Candid of Henry - critique please

[Jonathan Evans]

Hi all,

I was out and about today with my wife and son and we came across a nice patch of longish grass. Henry was keen to run around and me being me, I was keen to photograph him. I quite like this picture of him. Would love some feedback on what you think about:

1) Exposure?
2) Composition?
3) Any elements too distracting?

Thanks in advance for your comments/critique!

Jonathan



Camera Canon EOS 50D
Exposure 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture f/4.0
Focal Length 145 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias +2/3 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

[ajax_andy]

Nice capture.

Only 3 things I can think of to improve it are...

1) The slight shadow cast on his face by the corn/barley could be cloned out
2) You filled the frame with his whole body... It's not something I'm keen on... I would say that you either need to have a close up and not include the full body when filling the frame... i.e. just head and shoulders or waist up etc, or if you want the whole body in then switch to landscape and have the boy in on of the 3rds at the side.
3) The pic lacks depth... Ok that might sound weird as I know you've used a shallow DOF to blur the background, but I feel you needed to be lower when taking the shot so that you maybe had the horizon, the tops of the corn/barley or some sky in the blurred background, or a tree in the distance or something. Having a shallow DOF doesn't always mean getting rid of the background, when done right you can include the background to good effect... in this pic there is no background really what so ever and as a result it just feels a little flat.

None of the above are critical fails with this pic, I do honestly think its a nice shot... but with the above points I think it could have been an even better