Peaseblossom, Fae of the Faire.

[Viola Zuppa]

First critique post (I’m a long time lurker). I captured this image of Peaseblossom, one of the Fantastikals at the Bristol Renaissance Faire, when I ran across her relaxing on the rocks outside of the Faire Garden before she moved on to interact with the patrons. My main question is regarding the composition. I haven’t cropped it yet (she seems too centered) and haven’t decided if I want to keep more background or make a tighter crop to focus on the face.

I’m currently working on a personal project for a wall in my home of images I’ve captured at the Faire this summer (and possibly previous summers but searching through the archives is daunting at this point). The centerpiece is going to be a collage of probably about 10 4x6 images of the different Fantastikals characters with photos of other Faire characters placed outwards from that.

This one is my favorite I’ve taken so far and the decision on the composition will dictate how I edit the other photos (or take them as I have two more weekends before the Faire closes for the season).

Thanks in advance.

Kimari



Camera Canon EOS 7D
Exposure 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture f/2.8
Focal Length 85 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

[The LoKW]

I find this to be a lovely shot. I love the colors and the juxtaposition of the costume vs. an attitude of contemplative repose.

I find that to my eye I would prefer her to have a bit more room for gazing and would likely crop in such a way to provide it.

Having said that, I go back and look and really like to see the angle of knees as it works for me in establishing that aforementioned repose, enhancing the sense of candid imagery.

Great capture IMHO.

[Niresangwa]

I think this current framing is about as good as it's going to get, given there isn't much room to do much more with it. While there could have been better initial shots to take composition-wise, what you have certainly isn't bad as-is. As the frame is loaded on the left side, it doesn't feel like a boring-center shot.

As a whole however, the image certainly feels darker than I would have looked for. She has no life in her eyes, and all of those currently muted vibrant colours just going to waste.

[Doug Sundseth]

If I were to crop this, I'd crop in from the right, but I wouldn't crop much, since the composition is very nice as it is.

FWIW, I rather like the combination of the muted light with the pose. The melancholy of the shot would not work as well with very bright colors.

[alicia_anne]

Love this shot; it captures such a wonderful moment. I also think the crop looks great as is... however if you did want something a bit closer I quite like this as well.



I upped the exposure and saturation a bit as well. I think it makes her pop out against the busy background.

[Mso]

This is a gorgeous shot and I love Alicia Anne's edit too.