Too Much Christmas

[dvtldav]

This is a picture of my son & grandson taken in the afternoon on Christmas Day. What could I have done to make it better? I cropped it in LR3 to remove some clutter on the left side but should the clutter from the back right be removed?
Composition is my weak point right now so I am trying to improve on it.
How is the exposure?



EXIF:

Camera: Canon XSi
18-55 mm Kit lens
1/200 sec @ f/5.6
ISO 400
Flash - Promaster 7500EDF (Equivalent to Canon 430 EX)

Thanks in advance for any comments

Dave
Shutter Priority Mode

[SwissJon]

Hi Dave

I think the exposure seems ok.. Perhaps the flash was a little harsh, but really not by much.

I don't mean to be hypercritical here, but this is really a snapshot, rather than an artistic shot.. Great for memories and I still occasionally take photos like this when I'm just after something to remember something, (Especially when my wife gets impatient with me and says "Oh for goodness sakes, just take it!") but I can't really think how you could improve this to the point where you would want to frame it.. I'll try to break down what I think is wrong..

I'm not sure why you shot at ISO400, and why you used f/5.6 1/200th. You need to think about your settings before you take the shot. You've got plenty of light, you could have used ISO100 (not that you've got grain, but if you crop later, after the picture is taken, you need the quality as good as possible.)

The background is awful.. As you say, you've got way too much distraction.. Zooming in to fill the frame with your subject might have helped this. As would changing the angle that you took the photograph at, maybe getting lower. This angle is far from flattering for the man.

There's no real subject to this photograph.. Are you trying to show the boy or the two of them?

Opening the lens (to more than f/5.6) would maybe have helped, but I think getting closer to the subjects would have been better.

Really though, this is a lovely photographic memory, but I wouldn't try to rescue it much,. Some subjects just don't lend themselves to being "brilliant" photographs even with the best camera with David Bailey behind it, and personally I think this might be one of them. Perhaps you could do some work on it in Post Production, but personally I'd just assign it to your "Personal Memories" folder and concentrate on taking other photos where you have more control over the composition (Because the subjects weren't asleep! )

[dvtldav]

Thanks for your input Jon. I see what you are saying about it just being a snapshot and it should be relegated to the "memories" file.

I had the ISO @ 400 because I had been shooting indoors and needed the extra speed.

The flash I could have bounced it a little more maybe but the ceilings in that room are extremely high and I do not know if that would have worked.

The shutter and aperture I didn't think about changing. My Bad.

The composition I could have done a little differently but because of a coffee table and someone asleep on the other end of the couch with their feet propped up getting much lower would have been hard to do also.

So without making a big production out of it this was the candid shot I ended up with.

Thanks again for all you suggestions as these are the things I am looking for to help improve my photography.

Dave

[BigFuzzy]

I pretty much agree with Jon on all his comments.

I would add that the perspective is nothing special. You were clearly simply standing there with your camera at eye level shooting down at a subject. Everyone does that. If you want to make your images stand out, you have to make people look at it and think "hmm, that's different" and one of the easiest ways to do that is changing the perspective.

Did you consider getting lower and just above the arm rest of the couch which would a) change the perspective, and b) create a more pleasing background as you'd have the tree filling most of the background (if I'm correct viewing your image).

One of the things I tell new photographers (myself included) is pretty much reject the first handful of ideas that pop into your head when you see a scene and decide you want to photograph it. Why? Because every Tom, Dick and Jane with a camera has already thought of that and photographed it exactly that way.. so how's your photograph going to stand out? Two easy ways to always do things: get lower and get higher.

I hope that helps?

[dvtldav]

Originally Posted by BigFuzzy

I pretty much agree with Jon on all his comments.

I would add that the perspective is nothing special. You were clearly simply standing there with your camera at eye level shooting down at a subject. Everyone does that. If you want to make your images stand out, you have to make people look at it and think "hmm, that's different" and one of the easiest ways to do that is changing the perspective.

Did you consider getting lower and just above the arm rest of the couch which would a) change the perspective, and b) create a more pleasing background as you'd have the tree filling most of the background (if I'm correct viewing your image).

One of the things I tell new photographers (myself included) is pretty much reject the first handful of ideas that pop into your head when you see a scene and decide you want to photograph it. Why? Because every Tom, Dick and Jane with a camera has already thought of that and photographed it exactly that way.. so how's your photograph going to stand out? Two easy ways to always do things: get lower and get higher.

I hope that helps?

Thanks for your comments and I see what you are saying, but there was another person asleep on the other end of the couch so I don't know how much lower I could have gotten. Obviously I could have gotten some lower & I will try to remember that the next time.

I think the thing with new or inexperienced photographers is they take pictures the way they have seen a lot of pictures taken, especially of people or objects that might move because we don't want miss the shot so they take the safety shot and then fail to take the creative shot afterwards. This is what I am trying to learn but old habits are hard to break. Hopefully through this forum I will get there.

Dave

[BigFuzzy]

Originally Posted by dvtldav

I think the thing with new or inexperienced photographers is they take pictures the way they have seen a lot of pictures taken, especially of people or objects that might move because we don't want miss the shot so they take the safety shot and then fail to take the creative shot afterwards. This is what I am trying to learn but old habits are hard to break. Hopefully through this forum I will get there.Dave

This is, of course, very true.. so get that shot before you miss it, then start shooting it differently, you'll see that as soon as you start thinking that way you'll shoot better (at least in my humble opinion! )

[kristenh]

Originally Posted by dvtldav

I think the thing with new or inexperienced photographers is they take pictures the way they have seen a lot of pictures taken, especially of people or objects that might move because we don't want miss the shot so they take the safety shot and then fail to take the creative shot afterwards. This is what I am trying to learn but old habits are hard to break. Hopefully through this forum I will get there.

Dave

Dave, i read an interview with some great portraitist or other, and he was asked some (lame) question like what makes him great. but his answer was instructive: i pay more attention to the background than to the subject. most of us humans focus all of our attention on the other humans and our brains rule out the backgrounds, which only become apparent in the photos. one thing that i have really tried to focus on (get it?) is making sure my background does not detract from/ or actually helps my subject.

so in response to your question re composition, the main thing i'd have tried for would have been to position myself in whatever way leaves the background uncluttered- or possibly, b/c of the occasion, with only the tree in the background.

it is a sweet picture, though, and i'm sure you'll treasure it. most of my work ends up in my photo albums rather than in the art museum, too