Nephew Praying

[rx93v2]

I took this shot on my nephew's first communion. I get the feeling that there's something off about the composition (maybe the back of his head and the women behind him??).



EXIF INFO
Exposure: 0.5 sec at f / 5.0
Focal Length: 55 mm
ISO: 3200
No Flash
Camera: D5000
Mode: Manual

[ccting]

Wow.. nice pic..

it is possible for you to get lower angle and shoot up?
Any on-camera flash available?

[rx93v2]

I tried the lower angle, but the bench then blocked a good portion of his hands, and an upshot of his nose wasn't too flattering. I had the basic flip up flash (didn't bring my speedlight). I also wasn't too sure about using the flash during the ceremony (I didn't want to be distracting). Maybe if I had leaned over the bench more to put a separation line between his head and the women?

[graciousness]

The shutter speed is too slow. I realise that you are probably trying to bring in more ambient light, hence the slow shutter speed, however, that kind of slow shutter speed is only inviting blur movement with the shot.

If you wanted to bring in more ambient lighting plus blurring your background more, a wider aperture would have been ideal. I don't know what lens you used, but using the widest aperture possible (and a very stable hold on your camera) would have been better.

You can bring in more exposure via post processing (dont' know if you've attempted this yet) but it will help. Due to the high ISO, I don't know how much noise it will show on the image, but give it a try, anyway. Use the curves and or levels to do this (if you have it with your editing software).

But you know, you have a decent image to work with here and with post processing, can be improved immensely.

Cheers and hope this helps,

Grace

[Mark Engelhart]

The horizon would drive me nuts if I had to look at this image often. You will see tilted horizons in images that were deliberate, this one does feel diliberate.

[rx93v2]

@Grace
- I'll see what I can do in post processing (try to bring it back more). The lens was the standard kit lens, 18-55mm. I'm looking into getting the Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF. Maybe I'll shoot back up to church with my nephew and try to get him posing once I get it in. Thanks for all the advice.

@Mark
- Yea, I noticed the horizon was thrown off when framing it, but I wanted to get him as straight as possible.