Black and White

[star]

Hi, this is my first critique,I'm a little nervous about it, but I am looking forward to hearing any suggestions anyone can offer. I also have the color version on my flickr, i will try to include the link, in case you would like to check the original out and offer some critique on that one. As any 4 year old would he had his moments of not wanting to cooperate, I happened to get lucky here by telling him a joke. Most of the time when my son sees the camera he gives me a mean look or covers his face

I did use a white reflector off to camera right with window light pouring in on camera left. A few of the questions I have are...Is the composition okay? Does his head being cut off ruin the shot? Are the reflections in his eyes good enough? I know the shadows on his face are a little distracting, but do they distract from his face too much? Looking forward to hearing feedback on this photo. Thanks for your time.




EXIF:
Canon EOS Digital Rebel Xsi
Exposure 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture f/5.0
Focal Length 131 mm
ISO Speed 800
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

link for SOOC... 126 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[ccting]

wow, beautiful and much more skillfull than me.

[graciousness]

The reflector did a little too much, I think, as the conversion picked up on odd shadows on his face, being the light is uneven and strong from bottom to up. A bit reverse compared to putting light source angled pointing down to his face.

I prefer the coloured version. There's something nice and subtle about it.

The conversion didn't fare too well with the lighting. Also, the conversion is flat and a bit more grey than black and white. It looks like you've only done a de-saturation instead of playign around with red, green and blue adjustments with blacks and whites? I don't know what editing software you use, but see if you have options to adjust red, green, blue with black and white options. This is almost the equivalent of using red, green or blue filters that they used to use in the film days when shooting with B&W film.

Hope this helps,

Grace

[star]

Thank you for the reply's.
I see what you mean about the odd shadows on his face, wish I could go back to this moment and reposition the reflector.
As far as the editing I forgot to mention that I used the raw converter to desaturate the photo, played around a little with the brightness and contrast, and did an ever so slight adjustment to the blacks. I tend to have a hard time with black and white conversions so I'm hoping your tips can come in handy next time I get a chance to play around in PSE 7. Thanks again for your feedback, it's much appreciated.

[Tala]

I really enjoy this shot. I love it more in color, but that's just personal taste.

As a child photographer I find that I "cut off heads" often, not only is it acceptable it is encouraged. Brings the focus more on to the face.

The only thing I may have done differently would be to off center him a bit. Centered portraits tend to be a tad boring.

over all. I love it.

[star]

Thank You Tala. That's a great tip to keep in mind for next time.