My girl, question about composition

[mariselafm]

Hello there!
Complete begginer here, trying to grasp the basics. I never realized how fast my kids move until I tried to focus on their eyes! I hope the focus lock becomes second nature to me soon.
Anyway, I have a question regarding composition. In a picture like the one below, does it make sense to have the subject off center, even if the background is so simple? Or does it seem like I am trying too hard to follow the rule of thirds, without a real reason?
This is a crop. The original picture had even more space to the right of my daughter, as did most of the pictures of the set.
Another question: the wall behind my daughter is white. Is off camera flash the only way to capture its true color, instead of the gray that I get?
Any other advice and critique is welcome, thank you for your help!



Exif data
Camera Canon EOS REBEL T3
Exposure 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 44 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Exposure Mode Manual
White Balance Auto

Full set: Charita - a set on Flickr

Marisela

[andsome]

She is gorgeous. Personally, I would have cropped to portrait not landscape.

[ajax_andy]

I really like the pic, good work!

Not sure about the positioning of her though, she's neither central nor in the left 3rd... she's somewhere in between.

I also think there is a little too much space between the top of her head and the top of th pic.

You could quite easily crop the exact same amount off the left hand side and top to make her fill the frame better, and then re-size it. I think this would take the photo from being good to excellent.

It would also mean that the plain background would work better as there'd be less of it. I think a plain background is great if the main focus fills the frame, so you are pretty close with this and like I say it just requires a little composition tweak imo.

I think the sharpness, lighting and feel of the picture are all excellent.

[BigFuzzy]

I love the idea of negative space in portraits. Doesn't always work, but in this case, as you have it now, it's (sorry) a boring dead-center composition. I think having more space to the right (and up as well I assume) would help considering she's looking in that direction.

For example, this is a good use of negative space in the way you shot it:
Not a particularly awesome image, but it's use of negative space is quite good I think


But if you really want to put the subject in the middle, I'd arrange it so there is lots of negative space around the subject to make it at least different (this is interesting to me, many may not like it). It's more difficult to pull of dead center compositions becase you have to consider things like symmetry, patters, color etc... it's why so many will say "rule of thirds".. which is great to know so that you know how to successfully break the rule.

[roostabunny]

Very cute kid! And good lighting on her face. Awesome catchlights!

I'd echo BigFuzzy on the rule of thirds and negative space. It's not for no reason that you're framing portraits off-center. It's more "pleasing", I guess, which is one of those subjective words photogs use to describe a black-box brain tendency. I think it's probably more helpful to think in terms of needing a reason to frame another way, like BigFuzzy's second example where the model's expression highlights the sense of being "overwhelmed" by the negative space.

Anyway, unless there's something in the background that I want (or don't want), I habitually frame my subject off-center, and I think it's a good habit. Definitely a good habit as a replacement for "the subject goes in the middle". For all those black-box neurology reasons, you'll end up taking more interesting photos overall, I think.

I'd be interested to see the uncropped version with the negative space.

Thought you did great with the lighting. She's very will-lit with no harsh shadow on the wall. As to your question about the off-camera flash, no, it's not the only or even necessarily the best way to get the wall white, but yes, you do need more light on the wall if you're going to get it white. I'd be inclined to set up a background light, put it on the floor behind your subject (so it can't be seen by the camera). I have a couple of those cheap aluminum clip-on lights, and I think you could just rest one on the floor pointing up at the wall. Try to use a bulb that matches the type already in use in the room so it doesn't mess too much with your white balance.

If you try that you may want to consider moving her a little bit further from the wall. At 44mm and f/5.6 I think you're already at your maximum aperture size, assuming you're using the Canon kit lens. Moving her away from the wall will hopefully pull the wall a little bit more out of focus, and will hopefully give you enough space to get some angle on the background light, too. If the light is too close to the wall, you may end up highlighting its texture instead of giving you the nice blank, white background you're looking for.

[mariselafm]

Andsome, great idea, thank you!

Ajax_andy you are right, she not here nor there, I will definitely try it the way you suggested, I am sure it will look much better.

BigFuzzy I have learned so much by reading your critiques! I really like those pictures, especially the first one. That's more or less the way I envisioned the image in my head, but at the last minute, I chickened out, thinking my background was too boring As Roostabunny said, I felt I didn't have a "reason" to have to much negative space. Thank you for taking the time to include pictures that illustrate what you are saying.

I want to show you the original but...I can't find it! Rookie mistake, I forgot to save the original It was something similar to this



Thank you Roostabanny for the lighting tips, I will go back to my parent's and try what you suggested. You are correct, I was using the lens kit and was at my maximum aperture size. My daugther was actually sitting on a bed placed against the wall, so I will ask my dad to move the bed out of the way in order to be able to play more with distance and DOF. I wish the lighting in my house was not so terrible.

Thank you all so much for the feedback, I am so glad I posted!

Marisela

[JFSanders]

She is beautiful! To help the whites stay white set your WB to cloudy. It looks like the lighting in your house or the light coming through the window was cool (temperature wise). These can be corrected in post if you wish to spend the time doing so.

Jim

[andsome]

Originally Posted by JFSanders

She is beautiful! To help the whites stay white set your WB to cloudy. It looks like the lighting in your house or the light coming through the window was cool (temperature wise). These can be corrected in post if you wish to spend the time doing so.

Jim

Sorry, but personally I much prefer the original background. Yours is too harsh for such a lovely subject.

[mariselafm]

Ahhh yes! The white balance...that's another thing I need to remember before I press the shutter. How come that in photography, there are so many things that are part of the basics?
Thank you so much for the reminder Jim

[JFSanders]

Originally Posted by andsome

Sorry, but personally I much prefer the original background. Yours is too harsh for such a lovely subject.

Oh, don't be sorry, I preferred the original as well. I just did a quick edit to show that the background could be turned white. When I did turn it white I had to set a black point to keep her from looking washed out. She became warmer in skin tone and that is what you see here. If it had been for a paying client I would have spent much more time on the photograph to return her to the soft colors in the original and still have the white background.

Jim