My daughter loves flowers

[toddbartush]

I took this shot of my daughter today while she was playing in the flowers. I'm interested in some critique on composition, crop, and whether I have chosen the proper camera settings for the shot.

The title of the shot shows the processing I have done in Paint Shop Pro 7.

This was taken mid-day under partly-cloudy skies. Not ideal, but not as bad as it could have been.

I posted the SOOC on my Flickr account for comparison.

Thanks!







EXIF

Canon SX130
f/4.5
1/500
ISO 100
Focal length 14mm

[JFSanders]

Pretty young lady. I think the shot would be better shot from ground level with the camera just at flower height. Pretty harsh light even though it was partly cloudy. Creates some deep shadows on her face. Jim

[BigFuzzy]

I very much agree with Jim. Perspective is one of those things I find that most beginners really don't think about. It's clear that you shot this from a "standing here with camera at eye-level" perspective while not bad, doesn't add anything to the image since this is the exact angle anyone else would have seen this from and photographed it from.

Change things up. Get higher, get lower, twist the camera.. do something, anything to change things up.

I do like how you played with the colors (ie her clothes vs flowers) and I love her casualness, but also, like Jim said, the harsh sun really hurts this. This would have been a great opportunity to get lower and pop her with very little fill flash to kill those harsh shadows.

Was there anywhere near this was was under the shade of a tree perhaps? Open shade is the best you can do in these harsh conditions sadly (without using, and knowing how to use, flash).

[toddbartush]

Thanks for the input! I was down on my knees for this shot, but I can see how it's a "standard" view and not very interesting in that respect. Going much lower, though, would have put some ugly bare trees in the background.

Regarding the harsh lighting, this is something I'm having a hard time developing an eye for. As an example, I used a flash in this shot and felt the SOOC was a little too washed out, so I did a little different processing on it than usual. What do you think of the lighting on that one?

-Todd

[BigFuzzy]

Heya Todd,
Yeah, it's always tough for us to know what our suggestions would have brought about in terms of other factors (ugly bare trees). So in that case, you could have gotten a little DoF as possible to blur out that background maybe?

As for the second photo, the light on her face is much better to me due to the lack of harsh shadows. I think you just need to practice a bit on using your flash compensation so that perhaps it's not so strong. I'd have put your flash compensation on -1 and see what came of it. Then you might have had less of that 'washed out' look which I agree is bad.

In the end, you just have to assume that unless you're in open shade, shooting a subject in the middle of the day, in direct sunlight, without flash is going to result in these sorts of issue... hard to avoid it. So, try thinking different time of the day (ie golden hours) or getting her in some open shade (if possible). Yeah, I know it's tough with kids to pick the right time and place, but keep it in mind.
Cheers,
A

[JFSanders]

Fuzzy is right. Fill flash in harsh sun is the way to go. What you need to remember is when you have an abundance of light or too much light from over head. Stop down until the shot is underexposed and use the flash to bring it back. You can also use a reflector made from white board as well. Fill flash works infinitely better with off camera flash such as canon's speedlights. In the linked photograph you can see the top of her hands are blown out as well as the white stripe on her sweat pants. By stopping down and using fill the highlight detail will be there. She really is beautiful too bad you couldn't get her to open her eyes. Jim

[toddbartush]

Thanks to both of you! Lighting and exposure are my biggest stumbling blocks. Now I have a strategy for the next time I grab the camera in the middle of the day.

[JFSanders]

Also, forgot to mention that if you needed to blur the background you could also ratchet up your shutter speed to obtain underexposure. By doing so, flash sync becomes an issue at some point though. You could also install a polarizer to get a stop or two less light. Or a ND filter set would do as well. Jim