girl's best friend starts young..

[tyasa81]

Hi guys,

been a while since i had my last critique... suddenly thought maybe i need a refresher coz my photos are getting static.. and critiques make me think out of the box sometimes... so here's one of the pic of my recent shoot ( november but i haven't shot more in a while)... critique on composition mostly... but if i missed a setting let me know it too please...


Camera Nikon D90
Exposure 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture f/1.4
Focal Length 24 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias +1/3 EV (coz i like it bright)
Exposure Program Aperture-priority AE

[scootermcq]

Hard to put my finger on it, but a few things aren't working for me.

1. In an attempt to be artistic, shooting through the crystals or chandaler or whatever it is, does not add to the image for me. In this case it is kind of distracting.
2. Mom in the background is just cut off at the nose. Wait for her to get out of the frame, or include all of her
3. The subject is dab smack in the middle, maybe cropping for rule of thirds and loosing the right extraneous stuff would help, but not sure.

On the positive side, color balance is good and focus seems to work (even though you had a question about the focus on this image in your post in November). Bottom line is I think you are trying too hard to create an artistic creative image, and should focus on just taking a lovely portrait of your daughter. Always compose the background first and then look to the subject after that to avoid clutter & extraneous items behind the subject.

[tyasa81]

thanx scott, i've been taking a lot of snap shot pictures of my kid a lot... though now i've been meaning to take it to the next level... the artistic part where everything in a picture just works...

incorporating background is a tough job... dont even know where to start... sometimes i see something nice but it does not translate well into photos... your critiques are exactly what i needed... personally i'm more towards the uncreative tendency... i'm tended more on the technical side of things... what do you suggest doing to improve the creative side since i dont think i have it in me naturally... tq

[scootermcq]

Originally Posted by tyasa81

... what do you suggest doing to improve the creative side since i dont think i have it in me naturally... tq

I would not worry about being too creative.... focus on good portraits, subject and background. When you are thinking about the background before hitting the shutter release as a natural instinct (instead of tunnel vision on the foreground like we all struggle with), then start building on the creative.

In that regard, trying to recreate shots from artists that you admire. Sometimes though simple is better... a clean portrait that is well composed including background, subject, angles and lighting is much more appealing then something shot through grass etc.....