Too blown out?

[bullychk04]

So since you guys were so helpful last time, I figured I'd pass something else by you. I was really happy with the way this came out, but after I looked at it yesterday, I'm thinking the sky behind him was a little blown out. So a few questions:

1. Do you think the top of the picture behind him is too blown out and distracting?
2. Do you think the saturation/color balance is ok?
3. Any other input/critique is always appreciated



EXIF info:
D3100
f2.0
1/320
50mm
ISO 100
Flash did not fire

[MrJones]

I LOVE IT!
the top is blown out but who cares? I love the back light on his hair and the soft light edges of his vest!
is it tilted on purpose? cause that's the first thing I've noticed about the photo - it's tilted.
regarding the blown out areas - I would have brightened the photo even more to get the right exposure on the kid.
I've just noticed the light on the floor.. beautiful

great job!

[justin_ing]

First off, this image I love it... captivating

droplets, young boy, droplets, playing with water... droplets... young boy... as you can see, I do really like it.

If you can, I would drop the exposure just of that section a bit. It is kinda distracting. I looked at it with it cropped, and it just looks a little cramped.

I would crop out the bottom part of this frame though. Its just too soft.

Great capture!

[bullychk04]

Awesome! Thanks for your feedback & compliments! I looooove shooting during the Golden Hour. It makes it almost too easy I will try to underexpose the top portion out. As far as it being tilted, I don't think I did it on purporse. I was paying attention to keeping him in focus, while trying to get as much of that gorgeous light in as possible. I was laying on my tummy trying to get as far down as I could to get a good shot, and get it framed just right. So if I tilted, I did it by accident :P

[laughlinc]

This is an adorable pic that you should be quite pleased with. Yes, the sky is blown....I would opt for a square crop to remove it. The saturation looks fine to be, but I do think your white balance is on the cool side. I'm not sure what type of editing software you have, but I would recommend warming this up a little.

[bullychk04]

Thanks laughlinc. I'm using CS5 and LR3. I'll play around with it later tonight, to see if I can warm it up a bit :-) Thank you!

[laughlinc]

I use LR3 as well. Try using the eyedropper tool under White Balance and click on something that is supposed to be white, like his shirt or socks. This should be a good place to start and then you can tweak it from there!

[bullychk04]

Ok, so I cropped the bottom, re aligned it so it's not tilted, but I'm having a really hard time with the exposure on the sky. I think I'll just have to live and learn from this one.

[justin_ing]

So I tried to use the gradient tool to see if I could take down the sky a bit.. but I see what you mean. I hope you don't mind I tried...

[ajax_andy]

Yet another great pic!

Have you tried adding a "Photo Filter" to the image?

Not sure if it'll help with the sky, but I sometimes add a warming filter to mine and it helps a little with this kind of thing... also stops the image being a little too cool.

Its just in the "adjustment layers" options at the top of photoshop