Playing outside/color?/crop?/Vignette?

[Guitarplayr34]

I took this shot of my daughter while she was out building her first snowman. I tried some dual toning, and did a border vignette. My question is does this work for this shot? Do you think I should crop in closer? Does the composition work? Any other critique, tips, or thoughts are welcome. Thanks!

EXIF

Canon Rebel XS
F stop: 1.8
Focal Length: 50mm
Shutter Speed: 1/1000
ISO: 100

_MG_9788 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[ellie mac]

Hi,

Can't quite put my finger on it, but I feel there is something not quite right about the proportions in this one. Maybe because her head and her body are taking up similar amounts of space. So I would probably play around a bit more with the cropping, maybe try and get something where her eyes are on the upper third line.

I don't really know what dual toning is, so can't comment on that really. Just wondering though - did she actually have a black eye or is that a result of processing? You may want to have a look at how to reduce/remove that if your skills are up to it. (I know mine aren't though so don't have any suggestions on how - I'm sure someone here can help you out.) Other than that the colours look good to me.

Not a fan of the border - and I think it may be further throwing out the proportions - but that type of thing is more a personal taste issue I guess.

Hope that helps a little, would love to see one with the snowman too!

[yulchick]

Just wanted to say that its a cute picture..not much of a critique here...and I really dont see a black eye as a person above has mentioned

[superduperwesman]

I'm not a fan of the boarder but that's really a preference thing

[ellie mac]

hmmm…
Maybe it's my monitor, but I just had another look & I'm definitely seeing what looks like bruising around her left eye.

Apologies if I'm wrong though (it happens sometimes LOL)

[corvus2606]

ellie mac i think what you're seeing is shadow that has been toned (greenish?) with the dual toning. my opinion would be to get rid f the dual toning, its really only used to make dramatic changes, and isnt generally successful for small changes. i think the border is ok, and the crop works, i think it's the beanie that is throwing off the proportions.

[Guitarplayr34]

Yeah I knew there was something off about the pic.... No she doesn't have a black eye, that is a shadow. And I think I cropped her in so that her hat meeting her forehead is on the top line and not her eyes...that's what was throwing me! Thanks for the comments everyone!