My beautiful Ella Kate

[Jblackjr]

Looking for some constructive advise. This is a photo I shot of my little girl the other day and did a little cropping and some color/sharpen changes. Let me know what you guys think



Nikon D5000
35mm
f/1.8
1/1250
ISO 200

[PhotoGnat]

Gorgeous little girl, great shot very candid, just wish there was some more fill light on her face, it feels a little under exposed, but I like the backlight on her hair.

[Rentham]

Her face is under exposed. You need to use some flash to bring her up or slow down your shutter. Learning the other metering modes (spot in particular) will help you get the correct exposure in tricky situations like this.

I like that you have her off in a third, but this sort of composition usually works better with the subject entering the frame instead of leaving it. In other words, you'd probably want her in the left third for this composition. The eyes falling below center line also feels a bit funky to me.

[Jblackjr]

Thanks for the replies. I will keep that in mind about which side of the picture to put her own depending on position as well as eye level. Her eyes were higher but I cropped some of her out of the picture. Also I adjusted the picture on my laptop and she looked really good IMO but then I pulled the picture on my iphone and it looked so much different. I really need a monitor to use that can be calibrated, oh well.

[Jblackjr]

Ok, here is a re-edit. I increased the temp just a bit more and raised the fill light and exposure and tried to crop it where her eyes are higher up in the picture. Does it look bad with it chopping off a small part of her head?

[photog1107]

The head chopping (as bad as that sounds!) doesn't bother me, and I think it helps to raise her eyes in the shot. I might try to do some selective adjustments to bring her eyes out even more (using tools in PS). Also, personally, it still feels a bit flat and a leaning toward greenish/yellow, so if that can't be adequately fixed, you might want to try a halftone conversion approach with selective coloring on, say, the bow. Just an idea. Sweet photo, though. You have a darling subject.

[Jblackjr]

Halftone conversion? Please explain.

[judicator]

Its a shame that to me the main sharpness is on the bow in her hair and not on her eyes

[TNH]

Originally Posted by Jblackjr

Ok, here is a re-edit. I increased the temp just a bit more and raised the fill light and exposure and tried to crop it where her eyes are higher up in the picture. Does it look bad with it chopping off a small part of her head?

I like this edit, a big improvement. Usually cutting off the tops of people's heads bothers me, but it doesn't in this case. I think it looks fine.

[roostabunny]

I like this shot a lot and thing you've done well with the re-edit for exposure.

As for composition, I agree with Rentham about direction, but to my eye it does impart a sense of motion which could be cool if that was something you wanted. I'm also fine with the top-of-head crop, in fact, I might come down closer to the mid-line of the bow, as I found the top edges of the bow (and the top of her head) distracting where they're right up against the edge of the frame.

Great work!