm also wondering if the background is so bright that it ruins it. How could I have avoided that? Is the blue bar (part of the playhouse she was by) distracting? How about composition? Did I break the rule of thirds successfully? Is there anything else I could have done better? Thank you all so much for your help.




Camera Brand: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT
Date Taken: 2010:06:20 18:06:16
Exposure Time: 1/250 sec.
Aperture Value: 4.34 EV (f/4.5)
ISO Speed Rating: 200
Flash Fired: Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode.
Metering Mode: Pattern
Exposure Program: Normal program
Focal Length: 50.0 mm

[olive]

I am very new to all of this also... but, I did brighten this a bit and colorized her eyes a bit to pop a bit more... she has GREAT eyes. I don't know that I help or hinder...Sorry, but, thought I would give it a shot.

[carlyfan]

Thanks olive. I was wondering if I should brighten it up, but I didn't want to completely blow out the background. That's why I wanted to know if it was salvageable. She does have beautiful eyes! She has always had long eyelashes too. Sometimes I think she looks almost like a little china doll, she is so cute! Thanks for the feedback, anyone else?

[samu2]

I think her eyes are overly processed, I would do as little as possible with the eyes. That's just personal taste though.

The tear does look distracting, I would try and clone that out, perhaps. Also, I think the skin tones are a little magneta.

The background is distracting but there isn't much you can do about that now. I always have to remind myself to check for the background before I shoot. I would have shot at f2.8 because that would have blurred the background some and that seems to be the sweet spot for the 50mm and gave you some pretty nice bokeh on the left, I would imagine

[carlyfan]

Thanks for the reply! I actually didn't process her eyes at all. The only thing I did was some color balance (maybe I went too magenta) and contrast. I don't like overly processed eyes either. As for aperture, I was shooting in program at that time. Now I am trying to shoot more in manual and aperture priority. I think that should help. Thanks!