A cute looking eyes

[kuul13]

This is one of many candid (I guess) shots that I took on the streets of Manhattan on the New Year's Eve. It was a wonderful moment to capture the beautiful, cute, strange, blank faces on the streets of Manhattan. This picture was taken when the mother and daughter were waiting for traffic signal to change for pedestrians. Loved the way the little eyes were looking at her mother.

Since I didn't get much time to setup my camera for this lovely moment, I just clicked. I would like to know how is the composition and the sharpness of the image. Do you think the guy in the background is a distraction.. If so, how can I make it look better. Also, I would appreciate if you can give some tips on better candid shots (most of the time I get too overexposed shots or too underexposed shots). Thanks for looking at the image!

EXIF: Nikon D80 | Shutter Speed: 1/60 | Aperture: f/5.3 | Focal Length: 185mm | ISO: 200

[JFSanders]

I wouldn't make any changes to the image as it now stands. Nicely done.

Jim

[docxnoel]

+1 to Jim
for me, the man in the background is not a distraction but it adds to the context that you shoot in the streets, also it is not competing with the subject, the clear focus of the child's eye is enough to stay with it. Very well done.

[Doug Sundseth]

Photo looks nice and sharp to me. I think the man in the background helps your composition rather than detracting from it. He helps to set the photo in a place and time and helps to emphasize the moment of intimacy surrounded by city life.

I think I would crop in from the lower left corner to move the girl's eyes out of the center of the photo and remove some of the dead space of the street while retaining the other faces in the composition. I'd also consider pushing exposure up and adding some mid-tone contrast ("Clarity" if you use Lightroom) to take advantage of the feel of B&W.

Very nice capture.

[kuul13]

Thank you so much for your kind words.

As mentioned by "Doug Sundseth", I have tried to crop the image to make her eyes be on little left from center. Please let me know what you think about this image. Which one is more effective this or original one?

And if someone can give me the tips for candid photography? How to avoid washouts and blackouts.

[sk66]

I like the repost better...I probably would go even tighter.
However, the image seems a bit underexposed/flat to me but that could be because the color space information is missing. (I use a Mac/Safari)

[docxnoel]

For me, I still like the first one with this reasons;

with the tighter crop, i don't feel anymore that it was shoot on the street, and the man on the background becomes a distraction.

some details are loss, which appears the image a bit muddy (but it can be solve in PP)

I also like the bokeh of the first one.

hope you cannot confuse with us, it is a matter of taste, some people will like it and others will not, just follow your artistic instinct and it develops through time.

[kuul13]

Originally Posted by sk66

I like the repost better...I probably would go even tighter.
However, the image seems a bit underexposed/flat to me but that could be because the color space information is missing. (I use a Mac/Safari)

Thanks for your valuable comment. I didn't understand about "missing color space information". What is it? Underexposed? Should I increase the exposure/gamma in Photoshop CS2.

[rotty022]

i really like the shot. the man in the background was not a distraction to me at all. in fact, i think it adds to the shot. the DOF is great.

[JFSanders]

Originally Posted by kuul13

Thanks for your valuable comment. I didn't understand about "missing color space information". What is it? Underexposed? Should I increase the exposure/gamma in Photoshop CS2.

What he means is when you post a image to the internet it will be rendered in the color space of sRGB unless there is a color space specified and the rendering engine can accommodate the specification. So if you edited in the aRGB (adobe color space) and then posted it to the internet without that information being imbedded into your image xmp file then his computer and browser will display it in the smaller color space of sRGB and some of the colors will be shifted such as the yellows and some reds making your image look strange to him.

Jim