my baby girl is 1 year old!

[tyasa81]

Critique in composition or crop or something... i find my photos are getting stagnant and have no idea what to do... so getting more critique on different pictures hopefully will open up my eyes some... go at it.. be ruthless...



Exposure 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture f/1.4
Focal Length 24 mm
ISO Speed 1800

[NicolaB]

Where does the time go? My babies are growing far too quickly too. She is a little cutie and I like the idea of the shot.

Improvements - the focus is on the machine rather than your daughter. At 1.4 you can't recompose the shot as you will loose focus. Always focus on the eyes.

It would be even better if you had got your daughter to look at you to give eye contact with 'the viewer'.

I like the crop.

[Eileen D]

I agree with Nicola on both points -- she is an adorable little girl and she should be more of the focus. I found my eye wandering to all of the colors and details in the background rather than staying on her.

[tyasa81]

Originally Posted by NicolaB

Where does the time go? My babies are growing far too quickly too. She is a little cutie and I like the idea of the shot.

Improvements - the focus is on the machine rather than your daughter. At 1.4 you can't recompose the shot as you will loose focus. Always focus on the eyes.

It would be even better if you had got your daughter to look at you to give eye contact with 'the viewer'.

I like the crop.

thank you nicola... yes times goes by very fast when you have a 1 year old... kept having this conflict of wanting to see her grow up faster and for her staying cute as she is...

thank you for pointing out the focus... i didn't view it 100% and thought the eyes are already in focus... i usually dont recompose when i shoot... i should pay notice to it better next time...

actually i haven't cropped yet and glad you liked it this way... means i get to keep all my pixels now

Originally Posted by Eileen D

I agree with Nicola on both points -- she is an adorable little girl and she should be more of the focus. I found my eye wandering to all of the colors and details in the background rather than staying on her.

thanx eileen... i always have trouble with background... seldom considered them and when i do it doesn't really work as well as what i had in mind.... hence the 1.4 to hopefully blurred them to oblivion

anyway... do you know any way to learn how to see a background and see if it works or not, other than keep trying over 10,000 different bg and hopefully develop an eye for it?

you can learn exposure, composition (at least the foreground), post processing etc from the web... whereas for composing bg i feel i'm still haven't improved any since the past 2 years i'm in this thing... lately i've been wanting to create some canvas size prints and somehow none of my existing pictures feels like it deserved to be printed canvas big... i've seen some of the profesional's pictures and have no problem if it were my baby in the pic, i would print it canvas big with no hesitation...

thanx for the help,
Tony

[yogijenn]

I personally like that she is not looking at the camera. I think her concentration would have changed and this captures a moment and a look that I'm sure is special to you as a parent who sees it often. Some of my favorite snaps of my girls are from times they have been so engrossed in something that they don't notice me and the camera and those are some of the looks that I want to remember forever.

As for the back ground, the only part I find really distracting is the watermelon shaped thing. Maybe you could burn it down a bit in PP so that it doesn't pop as much. You might also be able to sharpen her face a little bit to help with the slightly missed focus.

I love the blue reflection in her hair and in general this shot just makes me want to eat her up.

[tyasa81]

thanx yogijenn... i did a redo on the post.. sharpened her selectively for the missed focus (glaring now that you all have pointed it out).. and convert to b&w for the distracting bg... burn/dodge(whichever means darken) the watermelon thingy... which one is better?

[santacruz]

I will wait for the time that she smile and take a little far to include the machine to see the movement in action.

[tyasa81]

santacruz: it's her first time riding the machine in a arcade center... i think she's just trying to get the new feeling in... she wasn't smiling much or at all then...

as for including the machine i'll do that next time... i tried but somehow the composition isn't strong... the subject becomes the machine and it doesn't look right... granted maybe i only gave it 10 seconds of trial... i'll have to try again as it makes sense... thank you