Some Easter Weekend Fun

[weavercl]

I snapped this shot of my sister and nephew over Easter weekend. There are several great photos from the shoot, but I keep leaning towards this one as my favorite. Adjustments were made in Lightroom. Any comments would be greatly appreciated. My only problems with it are some distractions in the background and her hands and feet extend outside the frame of the picture.



Exif:
Camera: Canon XTi
Lens: Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
Shutter: 1/250
Aperture: f/11.0
ISO: 200

[kaintheo]

Hi,

I,d say this shot would have been a lot better if you had used a larger aperture to help blur the backround out. This would focus the attention on your subject, as it stands I know that the Rodeo is on at 8:00pm Fri & Sat.

Having said that I quite like the shot overall as the happy emotions are captured rather well.

Kain

[MrJones]

you used a large aperture value.
now, while in most cases that would take away from the photo, I think that here, with the PP you've applied it goes very well.
you've chose a vintage post processing which goes very well with the spirit of the photo, all I'm missing is glass coca cola bottle next to your sister. the sign in the background goes with the photo's mood.
the two things that bother me are the fact that her toes and fingers are cut off and the tree behind her which would have worked better all the way to the right.

[weavercl]

Thanks for the replies. This small area is situated in a way that made it impossible to get a perfect composition. Too far right and there was someone selling beer. Too far left and there was punk rocker looking guys lingering. We tried turning around, but the sun made Madden angry. I was so caught up in looking for that perfect smile of his that I didn't pay attention to where the feet and hands were. At the time, I wan't giving much thought to the aperture. I'd love to have the background blurred a bit more, but I don't think I would want to sacrifice the clarity of the rodeo sign. Regardless, I've learned something from this photo, and I guess that's what counts!

[kaintheo]

Originally Posted by MrJones

you used a large aperture value.
now, while in most cases that would take away from the photo, I think that here, with the PP you've applied it goes very well.
you've chose a vintage post processing which goes very well with the spirit of the photo, all I'm missing is glass coca cola bottle next to your sister. the sign in the background goes with the photo's mood.
the two things that bother me are the fact that her toes and fingers are cut off and the tree behind her which would have worked better all the way to the right.

I meant physically large like f3.5, not value obviously hence the remainder of my comment.

[MrJones]

Originally Posted by kaintheo

I meant physically large like f3.5, not value obviously hence the remainder of my comment.

I know what you meant, a wide aperture like 3.5 or even 1.8 will blur the background out.
I still think that for this photo the small aperture of f/11 works great.