little girl daydreaming

[courtney23cy]

I know, I'm totally taking advantage of this one post a day deal... but your input has already been very instructive and helpful, so here is yet another one I wish I would have gotten her entire face in focus, but other than that, what do you think? I would have liked to either get a straight profile, or have her turned slightly more toward me. But she's a pretty stubborn girl, so I was luck to get her to let me take this picture.



Nikon D90
50mm
f/2
1/60s
ISO400

[Essy]

My kids are the same way, so I get what I can and make the best of it...lol. She has a very sweet look and I don't mind that she's looking away from the camera at all. But for some reason I do find the hand on her face distracting. I just want to see more of her pretty face, and I don't find the hand particularly adds to the photo. Maybe if she had both hands up in a sense of surprise or something it might work...but just one, sort of feels un-natural. Anyway...that's just my two cents. She's a sweetie though.

[courtney23cy]

Originally Posted by Essy

My kids are the same way, so I get what I can and make the best of it...lol. She has a very sweet look and I don't mind that she's looking away from the camera at all. But for some reason I do find the hand on her face distracting. I just want to see more of her pretty face, and I don't find the hand particularly adds to the photo. Maybe if she had both hands up in a sense of surprise or something it might work...but just one, sort of feels un-natural. Anyway...that's just my two cents. She's a sweetie though.

I agree... I think the hand looks awkward, but there was no getting her to put it down. It kinda matches her personality though, she's a clumsy, awkward kid (and a total sweetheart). I did get a shot without her hand on her face but it wasn't very clear. Thanks for your 2 cents

[Oobeidi]

awwww cute "stubborn" girl ! relly nice shot..as Essy said we are distracted by the hand i wud emphasize on her face and that pretty pearl chain ..

[carlyfan]

I love this photo! She's such a cutie! I agree that the hand looks kind of odd, but then, sometimes kids do things that look kind of odd. One thing I would do is bring the exposure up a bit; it looks rather dark, at least on my monitor. The focus is great though, and I love the composition and the catchlights. Great job!

Lisa

[courtney23cy]

Originally Posted by carlyfan

I love this photo! She's such a cutie! I agree that the hand looks kind of odd, but then, sometimes kids do things that look kind of odd. One thing I would do is bring the exposure up a bit; it looks rather dark, at least on my monitor. The focus is great though, and I love the composition and the catchlights. Great job!

Lisa

I've been trying to lighten it up, but it seems to start looking very flat. I will keep messin around with it to see if I can find a happy medium. Thank you for the input!

[wejustin]

I have kids and understand. I like the catchlights in her eye. Don't mind that the hand is a little awkward. If you do any PP I would just enhance the eye and catchlight, IMHO.

[sk66]

Nice picture. The pinky position is what makes the hand "odd", but you get what you get sometimes.
I think the image could use a levels adjustment to get rid of the "flatness" and I think a little less "focus" overall would help with the "dreaming" idea of the picture.

here's a quick edit to give you an idea of what I'm thinking.

[courtney23cy]

Originally Posted by sk66

Nice picture. The pinky position is what makes the hand "odd", but you get what you get sometimes.
I think the image could use a levels adjustment to get rid of the "flatness" and I think a little less "focus" overall would help with the "dreaming" idea of the picture.

here's a quick edit to give you an idea of what I'm thinking.

Wow! I love what you did! How did you lessen the focus? You've got a dreamy feel to the picture without it looking blurry. Thank you for the edit.

[sk66]

Originally Posted by courtney23cy

Wow! I love what you did! How did you lessen the focus? You've got a dreamy feel to the picture without it looking blurry. Thank you for the edit.

I used photoshop.
Duplicated the image as a new layer (ctrl J) and applied a heavy gaussian blur (filter>blur>gaussian)...it was very blurry. I then changed the layer mode from normal to "overlay" which created the contrast and dreamy effect. I then used the eraser to erase the eye from the blurred layer to bring it back into focus.