At the Park

[marcelo_valente]

Hello, I took this picture of my sun in the park when we went traveling last month. I'd like to know your thoghts on the composition of the shot and focus. Should I have made more of it in focus, all the way back to the bridge, or is it fine the way it is. A friend said there war too much green and my son was not the main subject of the pictures.



Exif info:
Camera Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS
Exposure 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture f/1.8
Focal Length 50 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

Thank you

[ihsankhairir]

if your son was a bit closer to the center according to the rule of thirds, then he would stand out better as a subject. the color of his shirt does not help so if you don't really want to feature the location or the background of this photo, you might as well make a straight up portrait shot and have the background darker or more out of focus (bokeh)

[Eileen D]

I agree with your friend. Your son looks absolutely adorable but he isn't really the focus here because of the distraction of so much background. I'd love to see an image of him that really focuses on him and his cute expression!

[kristenh]

agree with what the others have said, and will add that the bridge is enough in focus that you know its a bridge PLUS it draws your eye right out of the photo, which adds to the problem of your son not being the main focus of the photo. if he was standing at the top of the bridge, and the bridge served to lead us to him- that would be a great way to do it. he is cute, though, and i love his expression.

[marcelo_valente]

Hi All,
thank you for your reply! I`ll do some croping to the photo later on to see if it improves. Maybe crop out the bridge. In the mean time, I have a couple of other shots from the same place that I`d appreciate some comments on.

[Niresangwa]

Originally Posted by marcelo_valente

Hello, I took this picture of my sun in the park when we went traveling last month. I'd like to know your thoghts on the composition of the shot and focus. Should I have made more of it in focus, all the way back to the bridge, or is it fine the way it is. A friend said there war too much green and my son was not the main subject of the pictures.



Exif info:
Camera Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS
Exposure 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture f/1.8
Focal Length 50 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

Thank you

I'm going to go against the grain here.

In terms of composition you didn't fail. You tried to place the subject in the left third of the frame, which isn't a bad thing, and for some photographers (myself included) using the outside 2 of the three is their bread and butter.

In terms of framing, you did slip up. You didn't leave enough cushion to make the placement of the subject comfortable. While still keeping the subject in the left third, you could have moved him closer to the center and away from the bottom of the frame, if that makes sense.

I'd argue that its the framing, not the composition that is the problem.

I don't find the bridge a distraction. It's out of focus enough to avoid that. Had you used a deeper DoF so that it was in focus or even closer to being in focus, it would have increased the chances it would be an issue.

The one distraction I do see is that big blue/black 'ball'..(garbage can?) that can easily be cloned out.

I think having your ISO up at 400 is a stretch, especially when shooting at 1.8. I'd also be wary of shooting against undergrowth/trees/bushes... they have a nasty habit of making for messy, distracting backgrounds. In this image you have a lot going on, which aside from the framing issues I discussed above, is it's downfall. It leads it to look less like a planned shot and more like a quick snapshot. I realise shooting a small child this may very well be the case.

Given the relatively high ISO and wide open aperture, your colours look flat and washed out, and there's no real depth to the images. Play with contrast a little and vibrance a little more and try working with some different crops to see if you can create something more pleasing.

[BigFuzzy]

Originally Posted by Niresangwa

I'm going to go against the grain here.

In terms of composition you didn't fail. You tried to place the subject in the left third of the frame, which isn't a bad thing, and for some photographers (myself included) using the outside 2 of the three is their bread and butter.

In terms of framing, you did slip up. You didn't leave enough cushion to make the placement of the subject comfortable. While still keeping the subject in the left third, you could have moved him closer to the center and away from the bottom of the frame, if that makes sense.

I'd argue that its the framing, not the composition that is the problem.

I don't find the bridge a distraction. It's out of focus enough to avoid that. Had you used a deeper DoF so that it was in focus or even closer to being in focus, it would have increased the chances it would be an issue.

The one distraction I do see is that big blue/black 'ball'..(garbage can?) that can easily be cloned out.

I think having your ISO up at 400 is a stretch, especially when shooting at 1.8. I'd also be wary of shooting against undergrowth/trees/bushes... they have a nasty habit of making for messy, distracting backgrounds. In this image you have a lot going on, which aside from the framing issues I discussed above, is it's downfall. It leads it to look less like a planned shot and more like a quick snapshot. I realise shooting a small child this may very well be the case.

Given the relatively high ISO and wide open aperture, your colours look flat and washed out, and there's no real depth to the images. Play with contrast a little and vibrance a little more and try working with some different crops to see if you can create something more pleasing.

Damn.. nothing to add, so just wanted to say +1 from me.
Actually, did you consider changing this to b&w? Otherwise, what Niresangwa said.

[rogerjackkson]

I have seen that photos of child. He is looking very cute in the picture. According to me at the first photo of him the background is not looks better. Next time you should take care about it. I really appreciate for that photos.

[marcelo_valente]

Originally Posted by Niresangwa

I'm going to go against the grain here.

In terms of composition you didn't fail. You tried to place the subject in the left third of the frame, which isn't a bad thing, and for some photographers (myself included) using the outside 2 of the three is their bread and butter.

In terms of framing, you did slip up. You didn't leave enough cushion to make the placement of the subject comfortable. While still keeping the subject in the left third, you could have moved him closer to the center and away from the bottom of the frame, if that makes sense.

I'd argue that its the framing, not the composition that is the problem.

I don't find the bridge a distraction. It's out of focus enough to avoid that. Had you used a deeper DoF so that it was in focus or even closer to being in focus, it would have increased the chances it would be an issue.

The one distraction I do see is that big blue/black 'ball'..(garbage can?) that can easily be cloned out.

I think having your ISO up at 400 is a stretch, especially when shooting at 1.8. I'd also be wary of shooting against undergrowth/trees/bushes... they have a nasty habit of making for messy, distracting backgrounds. In this image you have a lot going on, which aside from the framing issues I discussed above, is it's downfall. It leads it to look less like a planned shot and more like a quick snapshot. I realise shooting a small child this may very well be the case.

Given the relatively high ISO and wide open aperture, your colours look flat and washed out, and there's no real depth to the images. Play with contrast a little and vibrance a little more and try working with some different crops to see if you can create something more pleasing.

Hi Niresangwa,
thank you for your feedback. Regarding the ISO it was on Auto and the camera chose 400. I usually shoot in aperture priority (AV) and don't control the ISO. Still learning :-)
This was taken really fast as a candid really. My son never walks, he only runs or jumps around, so, it sure is kind of difficult to capture him, and so I got the garbage can on the back and couldn't really control all the settings.
I used Lightroom to change a bit of the brightness and vibrance as you suggested but I dont' know if I got the result you were thinking of. I also cropped out the trash can and the bridge, Here is the result.

[marcelo_valente]

Originally Posted by BigFuzzy

Damn.. nothing to add, so just wanted to say +1 from me.
Actually, did you consider changing this to b&w? Otherwise, what Niresangwa said.

Hi BigFuzzy, thanks for your reply. Here it is in b&w. I don't know if I liked it. I still need to study some b&w shots to get the contrasts and brightness right. This is the Auto result from Lightroom. If you have any tips to give me about what to look for (or try to achieve) when converting to b&w I'd really appreciate it. Your comments are always helpful, as I seen around.

Thank you